Film Study: Casino Royale

This was an assignment for my Story Development for Animation class.


Casino Royale
dir: Martin Campbell
dp: Phil Meheux

1. 180 Rule
This is the first poker scene.  I tried to pick an example with a large group.  Because these are quick thumbnails I wanted to make sure the characters were clear and put a "B" for Bond and a "V" for the villain.  For the duration of the scene the camera remains on Bond's left keeping him on the right of the frame as he faces the villain across the table.  This changes when the villain's cards are revealed which is subtle and something I would never have noticed without doing this study.  The camera returns to the original 180 line at the very last panel as the villain collects his chips.  (Excuse the numbers, they mean nothing)

The only time the camera doesn't follow the 180 rule is the addition of the girl but it's not noticeable and one spot in the establishing shots of the table.  It was so quick that it almost seemed like an editing mistake.

2. Cutting on Action
This is Bond jumping from crane to crane.

3. Following the Focal point
This continues with Bond jumping from the second crane to the construction site below following the bad guy.  This is very fast and every shot picks up almost exactly where the last one left off on the cut making something like a chase very easy to follow.

The circle is the focal point and the squiggle is supposed to represent when the focal point moves between cuts.  This only really happens when Bond lands on the roof of a building but it's so fast that it's barely noticeable and the action flows through the point anyway.

4. Shot's that add to storytelling

The first shot (1) is Bond walking into the hotel room and the camera rack focuses on a broken wine glass.  This is symbolic because he then finds the girl in the shower crying fully clothed.  Earlier they had fought off two bad guys in the stairwell killing them.  This was her first taste of what Bond does and she breaks much like the fragile wine glass.

The second shot (2) is after Bond's drink has been poisoned.  In the FG he sips his drink out of focus and we then see the villain in focus as he looks on.  Even though Bond is out of focus we see the poisoned drink, the sip of the drink, and the villain in one shot.

The third (3) is just one panel in a multitude of shots as Bond races into the bathroom suffering from the effects of poison.  The shot is blown out making the white, sterile bathroom hazy as the camera circles bond and tilts.

The last (4) is the girl at the end of the movie betraying Bond.  She carries the money to the bad guys and as Bond chases her down through the city we only see her through fences, gates, etc.  This could symbolize that neither the audience nor Bond knows that she's being blackmailed to betray him.