Thursday, October 8, 2009

How does the opening sequence of ‘James Bond; Casino Royale 007’ demonstrate the conventions of film noire?

Here is a link, to the opening title sequence of 'James Bond, Casino Royale:'


Film noire is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. The film noire period was from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. The word ‘noire’ is French for ‘black’, the term ‘film noire’ describes a type of film that is very dark in it’s outlook and is associated with a low-key black and white visual style.

The aim of old film noire was to leave the audience with a distinctively down-beat conclusion and bitter taste. Old film noir at the time it was featured was a new cinematic technique that made a use of different lighting effects, filtered light, dreary settings and generally dark themes and characterizations. The main camera angles used in film noire are dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. The main types of films that were shown in film noire were ones that had a good guy and a bad guy. This was so they could show the good guy in bright lighting and the bad guy in dark lighting. James Bond is shown in dark lighting in the opening sequence so this represents that he is bad. To continue with this it shows us him killing somebody; therefore it confirms to us that he is bad. Yet it makes you wonder why they want us to think of him as bad, because he is a hero in other consequences. Film noire now seems to be used in flashbacks and memories of characters.

When Casino Royale used film noire in their opening scene, it was for us to meet James Bond and to see what type of character he is. For example, we get the impression that James Bond is a bad guy in this opening scene. This is because the lighting is dark when we see him killing another person. The opening sequence of Casino Royale seems to be like a gangster film, so it gives us a different impression to what the other James Bond films do. For example, it is hard to understand why the writers and directors used film noire in the opening sequence. This is because James Bond isn’t all bad guy and they make out that he is.

Flashbacks are used in a lot of noire films. The flashbacks are often narrated of have voiceovers. A film called ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is a good example of this as the whole story is narrated in flashbacks and what occurred of his death. This connects to Casino Royale because the opening sequence of it is a flashback of something that has already happened. For example, James Bond is talking to somebody about something that has happened and to show us what did happen, there are flashbacks.

In conclusion, the conventions of film noire that James Bond Casino Royale uses are dark and bright lighting and the idea of flashbacks.

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