Casino Royale

For this assignment, I chose the title sequence from the James Bond movie, Casino Royale. I remember watching this movie in theaters and thinking how it had a interesting title sequence, and when we got the project, I immediately knew that I wanted to do this one. It starts out as every other James Bond movie does, with him shooting a bullet at the screen, and then making the screen turn red, like the person is dying. The rest of the title sequence however, is more specific to the movie. Since the title of the movie is Casino Royale, everything that is being focused on in this video is red and black, like the colors of cards. The figure in the title sequence, or James Bond, is always in a dark color, like black or grey. He is also shown to have a shadow covering a majority of his body, giving the viewer a sense of mystery. You also can never see his face, except for in the beginning and the end, because the rest of the time he is a silhouette. At the very end of the title sequence you see his face for a second, but then it again, turns to black. If you have ever watched a James Bond movie, you will know that he is always working under cover, and usually a lot of important things happen at night or in the dark, making him a mysterious and unpredictable character.

There is also a lot of repetition in this title sequence. Along with the red and black colors, the shapes of the cards are everywhere (diamond, spade, club, and heart). In the beginning there are simple patterns in circles of the shapes and colors. Then as the video goes on, the different patterns of lines which are seen on cards come into play. He is sitting on what looks to be the edges of the cars and shooting out of his gun spades. The following sequence shows multiple guns, again repetition, shooting at each other different shapes. James bond, who is now a silhouette in black, then fights another silhouette in red, on the surface of the back of a card. The repetition continues, when he kills each person; they split up into the different shapes of the cards.

Another interesting aspect of this commercial is the repetition of the focus on the gun. As is goes across the “queen” of a card, you see the face of an actual woman who is in the movie. The gun focuses then turn into gambling tables, keeping the theme of a casino throughout the title sequence. I especially like towards the end, when the gun shoots two holes through the seven of hearts, making the sign 007, which is his name. Overall, I really liked this title sequence, it was a little bit long to watch right before the movie, but it was very interesting to analyze.

~ by stephanieglover on February 21, 2010.