Cinematography Task: GoldenEye Opening Sequence

GoldenEye (1995) - Opening Sequence
The begins with an establishing shot of a water dam and mountains, aswell as a plane which flies above it. The camera slowly tilts up towards the direction of the plane revealing more of the upper landscape. Then the camera tilts down ever so much to focus on the pathway around the water damn so the audience identifies the location for the next shot which is a medium-close up of Bond running down the pathway. The camera cuts back and forth to reveal the landscape and to let us know the distance that the protagonist has to run to get to his destination. As we explore the scene further, a range of close ups and extreme close ups are used to emphasise what Bond is about to do. Shots of his rope and multiple safety equipment is focused on to. At about 1:00 in a wide shot of the water dam is presented once again in a wide shot but this time the camera is tilting at a much faster pace but enough to give the audience the sense of scale. This is done by the cinematographer so that the audience develop feelings for the character - in this case fear of falling even though we haven't seen Bond's face yet. This technique is reinforced even more when the next shot is high angle which makes the protagonist feel small and inferior. The use of slow motion when Bond jumps down let's us see 'the moment' however it keeps the audience on edge because they can't see the outcome of his jump and are yet to see what will happen to him. The cinematography and editing is clever in this scene because it cuts from medium to wide shots frequently and does this very well without being distracting. As Bond reaches the ground a medium close up finally reveals his face. Overall there is a range of shots used in this scene and the ways in which they are used are proven to be effective as they keep people wanting more.