Analysis of Opening Sequences

‘From Russia with Love’ was the first film in the ‘James Bond’ franchise to have an opening sequence prior to the titles. The opening sequence for this film shows that an opening sequence can exist separately from the main part of the film and is an excellent example of an espionage thriller.

The beginning of the film, before any action takes place there is a title of a company involved in the film. ‘United Artists’ is the film studio that made the film, a branch of the main makers of the Bond films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This is followed by the infamous Bond motif known as the gun barrel sequence. The sequence starts in an unknown location and contains many enigmas. From the beginning, there is just ambient sound, this creates suspense. The suspense is created as Bond can hear footsteps behind him, which gives the idea of stalking. We are given this idea through the cross-cutting between Bond and the Blonde male. This leaves the enigmas, who is the man? Why is he following Bond? And where are they?

However, it is with these footsteps that non-diegetic score comes into the sequences. The pitch of the score changes with actions on screen and so is synchronous. The use of low-key lighting in the scene creates a more airy atmosphere and adds tension to the sequence as we can notice the characters shadows and they often appear to appear out of the darkness. As Bond is attacked and killed, there is clear violence, but not so much so that the film doesn’t loose its PG classification. The attack on bond creates anticipation as the audience is led to believe that the protagonist has just been killed in the first three minutes of the film. However, suspense is then created as the audience find out that the whole thing was some sort of training exercise and Bond is in fact, not dead. This epiphany creates even further effective enigmas such as, why was this training taking place? In conclusion, the opening sequence successes in making the viewer want to continue watching as it leads the audience with the thriller conventions of anticipation, tension and suspense.