Real Thriller Analysis - Skyfall

Skyfall opens with a long shot of a silhouette of a man walking towards us, the lighting is low key high contrast chiaroscuro, so we can instantly tell this is a thriller. The shot is deliberately out of focus, creating a sense of mystery about this man for the viewer. He continues to walk until this shot becomes in focus and a close up of the man; we see it is Daniel Craig as James Bond. He lifts his gun and the shot becomes an extreme close up of his pistol, connoting a violent role. We then have a tracking shot of him walk past and the shot reverses to a tracking shot of him walking away from us and towards a door. Next, as he enters the room, we see a point of view long shot of a dead body on the floor, this point of view shot continues as bond surveys the room, revealing to us another dead body in the corner. We then have a close up of a laptop with the hard drive ripped out, and then later on an over the shoulder shot of the man’s wound and a close up of him treating it. Next we have a medium tracking shot of Bond leaving the room and going downstairs, the lighting is still low key, reinforcing this thriller convention to the viewer. We then get a long shot of Bond after he has exited the building; this establishes a location to the viewer of an old fashioned, historic city. A tracking medium shot shows Bond enter the car with the woman and talking to her, presumably his partner. We then have a parallel edit to see a close up of Judy Dench as ‘M’; this is to show her displeased reaction to Bond. We then see various long shots of the two cars in the chase scene and numerous medium shots of Bond and his partner, showing their reaction to the situation they are in of a car chase and the difference in how the two characters handle it. Bond seems to remain cool and calm, whereas his partner seems much more agitated and not quite as in control with her emotions as Bond. Later, we see cause and effect shots of bullets being fired and their outcome, such as hitting the police bikes, and then the bikes flying off out of control. There are many shots in this fight scene to anchor to the viewer this idea of chaos, and as we keep cutting to medium shots of 'M' she becomes more displeased with what is happening. For the motor bike chase scene, there are numerous match on action edits of Bond on the bike. During the chase scene when Bond is chasing the criminal across roof tops, we see an extreme long shot of the city; it seems like an Arabic style city, . Even in this scene, Bond still seems to remain calm and in control of the situation. There are many more match on action edits, showing the action from different angles.

When Bond has jumped to land on the train and he nearly falls off, this is the first time he is seen to not be calm as he struggles to get back on top of the train. We then see more cause and effect edits, showing the bullets being fired and their outcome. The two characters (Bond and the Killer) are binary oppositions of agent and criminal. Again there are many shots of them both, again anchoring this chaotic feel to the scene. Later, we see a long shot of the train to show the destruction caused by this fight scene. When the two of them are fighting on top of the train, the camera continues to be blocked by trees, creating a sense of realism and mystery as there are some bits the viewer doesn't see. During the entire fight scene, we continue to cut to shots of his partner and of 'M' through parallel editing, showing their reactions to what is happening in the fight scene. We then see a point of view shot of his partner looking down her sniper sight, this Point of view shot is a close up through the cross-hair sniper sight. We then see another point of view shot of her looking towards the tunnel, revealing to the viewer that she doesn't have long to make her decision on whether or not to shoot, adding tension. We continue to cut to 'M' with a medium shot to show her facial expressions, she doesn't know what to do. We then see a cause and effect edit of the bullet being fired and it hitting Bond in the chest, Bond falling and landing in the river below. We then cut to a point of view shot reverse shot of his assistant and the criminal looking at each other. Finally we cut to 'M' hearing the news of his death and it begins to rain, this is pathetic fallacy. The equilibrium in this film is Bond going about his everyday job of being an agent, the disruption is Bond being shot in the chest and falling into the river as Bond normally always wins, and finally the resolution will come later in the film.

For the titles, it is full screen, most of the colours are dark and the titles overlaying are white, again another example of the use of binary oppositions. The titles are in a sans serif font, suggesting this film will focus on action as well as enigma. The titles show the important people involved in making the film, such as the main actors, producers, directors.

The sound begins as non-diegetic ominous music, linking in with the mystery of Bonds character as he is a secret agent. This music is very loud at the start, then continues quiet building throughout. We hear the diegetic sound of 'M's' voice talking to Bond. As he leaves the building and goes into the city, we begin to hear the everyday sounds of cars and people. The music is synchronous with the action and builds throughout the fight scene, the diegetic sound of bullets, crashes and police sirens are emphasised to ensure the viewer can hear them clearly. Again on the train, the diegetic bullet sounds are emphasised as in real life they wouldn't be heard as clearly on a train. The non-diegetic chaotic music matches the chaos in the film and reaches a crescendo for Bond just surviving and jumping onto the train. Almost immediately it begins to pick up again, we hear the diegetic sounds of kicks and punches, which are clearly emphasised as they wouldn't be heard in real life over the sound of a train, they may have been done using Foley sound. Still the music builds and reaches its final crescendo when Bond is shot, we then hear the emphasised diegetic sound of Bond hitting the water and the non-diegetic soundtrack of 'Skyfall' by Adele comes in for the title scene.  

I could not find the full length opening for this thriller, so I have embedded the trailer for Skyfall onto my blob instead.