Sunday 11 November 2007

Inspiration from Casino Royale

This is from the first scene to the new James Bond thriller Casino Royale. I have taken quite alot of inspiration from how this scene is lit, to the black and white effects that have been applied. This scene begins with a long establishing shot. I like how this sets out the location for the soon to happen events. I will hopefully use some longer shots at the beggining of my thriller opening to set out the location. The most effective part to this scene i think is how it is shot in black and white. This emphasises the dramtics of Bond killing in the bathroom. And makes it a clearly bold action, which impacts more on the audience. With my thriller it would be very interesting to experiment with a similar effect, as it would be simplistic and effective. The blacks that this creates are also a lot stronger , and add to the thriller signifiers Eg when bond is sat in the chair the dark shadow across half of his face are emphasised, linking to his dark side that has killed, for which we get flashes to. If i use black and white, then also making the contrast higher would improve the thriller appeal of my opening, and would help it look more proffessional rather than student film. I also think that the framing of close ups to the face, is inspiring, and will help me to follow the rule of 3 quarters.

Our group has been looking at doing a female revenge thriller. our discussions so far have led us into thinking of doing a torture scene, in an underground basement, with our male victim being tied up to a char and knoced out. I have lloked at this Casino Royale scene, as it is in my view brilliantly shot, and the mise en scene is extrmely effective. This sceneuses a great variety of shot distances, andgles and movement. All which make it interesting to watch. The low angles we have of Bond when he is thrown into the chair, show that he is still a strong character, despite being in such a desperate situation. Hinting he is not going to give in any secrets, and may escape. I like the low angles and framing, and when focusing on our male victim tied up it wuld be worth using varying angles including low. THere is one shit i particularly like, of the villain walking past the camera, which focuses ona closae up of his hand, panning to the left as he walks forwards to wards the chair. THis pan shot shows off the location ell, and brings the audiences attention to the rope in his hand, leaving us tense over what will happen next? What is the rope going to be used for ? . With our threiller, if using Emmas location. We could adopt this pan shot, and apply it to a different angle perhaps. we could have it from behing our victim as he is tied up, panning accros the room as the female killer paces around the room with a weapon.

I also really like the shot when the villain walks up to Bond, places the end of the rope on his shoulder, then bends down and speaks in to his ear. I think it shows a possible weakness of the viallin, as he is now sinking down to Bonds level of control over the situation. Signifying at what might come. I would like to use this in our film if we proceed with a female revenge thriller, as it would effectively play on the role reversal of power and sexuality between men and women.

There is another intuitive shot used here as well. From ground level through the chair legs. I like the framing in this shot, and we could use it to show our female role entering the scene, leaving her identity as enigmatic as possible for longer.

This scene is lit harshly over bond. With lack of light in a lot of areas. This makes us focus on Bond and the centre of the room, highlighting this action. We should consider this when lighing our location.

The mise en scene is also good. The central position of the chair, and the decaying, very underground urban look add to the theme of isolation. something we want to achieve in our thriller. This scene overall has inspired me withh shot types i want to use in our opening, and is also a good guide for our lighting and mise en scene.

I really like the titles for tyhis film . the graphics of them is really well done, and links in with the story perfectly. It is good inspiration to be more ambitous with our film titles. Like Running scared i like the graphic , and cartoon look of them. With our opening, although we will not have time to make anything like this, i would like to implement some form of titles that are not just the conventional text, on a blank screen , or superimposed ove rthe video. I think we could have blood splatters moving across screen, or sometihng like that. As if we go with revenge, and end it how we are currently thinking, then blood will be a goood signifier of the genre. And if going with black and white it would give our film an interesting colour scheme of black white and red. All generic colours to thriller . Hopefully i will be able to get some of the shot types, colouring effects, and titles to work with our film and improve it.

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