I watched Skyfall for the first time yesterday and while watching I made a conscious effort to look out for sequences that progressed the narrative in few shots, resulting in few edits. After watching and analysing Goodfellas, I've been far more aware of methods and techniques directors use for driving the narrative forward without a detailed step-by-step of the characters actions.
The scene I'm dissecting is used by Mendes to transport Bond from London to Shanghai then locate and intercept a target. What caught my attention is that all this is done in a scene of around ninety seconds and without the use of any dialogue
This shot (above) centers a particularly noticeable building and as the camera gets closer and closer to it, keeping the swimming pool on the roof center frame, it becomes apparent to the audience its safe to assume our protagonist is somewhere close by.
The shot that follows confirms this, within around fifteen seconds of jumping continents, Bond is located and the entire audience is satisfied that he's now in Shanghai (no need to explain or show how he turned up there). The location is typically Bond and engaging, and the action of swimming carries the location shift as its more-or-less a continuation of the rigorous tests/exercises he was put through in London minuets ago...
A quick cut to show he's out of the pool and, just like in London moments earlier, he's panting again, showing signs of his vulnerability (2nd below). Another interesting technique to mention is the use of tracks when introducing a character to his new location, in the case of the shot above, the camera quickly tracks along side him as he swims a length of the pool.
This sequence serves two functions. Firstly, Mendes needs Bond engaged in some activity in Shanghai that explains to the audience where he is I mean for example Craig could be sat in a tourist information looking at a map, however that that wouldn't have quite the same effect as a penthouse swimming pool. Secondly, everything about this shot is saying something about his character. He's panting therefore out of shape and vulnerable. Also, he's completely alone and flooded in pale blue light, (he's even wearing blue swimming shorts) suggesting a cold, hardheartedness. Not only this but perhaps a 'cool', blase attitude to the job at hand. The same colour is repeated in almost every shot from now on in the sequence. Due to the lack of speech, clever use of colour and the emotional attachments that come with them subconsciously suggest moods to audiences without the actor having to 'act' a great deal. In this case his performance does go some way to reiterate the tone, glaring and unflinching, suggesting a detachment from any emotional softness.
The next shot he's sat in a bar, still high above the city so that the location change isn't too jarring. Movement has been used again too, just like before when introducing a new locale, in this case its a slow, smooth track along the bar towards Craig. Note the entirely blue building to the left of Craig, implying further emotion to the scene.
The next cut is of one to his phone as its the message that's received that progresses the narrative and tells the audience everything they need to know. Reading off the phone, the audience now know where Bond needs to go, what time he has to get there by and how long he has until his target arrives, all in around three seconds and without any need for speech. The use of blue on his phone and even on the signs at the airport continuously reminding the audience of the emotion of the scene.
The scene I'm dissecting is used by Mendes to transport Bond from London to Shanghai then locate and intercept a target. What caught my attention is that all this is done in a scene of around ninety seconds and without the use of any dialogue
This shot, fairly obviously, establishes the new location. The use of a title confirms to the audience what and more importantly where they're look at. The next two edits cut to two different helicopter shots of the same city, getting closer to the city each time it cuts.
The shot that follows confirms this, within around fifteen seconds of jumping continents, Bond is located and the entire audience is satisfied that he's now in Shanghai (no need to explain or show how he turned up there). The location is typically Bond and engaging, and the action of swimming carries the location shift as its more-or-less a continuation of the rigorous tests/exercises he was put through in London minuets ago...
A quick cut to show he's out of the pool and, just like in London moments earlier, he's panting again, showing signs of his vulnerability (2nd below). Another interesting technique to mention is the use of tracks when introducing a character to his new location, in the case of the shot above, the camera quickly tracks along side him as he swims a length of the pool.
This sequence serves two functions. Firstly, Mendes needs Bond engaged in some activity in Shanghai that explains to the audience where he is I mean for example Craig could be sat in a tourist information looking at a map, however that that wouldn't have quite the same effect as a penthouse swimming pool. Secondly, everything about this shot is saying something about his character. He's panting therefore out of shape and vulnerable. Also, he's completely alone and flooded in pale blue light, (he's even wearing blue swimming shorts) suggesting a cold, hardheartedness. Not only this but perhaps a 'cool', blase attitude to the job at hand. The same colour is repeated in almost every shot from now on in the sequence. Due to the lack of speech, clever use of colour and the emotional attachments that come with them subconsciously suggest moods to audiences without the actor having to 'act' a great deal. In this case his performance does go some way to reiterate the tone, glaring and unflinching, suggesting a detachment from any emotional softness.
The next shot he's sat in a bar, still high above the city so that the location change isn't too jarring. Movement has been used again too, just like before when introducing a new locale, in this case its a slow, smooth track along the bar towards Craig. Note the entirely blue building to the left of Craig, implying further emotion to the scene.
The next cut is of one to his phone as its the message that's received that progresses the narrative and tells the audience everything they need to know. Reading off the phone, the audience now know where Bond needs to go, what time he has to get there by and how long he has until his target arrives, all in around three seconds and without any need for speech. The use of blue on his phone and even on the signs at the airport continuously reminding the audience of the emotion of the scene.
As the track toward Craig has continued, the audience are looking at a close up of his face. His performance once again is one of intense consideration, he looks serious, preparing himself and the audience for some action that's bound to follow. The use of sound is worth noting at this point in the scene, the sound of an plane landing rises up out of the atmos of the bar, signifying, as a result of the message, where Bond will go next. Sure enough, the next shot is one of a busy airport terminal. The jump making perfect sense due to the information the audience were given in the moments prior to the cut.
In all, the sequence cleverly utilizes sound and editing, just as Scorsese does in Goodfellas to quicken the pace of the film and get a lot of information successfully across to the audience in a very short time.
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