Film Opening Analysis & AOTT Research

The title sequence above is for 'Skyfall', a thriller/ action film.

There is no clear setting where the film takes place as everything is quite abstract however it does start off underwater which may hint at it being on an island. The film seems to be analysing a person's identity and thus the timescale is the length of his life or length of his life as a Spy.

James bond falls into water and sinks to the bottom, there is a blackout and he is then pulled under the sand by a large hand.  There are wounded cut out 'targets' of bond and he is bleeding then a girl's body is shown.  Weapons then begin to fall from the sky despite it still being underwater. The weapons turn into graves and then there is a close up of James' eye. From here it is even more abstract and there is blood in water, fire in a cave with burning cut outs of James.  Followed by more graves, weapons and girls. The opening ends on a close-up of James eye.  The order is significant as it reveals hints about who James is and how he is chronologically looking back into his life and what he's done but also dropping subtle hints of what's to come.

They are all unconnected events as it is trying to be abstract.

James bond is introduced and it is clear that he is a spy from the weapons and movements he makes.

Not much is revealed to the audience and when it is it is done subtly. Nothing is certain and can all be interpreted differently; this Is done to add suspense and not give out information.

The audience needs to be introduced to a character and a genre. Without it they are lost in knowing what's to come in the film. Saying this however they need to have unanswered questions to leave them wanting to know more.

The two above pictures are of two different title sequences; Skyfall and Reservoir Dogs. They are extremely different title sequences as Skyfall is extremely abstract whereas Reservoir dogs are not. In Reservoir dogs the characters are a main feature and they are all introduced fully where as in Skyfall James's identity is shown in an abstract way, a girl is also revealed but she is unknown.