Title Sequence Analysis – ‘Casino Royale’

Link :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzX14t4dCQ0

‘Casino Royale’ is the twenty-first film from the James Bond film series, and the third version of this film which was written earlier by Ian Fleming in 1953. In this film bond is after a banker that works for different terrorist organisations, who is trying to win a high stakes poker tournament. This film was directed by Martin Campbell and Neal Purvis et al worked on the screenplay for the film.

 

In the first scene the audience are shown a picture of Bond aiming at  directly at the camera , which makes it look like Bond is aiming at the audience. This immediately lets the audience know that the film will have Bond featuring as a main character and shows the newest actor to play James Bond. After Bond finishes shooting blood streams down covering the screen, some people may recognise the blood as that of an enemy, but it helps to establish the movie genre which is action and filled with suspense. Also, enigma is created as this is used to excite the audience and create effect.  Cards and casino wheels are used widely throughout the rest of the title sequence show the audience that they may be some relation to gambling within the film. in the title sequence the audience are shown Bond sitting down whilst holding a gun and looking at the audience, this enforces the idea that even though Bond is a hero he doesn’t mind being destructive to do this, causing suspense and giving  some insight into what can be expected to take place within the film . Other images of snipers and guns suggest the film may include murder, but who is murdered and why is yet to be disclosed until you watch the film. Animated shadows of Bond show him fighting against what we presume is the enemy, giving the impression onto views that they will see lots of action within the film, plus the shadows of Bond help to show his two sided character who can be both mysterious and dark. In another scene, the audience are shown hearts falling which signifies the female companionship that Bond is going to have in the film, which is a usual convention for Bond films in terms of his identity.

 After the first visual shot is shown and Bond finishes shooting towards the audience the music within the title sequence begins and I think is used to help generate interest for the audience. The background track consists of exciting sounds which create excitement for the audience. The lyrics cite ‘arm yourselves because no one else here will save you’ implying that protection is needed and is important, meaning that there will be something or someone Bond is fighting against. Nevertheless, this alerts the audience that there will be action. The background track has been skilfully composed to make fit the film genre.

 The typography used in the title sequence is quite simple yet sophisticated, I believe this was done to keep the focus on the sequence of images being shown. Plus, Bond is expected to be a man of class and prestige so using a fancy or exaggerated type of font could have looked childish.

 The title sequence of this film uses a mixture of both animated stills and moving shots to establish expected events within the film, with the use of new concepts to represent old conventions of Bond’s identity which is usually associated with ; women, lust, murder, heroism and action.

 By Diana Odoom