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Sunday, 19 March 2017

Spectre - Film Analysis

Spectre is a 2015  Action film directed by Sam Mendes that follows MI6 agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) as he travels the world as he try's to un earth a mysterious criminal organisation that has influenced his life for many years, while also leaning more about his past.

The film begins with a blank screen saying "the dead are alive", which then jump cuts to a establishing panning crane shot of the a large festival on a wide street with hundreds of people crowded round each other, dancing and cheering. In the centre of the shot is a tall float of a skeleton which the camera then pans around revealing the rest of the street is filled with people, in every inch of it. This hectic image connotes a sense of commotion and disorientation as the extras on screen move around constantly, with the viewers eyes darting between them. This idea of disorientation is added on by the large skull float in the centre of the screen, which the camera rotates around, presenting images of death and possible danger that are associated with skulls and skeletons, which links with the text seen at the beginning, presenting a theme of danger from the beginning of the shot. The diegetic sounds of drums and cheering add to this idea of movement and commotion, as the fast pace of the music fits the exotic festival atmosphere which is being presented. All the people seen on screen at the festival are wearing black clothes, with many of them wearing again skull masks, adding to the dark atmosphere of death, which contrasts with the cheery idea of a festival.

The camera then continues to rotate around the skull float, lowering down towards the crowd, showing the mass of people at the festival, as it extends all the way up the road. The commotion of crowed is still strong in this shot, but is now seen more wide spread, leading the audience to not know were to look again. As the shot continues however, the camera stops moving, showing the full street, as a man in a white suit walks through the crowed, standing out from the other people. This use of clever mise en scene highlights this character from the crowed, as his clothes contrast that of all other characters seen in the shot, connoting the idea that this is an important character to the audience, making them focus in on him from the rest of the hectic crowd, instead of taking in all the surrounding people.


As the camera pans around, following the man in the white suit, all the other people in the crowed are almost ignored by the audience, as now he has become the center of attention in the scene. This changes once again as the camera follows the man in the white suit past a group of people, were he disappears in to the crowed, leaving the shot, leaving a man and woman stood in center shot, making them the new characters of importance. This is different to the first man, as they do blend in with the crowed, leading to the audience now believing the man in the suit is the main character of Bond, as blending in to his surroundings is in his skill set. This is a interesting way of introducing the lead character, as it does not simply show them, but has the audience work out who this person is, from their own knowledge.  











After the man in the white suit has gone, the camera then follows Bond and the woman as they walk through the crowed, up a flight of stairs in to a building, up a elevator and finally in to a room, all in one shot, which has been the same shot since the very beginning of the movie. As the two character are moving through the scene, the camera is constantly pointing at them, moving alongside them, with the two of them moving closer and further away from the camera, leading to different close ups, wide shots and long shots as the camera moves along with the characters.











As the two characters finally enter the room, and the woman goes to lay on the bed, with camera following her, it is then revealed to the audience that the man is in fact Bond, who is stood by the window, without a mask now, in his iconic suit, leading to his first real reveal. He then exits through the window on to the roofs of the buildings seen before, marking the cut of the film so far, which them continues to track him once again. As he walks down the the buildings, the music switches to non - diegetic, with the same music as before, but now has aspects of the James Bond theme song in it, showing the beginning of the action aspect of the film, as Bond has now truly entered it.

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