Casino Royale Opening Genre Analysis

Thriller/Spy:

After some discussion in class,many of my classmates (that I am likely to be grouped with,) seem keen to produce an opening sequence for an action/thriller film.

I think this is an interesting idea and so did some genre research into this. As well as looking specifically into this genre, it has helped me understand how an opening sequence can give an idea of genre.

The genre is clear from the dialogue at the beggining with talk of "working for the other side" and "00 status." The black and white also highlights the thriller aspect of the genre. The fights, guns, foreign location and suits are also typical iconography of the genre.

Audience expectations for the genre of this clip are met due to the suave and sophisticated entrance of James Bond and the difference between the calm collected version of him and the international assasin version. The audience want to see killings and fights, which they get two of in this opening scene. They also want to see cool cars and gadgets; no gadgets are seen yet but the car that pulls up at the beggining and the interesting location satisfies the audience.

The main characters are James and the traitor spy. Straight away we are suspicious of the traitor from the lingering low angle shot at the beggining. James's entrance is cool, calm and collected and both characters remain calm all the way through the conversation despite the circumstances. However when it comes down to it James outsmarts the traitor by swapping the guns. This is something the audience hads been waiting for so is another audience pleasure. James is always in control and is the typical spy with his witty one liners and impressive fighting skills.

The narrative cross cuts between two scenes. It is obvious one scene has happened before because the characters talk about it in the past tense. There are binary opposites driving the narrative such as Good spy vs Bad Spy, Working Gun vs Fake Gun, Calm Office Talk vs Loud Toilet Fight, Calmness of characters Vs situation.

Bathes five codes are also identifiable

Semiotic Code: Public Toilets connote danger/dodginess, Black and White connote thriller, Guns connote Death, Shadows connote danger

Symbolic Code: Steely interior symbolizes coldness, numbers counting up symbolizes something bad about to happen

Cultural Code: Spies are suave, suited, in control, RP accents,gentelmanly but deadly

Enigma Code: Now Bond is a 00 what will he do next? What will his new mission be?

Action Code: Scene 1 builds to either character dying. Scene 2 builds to death of victim. Last action of Bond shooting screen leads to the rest of the film.