Casino Royale

Despite not falling under the genre of 'Film Noir' the opening to the James Bond film Casino Royale could easily fool an audience into believing that it does, merely from the conventions and connotations that it creates from the opening sequence (which is completely different to the remainder of the film).



For example one of the first shots captured is this:
Facial expression - The characters drooped mouth, wide eyes and slightly raised eyebrows imply that at this point the character is stressed, possibly in a dangerous situation and automatically, because of this on-edge persona the audience identifies him as perhaps an untrustworthy character and a possible villain in the plot. Typically in Film Noir films, the villian is a key character and is therefore introduced to the audience very early on in the narrative - as is done here. Themes and connotations hinted by the facial expression - such as danger, a fast-moving plot and a serious villian are all typical aspects of the Film Noir genre.

The camera shot - The low angle puts the audience in a position where they are looking up at the character, therefore he is represented as powerful and possibly scary to the audience. This is also often used in Film Noir to ensure that the audience fear the villain, therefore making suspense and tension throughout the film easy to create. The very slight tilt on the angle also distorts the audience, again making them feel on-edge and therefore interested in the plot of the film wondering what will happen next. Distorting the audience slightly is a commonly used strategy of FN, as the films generally have quite complex, fast-paced plots and if the audience are very interested (and watching intently to see what happens next), then it ensures that the audience will be able to understand and enjoy the film overall.

Another example of how Casino Royal uses Film Noir convensions is shown in this image by:
Setting: Where this particular scene is set is obviously in a large business' sky scraper and Film Noir's typical characters are usually either very rich or are very money orrientated. The very posh interior of the building implies to the audience - who know very little about this character at the time - is probably a man very high up in a successful business and therefore is quite an impressive figure. Not only the building where the opening of Casino Royal is set is typical of Film Noir, but the night-time setting is also a commonly used convention. Since the genre usually involves a great deal of mystery, running away, tension, lust and suspense and a dark knight connotes all of that. The night also means that few people are around, therefore the audience gains the impression immediately that there's something secretive and odd about this character going to his work place in the middle of the night, when no one is around.

The audience is then introduced to their hero - James Bond. Lighting- most Film Noir hero's are in some way morally ambiguous, though the audience know nothing of James at this stage in the plot, simply the lighting on his face connotes that he may be the typical FN hero. The half of his face that is lit up to almost show up as white, suggests that as a character he is good, compassionate, it reassures the audience that this is their hero. On the other hand the half of his face that is not lit, which only blends into the darkness implies that despite being the hero that doesn't mean that his hands are always clean, like most FN hero's he has perhaps killed people, broken the law, committed adultery etc. and maybe sometimes he gets lost and commits darker actions at points in the film. Typically in Film Noir, lighting is also very harsh which then creates dark, defined shadows which help to add to the theme of mystery. In this shot, behind James are a great deal of shadows created by his body and his chair - these help to create a very dark enigmatic setting (one which would easily fit into a film that fell under the genre of Film Noir).

Props: Generally, FN films do not rely heavily on props at all however almost every film of the genre features atleast one gun. In this shot, the gun is very clearly shown to the audience - a suggestion that it's an important prop which will probably be used throughout the film, since the focus of this shot, is the gun. A gun connotes every aspect of a Film Noir movie - defence, danger, power, risking life etc. The gun being in the draw could represent a secretive plot, suspense rather than a lot of obvious action - which is the structure of FN. The otherwise emptiness of the draws implies that the business office is not used for a business purpose, which implies some sort of corruption and secrecy.



Finally, this snap shot also suggests that Casino Royal has conventions of the Film Noir genre - mainly by the body language. The gun is being almost directly pointed at the camera therefore the audience are put in a position where they would feel intimidated. Yet the relaxed positioning (sitting down into the chair, one arm down and other than the gun pointing little other body language) this suggests that the villain is powerful and doesn't need body language to reinforce his speech because he's already powerful enough. This links to Film Noir because the villian is typically very dangerous and dark, the relaxed facial expression also implies that he's very used to handling guns - and as I stated previously, guns are a very key prop in the FN genre. The tight grip on the gun is an implication of a tight grip on the world of crime and corruption, a world in which Film Noir movies are set in.