Spectre (2015) - Film Opening Analysis

Synopsis

"The story sees Bond pitted against the global criminal organisation Spectre and against their leader; Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who is revealed to be Bond's stepbrother as he attempts to thwart his plan to launch a global surveillance network, and discovers Spectre and Blofeld were behind the events of the previous three films.

It was directed by Sam Mendes as his second James Bond film following Skyfall, with a screenplay written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth. It is distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. With a budget around $245 million, it is the most expensive Bond film and one of the most expensive films ever made."

Spectre (2010 film) n.d. In Wikipedia. Retrieved 7th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(2015_film)

Producers: Eon Productions

Eon Productions an abbreviation of (Everything or Nothing) is an American-owned British film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Danjaq LLC, the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the Bond characters and elements on screen.

Eon Productions n.d. In Wikipedia. Retrieved 7th November 2016 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eon_Productions

Productions of note include:

• Dr. No (1962) - $1.1 billion budget - $59.5 million box office

• Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - $7.2 billion budget - $116 million box office

• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - $14 billion budget - $185.4 million box office

• Moonraker (1979) - $34 million budget - $210.3 million box office

• For Your Eyes Only (1981) - $28 million budget - $194.9 million box office

• The Living Daylights (1987) - $40 million budget - $191.2 million box office

• The World Is Not Enough (1999) - $135 million budget - $361,832400 box office

• Casino Royale (2006) - $150 million budget - $599 million box office

• Skyfall (2012) - $150-200 million budget - $1.109 billion box office

Distributors: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer & Columbia Pictures

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Once the largest, most glamorous, and most revered film studio, MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California. It is one of the world's oldest film studios.

Columbia Pictures is an American production and distribution studio of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. 

The studio released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. The name is derived from "Columbia", a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studio's logo.

In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra. It's the world's fifth largest major film studio.

Timeline:

0:00 - 0:06 - Black screen. Words 'The dead' written in Courier font in white fade into middle of screen. Words 'are alive' fade onto screen afterwards in same for and colour. There is a sting as each phrase appears, and cheering noises fade in, before the source of the sound is revealed in the next shot.

0:06 - 0:16 - Visual starts on a beat of music, shows giant skull in the centre of the shot. Camera immediately starts to pan round the skull and shows the setting. Loud music and people cheering, as well as bright, high-key lit scene make the skull seem more comical than previously implied. 

0:16 - 0:27 - Pan follows behind skeleton showing busy street. The words ‘Mexico City’ fade into the middle of the shot, in the same Courier white font and size and before. After 4 seconds the words fade out. The shot begins to drop to street levels as the words ‘Day of the Dead’ fade into the same place, and then out again after 4 seconds.

0:27 - 0:43 - Shot moves slowly forward following the crowd as it reaches eye level. A man wearing white becomes obvious to the viewer as he is walking towards the camera, opposite to everyone else.

0:43 - 0:50 - The shot follows the man, who walks past a couple standing on the side of the road. They look at the man in white, who starts to walk out of frame.

0:50 - 1:24 - The tracking shot follows the couple walking through the crowd. It is mainly a mid shot but the camera moves in for a close up at 1:02 allowing the viewer to see his eyes underneath the mask.

1:24 - 1:27 - The couple walk out of shot briefly as the camera centres on a poster outside a hotel. There is a cymbal roll sound as the poster is shown before it continues to track the couple up some stairs. Despite the opening of this film supposedly being a one-take there were a few hidden transitions as they filmed in a number of locations. This moment when there is no one in shot for a couple of seconds is most likely a ‘smart transition’, used to hide the fact that there is one.

1:27 - 1:49 - The tracking shot follows the couple up stairs and through a hotel to the lift. This location is still as crowded as the street but is darker and has more low-key lighting. 

1:49 - 2:14 - The couple stand still in the lift as it goes up. The lift is quite dark in comparison to the street. Sound effects that you would usually hear in a lift are heard in this, such as a ‘ding’ as they reach the top and the doors moving. The music changes from the bright trumpet sounds to more soulful vocals as they are in the lift, however the upbeat drums still continue. The couple seem to briefly dance to this new music before the leaving the lift, suggesting the music is non-diagetic.

2:14 - 2:23 This shot follows them leaving the lift and walking towards a room in the hotel. It is still busy with people and a large group walk past, in between the couple and the camera. At 2:22 a man crosses, his shoulder almost entirely obscuring the shot. This could be another transition as there are no people in shot.

2:23 - 2:58 - The shot follows the couple into the room and the man goes out of shot as it follows the woman lying on the bed. She then says the first line of the film ‘Where are you going?’ as she looks out of shot.

2:58 - 3:03 - The camera quickly pans round to show the man in a different suit and about to climb out the window. There is another moment with no people in shot as it pans across the room and this could be another transition, as the male actor then has had a complete costume change. 

3:03 - 3:53 - This continues the tracking shot as the male actor climbs out the window and walks along the sides of buildings. The camera tracks him from in front, then moves above to give a high-angle shot as he jumps over the gap between two buildings and the moves behind him to follow him walking. The upbeat drum rhythm heard thought the scene continues, but as he climbs out the window the iconic James Bond theme begins playing over this. The two tracks fit together, raising the question of whether the sound is diagetic or non-diagetic.

3:53 - 4:03 - The male actor speeds up his walking and ducks behind a wall. The camera continues to move forward as he raises his gun and shows his point of view; men in the window of the next building. There is then a cut to inside the building, signalling the start of the main action.