The opening sequence I chose to look at was the James Bond Film, Casino Royale. I chose this particular film as I thought that it had a very interesting, grabbing opening, which is needed in a good thriller.
At first, you see the outside of a building. You then see a caption saying PRAGUE and another saying CZECH REPUBLIC. This is the main aspect of an opening sequence as we wish to see whereabouts the location is. This helps the audience as it leads to them getting a sense of the genre. We also see that the scene is taking place at night, where a car parks in front of the dark, mysterious building. We get an enigma questioning what is this dark building? And who is in the car? This makes you carry on watching, as you will find the answers by carrying on watching.
We then see a character come out of the car and enter the building. This gets you on the edge of your seat as you want to know who this person was and why did he enter this dark building?These are more enigmas we get in which we hope to get answered throughout the film.
We see the character again when he is going up in a lift, in the building. We then have a close up of him, and as he is going up the lift we hear some tension building music. These both mix in together and we get an enigma of why is this music playing at the same time of showing a close up of this man? What has he done? Or what is he doing?
The music is the most important part of the film as it creates a mood, to give you a sense of what is going on.
We then see a close up of the lift numbers changing, then stop. This creates a sense of thrill as we want to know why he has stopped at this particular floor. We then see him walking to a room, entering and shutting the door. As he walks to his desk, still in darkness, he pauses and looks at someone's reflection in a mirror. With the thrilling music still playing, he suddenly turns around and we hear a voice. This makes us jump as there is sudden movement. It then shows someone in his room, they then give a close up of him, and this is now our second character. The 1st character takes a seat at his desk, and as he talks to the second character, who we find is named Bond, he opens a draw in which lays a gun and he removes his gloves as a distraction. The enigmas here are why this man is here? Who is he? What does he want from this man? Why does that man have a gun? Will he shoot him? They share some more dialogue which is very quiet, and is done slowly. This creates a lot of tension, we then see a flashback from Bond's POV. We see him abusing someone in public toilets, in black and white colour and we hear very loud scary music. This scene is fast and is very action-packed. It then stops and goes back to a close up of Bond, with the slow tension building music. These close ups make you jump as they stand out of the slow, tense music.
They share some more dialogue and we get yet another flashback, this time he kills him, by drowning him. We feel feared by this as we want to know why Bond is so violent and why he did it.
Sudden movements are the key aspects in a thriller as they make you jump, yet you want to keep watching. There is a sudden movement of a gun pointed at Bond, but due to the the camera shot, its as if he points it at us. Making you part of the film is a good technique as it draws you in and keeps you watching. He pulls the trigger, which makes you sit on the edge of your seats as you think your enigmas may not be answered if Bond dies. However, we find that Bond removed the bullets from the man's gun, takes out his own gun and shoots him. It then shows him back in his flashback, picking a gun up from the floor, pointing it at the screen, and shooting us. The the title appears.
There are many more enigmas we find in the opening sequence, such as;
* Why is he at the office so late?
* Why is there someone in his office?
* Who is this person?
* Why has he broken in?
* Why has he got a gun in his office draw?
* Why will he kill this man?
* Will he kill this man?
* Does he know this man?
* How does he know him?
* Why did Bond kill that mans contact?
* What did he do?
* Why does Bond no feel feared by this man?
* What does he want from this man?
* Why did he kill him?
* Who is Bond?
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