A film that I had the privilege of recently seeing (twice) at the cinema is the Bond film "Skyfall". The Bond films fulfill, and you can most definitely say established the conventions of action thriller films throughout cinematic history to today's blockbusters. The most recent installment in the series is no exception to the conventions of the series and the genre and this is what has the made film succeed in the way it has resonated with audiences and critics. Whilst not a particularly favourite scene of mine, the extended opening sequence of the film is one of the finer examples of strong action openings, especially in recent years. I do not have a clip at hand, but I am sure my memory of my dual cinematic experiences watching "Skyfall" will serve well in analysing it.
The film opens with the institution logos of Columbia Pictures and MGM, before the film properly begins with a dramatic shot of an out-of-focus James Bond in complete silhouette at the end of a darkened corridor. As he approaches the camera and comes into focus during the extended shot , a light source makes his eyes, and only this region of his face, visibly lit, before he raises his gun. This is a striking opening image, something that is typically not featured in a mainstream Hollywood film, but really adds to the visual flair, making this shot especially memorable.
Bond then proceeds to enter a room, where something has not gone to plan, with a visibly deceased agent on the bathroom floor and another seriously injured in an armchair. Bond communicates to his superiors via an earpiece, who we cut to during their discussion, establishing that they are in a remote location, obviously London that is colour graded grey to contrast with the visual heat of Bond's location. M and Bond discuss the missing hard drive and she orders him to abandon the dying agent in the room and maintain his pursuit of the suspect. As Bond follows these orders and leaves, the camera follows his silhouette as he exits the building and into the bright streets of a middle eastern city, where another female agent, Eve, awaits in a jeep. He promptly gets in, and the chase begins.
The rest of the sequence escalates in true Bond fashion, with Bond in pursuit of the villain of the sequence across Istanbul and into the countryside via the top of a train, that he had previously torn apart using a crane, whilst rapidly cutting between the perspectives of Bond and Eve during the mission and M at the MI6 headquarters in London, as she gives each of them orders over their earpieces. The lengthy sequence ends with Bond being accidentally shot by Eve on M's orders and sent hurtling towards the depths of the waters below.
Overall, this opening is really successful as it truly exhilarates the audience and pushes the film forward at a breakneck pace through camerawork and editing, a dramatic score, the enigma of the staple 'MacGuffin' (in this case the hard drive) and Bond's (albeit, incredibly obvious) fate, as well as of course an exciting series of set pieces that involve plenty of violence and destruction. With our final opening piece, we wish to employ a number of the same conventions in order to really draw the audience in, such as the constant awareness that the various characters are working together and communicating with each other from different locations and perspectives is very interesting to us and something we will definitely incorporate into our opening. The creation of enigmas is also something we shall utilise, as well as the general 'wow' factor that the opening to "Skyfall" has, which can be achieved by making the opening a large set piece of a sequence set in a major location that the audiences will, hopefully, instantly recognise and connect with.