Skyfall: Scene-by-Scene

To engage the viewer, Skyfall begins in media res. Bond is in the midst of a mission and his colleagues have been injured. “Ronson’s down,” he says. “He needs a medical evac.” The tinny voice of M (Judy Dench) can be heard through Bond’s earpiece. “Where is it?” she asks. “Is it there?” This line of dialogue contributes to audience engagement by encouraging the audience to speculate about what Bond is attempting to obtain. “We deliberately don’t say what has happened here up until this point,” director Sam Mendes says in his commentary for the film. At this point in the narrative, the score by Thomas Newman contributes significantly to audience engagement. The high tempo bass notes and percussion contributes to a sense of action and excitement as Bond tends to the injured Ronson. Narratives always begin with a disruption to the normal state of affairs. Skyfall is no exception. As Gareth Mallory explains towards the beginning of the film: “Three months ago, you lost the computer drive containing the identity of almost every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe.” The files were stolen by a disgruntled ex-spy called Silva (Javier Bardem) who seeks revenge after M abandoned him when he was captured by a foreign power. The stolen files are the first step in a confrontation between Silva and the British secret service. This complication forms the basis for the entire narrative, setting off a chain of cause and effect which creates conflict between Bond and Silva.

The opening shot of the film is composed to mimic the gun barrel logo that appears at the start of James Bond films. Bond’s steps into a hallway, backlit by warm, golden light. Moving further down the hallway, his piercing eyes highlighted by a shaft of warm light. This combination of shadow and warm light helps to establish Bond as the film’s protagonist while the composition of the shot mimics the traditional opening of a James Bond film. “What you see here now is, of course, another version of the gun barrel logo,” Mendes says in his commentary.

Towards the end of the opening sequence, director Mendes uses a number of production elements – including editing and sound – to create suspense and engage the audience. Mendes cuts back and forth between Bond and Patrice, who are struggling with each other on top of the train and Eve who is pursuing them. Cutting away from the struggle contributes significantly to audience engagement by prolonging the drama. The dramatic music continues to increase in intensity as Eve emerges from the ruined car with a rifle, crouching to take a shot. Mendes cuts to a point of view shot through the rifle’s sights. There are a series of close ups as he cuts back and forth between the sights, the look of concentration on her face and Bond. “I may have a shot,” Eve says. There is a mid shot of M, the camera dollying in the speakerphone. Mendes cuts rapidly between mid shot of Bond, the sights and a close up of Eve. “It’s not clean,” she says. The music continues to rise in intensity and the pace of editing becomes faster until M finally says, “Take the bloody shot.” There is a sharp crack as the rifle discharges and Bond falls from the roof of the train. Throughout much of this scene, Mendes uses loud non-diegetic

music and fast paced editing to create a sense of action and excitement. When Bond is hit by the bullet, the music stops and there is silence, save for the ragged sound of Eve breathing and the desolate sound of wind. To draw out the suspense over Bond’s fate, Mendes cuts to a shot of M and then Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) as they wait for a response. Finally, he cuts to a shot of the speakerphone, the silence continuing for a moment before Eve says, “Agent down.”

M turns abruptly and walks to the window. The camera dollies in slowly on her back as raindrops fall. Mendes cuts to a closeup of M staring at the bleak weather, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly to convey the weight of her decision. The sound of rain transitions to the roar of the river as Bond plunges over a waterfall and disappears beneath the surface.

Mirroring the style of previous films in the franchise, the opening credit sequence of Skyfall is highly stylised.

“In Skyfall, Kleinman’s sixth outing with the franchise, the viewer is completely immersed within the mind of Bond as he sinks to the bottom of a riverbed after being shot by friendly fire during the film’s climactic cold opening,” writes Ben Radatz. “Set in the depths and ruins of his own private thoughts and memories, the sequence is a

combination of many analogies: his past and current emotional state, his uncertain future, his many indistinguishable misdeeds and duties flashing before his eyes. It is the first Bond sequence, and the first Bond film, to dig into 007’s psychological past, both using his childhood home as an emotional safehouse and a prison, giving his character greater depth and a vulnerability more in step with creator Ian Fleming’s incarnation of the gallant, yet flawed, superspy.” In the narrative, the audience is encouraged to identify with Bond, the film’s protagonist. The opening credit sequence takes the audience on a journey through the character’s mind.”

After the opening credit sequence, Mendes fades into an establishing shot of MI6 at night. He cuts to a shot of M sitting at her desk, the sound of thunder and rain contributing to a sense of melancholy. The camera dollies in on M

who is sitting at her desk, typing. She raises one hand and brushes it against her face in a gesture of sadness. Mendes cuts to a close up of the laptop screen which has the word ‘Obituary’ next to a black and white photograph of Bond.

Mise en scene contributes significantly to character development when Mendes cuts to a shot of Bond recovering from his wound. At the beginning of this scene, there is a shot

of Bond laying on a bed with a beautiful woman draped over him. The room is filled with natural, predawn light which gives the shot a morose and desolate feel. The stone wall behind the bed is cold and grey. This sense of melancholy is reinforced by the cool blue of Bond’s clothing. He stares into the distance and sips from a beer bottle emotionlessly, ignoring the woman beside him. As he removes the bottle from his mouth, his hand drops apathetically to his side. “You can tell from this one shot and the shots that follow that he’s still struggling,” says Mendes the commentary. “You see his wounds, you see his state of mind and even though he’s dropped out in this beautiful, rather desolate location on the coastline of Turkey, he’s kind of a solitary and lonely figure.”

