Film Opening Deconstruction- Skyfall

This clip is the opening train fight scene to Skyfall, the director of this film is Sam Mendes. The genre of the opening scene would be best described as action thriller. Sam Mendes uses many different media techniques to portray the main representation of gender.

The scene begins with a man checking his blood stained shirt. This could be seen as foreshadowing as towards the end of the scene he is the character who is to be shot. We then move on to the two men fighting, in suits. The fact that the men are wearing suits symbolises their masculinity. The suit also represents a man with a high social class and status. This reinforces the idea of the scene representing gender and gender stereotypes.

As the scene moves on the music rises and builds to create a sense of tension, and suspense. This is done by the repetition of the music. The use of panning from the car back to the train increases the pace of the scene. The pace is also sped up when the camera tracks the train to create the sense that the audience is moving along with the characters. Throughout the scene there is a potential possibility of death, but neither of the men shows any signs of fear. This shows male masculinity and emphasises the representation of gender and men being more powerful than women.

We are then introduced to a new character. We are thought to believe that she is very powerful as, she is introduced by a panning shot looking up on her to make her appear bigger. This could be seen as juxtaposition because it is usually a man who has the most power. Whereas in this case, the woman has the power over the situation. She is also perceived as the main focal point of the clip because she is mostly in the centre of the frame. This emphasises the idea that the main representation of the clip is gender and how it can be switched. Also the fact that she is behind the scene could suggest that the women stay out of the physical work. This reinforces the idea of gender stereotypes.

Representation of gender is also presented when the woman gets out the car and sets up the gun. This could be interpreted as gender difference because it shows she has no physical strength. Whereas the two men are not using weapons, only physical fighting. Throughout the fight the director uses high shots over one of the men to suggest that Bond is winning the fight and is the focal point. Furthermore this shows that Bond has more power over the other man.

Towards the end of the scene the pace is quickened by the changing between scenes and repetition of the music. This also creates suspense of what is going to happen next. The music and pace then suddenly stops, when the woman takes the shot. The scene is set as quite bright; this is until the man is shot. The scene then becomes more dimmed to emphasis what has just happened. The director also echoes the sound of the gun shot to slow down the scene and emphasise that the woman shot the wrong man. The long shot helps to establish Bonds loss of power, by making him seem small compared to the scenery.

To conclude the opening scene to “Skyfall” uses many different media techniques to help show that the main representation is gender.