From Russia With Love Analysis

The short extract from with Russia With Love which i will be analyzing, is a key part which can potentially be used in the film making for the opening sequence.
The sequence opens with an establishing shot of what can be denoted as a port shown by the sea and boats that are there. The scene then cuts to the port where the audience are presented with a long shot of a woman in white, setting her character from all the others who are all in white. The long shot also shows a man coming from the right shown to be following her by looking up at her. The asynchronous sound and hard high key lighting keep it natural and real. However, it is also a sense of irony as everything seems to be so in place despite being followed .

The scene then fades to a extreme long shot where a scene is set near a building. The long shot shows the women turning around suggesting that she knows that someone is following her, or thinks someone is. The long shot also helps the sense of being followed from afar. This as a whole creates an enigma of why the person is possibly following her. The long shot cuts to a medium close up which shows an elderly man dressed in a formal attire. The fact that here no narrative dialogue is used creates tension. This overall, suggests that something bad is going to happen later on in the scene. A cut to inside the building presents low key lighting where sense of mystery is used again.

A long shot of a crowd shows Bond walking off in a suspicious way from the crowd. A medium close up shows him dressed up in formal grey clothes, suggesting he is trying to fit in to the crowd, meaning that he is potentially up to something. As the scene develops cross cutting between the woman and Bond pick up showing the relationship that the two have together. The quick cross cuts pick up the pace adding to the tension. A medium close up shows Bond taking off his glasses which again says that he is trying to hide. A quick eyeline match of the women shows that she understands what he is doing, suggesting that the two are being discreet about something. The shadows that are present in the scene also suggest that the man who is following her could come out from behind a wall somewhere due to it being so dark inside.

The scene then cuts to a tracking shot which is in a long shot. It follows a man in a building where all you can see is his black shadow. The asynchronous sound of the person talking in the background keeps the whole setting natural despite what is happening. The scene then cross cuts between the three characters which quickens as the scene goes on. This also adds that something is going on. The score plays when the women puts down an object. It is synchronous which also makes it mysterious and builds up the tension that is about to come. The score is quite ominous with the bells being dark which also makes it seem suspenseful.

As the scene develops with frequent cuts the medium shot of the man getting hit with a mysterious figure creates a couple of seconds of a red herring. The character is shown to be wearing the same suit as Bond which for the audience quickly makes it seem that it is him. However, him standing up shows him with blonde hair, which again creates an enigma of who his character is. The scene cuts to a point of view shot where we see Bond opening the paper that he has in his hand which is possibly a map to a particular event. This further creates an enigma of what Bond has possibly seen.

Above is the clip that i analysed. From the clip several techniques i discovered could be used when doing my opening sequence for thriller. By using enigma's throughout the sequence with some being answered and some answered, it creates a sense of mystery and therefore, builds up the tension. The use of cross cuts and red herrings also play a part as well. By giving the audience false information, it helps make the scene suspenseful. All of these techniques could be used in the opening sequence that is created for the thriller.