Mendes cuts to another shot of Bond later that day. Although the light in this scene is comparatively warmer, it only serves to accentuate Bond’s grizzled appearance. His chin is covered with stubble and his face is gaunt. He scowls and grimaces, chewing a couple of painkillers. Filmed at twilight, the next shot has been colour graded to give it an overall blue tint which again expresses how despondent Bond feels. After the scene in the bar, Mendes cuts to another shot of Bond in the early hours of the next morning: hunched over the bar, head resting on his forearms and a morose expression on his face. The mise en scene in this shot conveys a sense of unhappiness. The shot is dominated by blue tones: his suit jacket and shirt, the glimpse of water and land beyond the ramshackle bar. The use of lighting also reinforces this as Mendes cuts to a wider shot of Bond reaching for a bottle of alcohol. The key light in this shot comes from the overcast sky, reflecting off the water and into the bar. Bond and the entire interior is backlit, creating a sense of gloom and reinforcing how far the character has fallen. There is a close up of Bond as he hears the voice of a news reporter saying, “Early reports from the scene indicate at least six dead, many more injured, with victims being evacuated to local hospitals within minutes of the explosion.”

After the devastating terrorist attack on MI6, Mendes cuts to a shot of M paying her respects to the dead agents. There is a shot of several coffins draped with British flags, the camera slowly moves down and tilts up to reveal the caskets stretching into the distance and M standing at the end of the room. This camera movement accentuates the number of coffins and emphasises the burden that M feels. Moments later, Mendes cuts to a close up of her grim expression. “I’m going to find whoever did this,” she says.

When Bond confronts Q at her house, Mendes uses handheld camera movement to convey the tension between these characters. While they’re talking, the camera moves restlessly which subtly helps to establish their strained relationship. “The scene between M and Bond in M’s house is a handheld scene that’s very static because I just wanted it to be uncomfortable,” says Mendes in his commentary for the film. “I just didn’t want it to settle. It felt too set.”

M: Where the hell have you been?Bond: Enjoying death. 007 reporting for duty.M: Why didn’t you call?Bond: You didn’t get the postcard? You should try it some time. Get away from it all. It really lends perspective.M: Ran out of drink where you were, did they?Bond: What was it you said? “Take the bloody shot.”M: I made a judgment call.Bond: You should have trusted me to finish the job.M: It was the possibility of losing you or the certainty of losing all those other agents. I made the only decision I could and you know it.Bond: I think you lost your nerve.M: What do you expect, a bloody apology? You know the rules of the game. You’ve been playing it long enough. We both have.Bond: Maybe too long.M: Speak for yourself.Bond: Ronson didn’t make it, did he?M: No.Bond: So this is it. We’re both played out.M: Well, if you believe that, why did you come back?Bond: Good question.M: Because we’re under attack. And you know we need you.Bond: Well, I’m here.M: You’ll have to be debriefed and declared fit for active service. You can only return to duty when you’ve passed the tests, so take them seriously. And a shower might be in order.Bond: I’ll go home and change.M: Oh, we’ve sold your flat, put your things into storage. Standard procedure on the death of an unmarried employee with no next of kin. You should have called.Bond: I’ll find a hotel.M: Well, you’re bloody well not sleeping here.

Shortly after Bond’s return to London, Mendes uses a combination of music and editing to structure time, compressing the tests that Bond has to undergo into a few seconds of screen time. The sequence begins with a shot of a heart rate monitor, the camera dollies left to reveal Bond on a treadmill. “We’ve attempted to trace the computer message,” says Tanner, “but it was it was sent by an asymmetrical security algorithm, which bounced the signal all over the globe through over a thousand different servers. And now that they’ve accessed M’s codes, it’s only a matter of time before they’re able to decrypt the list.” The conversation continues when Mendes cuts to a shot of Bond doing sit-ups, then to him doing chin ups. The use dialogue and music give the montage a sense of continuity, helping to compress the long process of performing these tests into less than a minute of screen time. “You know, we can always do this later,” Tanner says as the montage ends.

As they leave the room, Bond collapses exhausted, backlit by harsh fluorescent lights and the decrepit walls of MI6’s new base of operations. This use of mise en scene contributes to the sense that his near-fatal injury has left him exhausted and out of shape. In his commentary for the film, Mendes reflects on his use of montage to convey important exposition to the audience: “We have this training sequence which I sort of shot and designed, along with Roger Deakins, to be almost a montage. As if it’s one continuous speech by Tanner in which he’s delivering the information, there’s quite a lot of information here: who they think or who they’re guessing is attacking MI6.”

The character of Bond is developed further in the next scene. This scene begins with a mid-shot of Bond pulling out a revolver and firing rounds into a paper target. Mendes cuts in to a close up of the target showing a bullet hole several inches to the left of its head. He cuts back to Bond who looks frustrated, massaging the wound in his shoulder with one hand. There is a pull focus to the examiner who stands to one side, watching impassively. Mendes cuts to a full shot of Bond who prepares himself for the next attempt. Cutting in to a close up of his face, Mendes pulls focus to the revolver which shakes noticeably. This combination of editing, acting and camera techniques all contribute to the sense that Bond has yet to recover from his injury. When he misses the next shot, Mendes cuts to a close up emphasising his frustration. The camera tracks Bond as he advances quickly towards the target, arm outstretched, firing rounds. Mendes cuts to a wider shot which shows the target riddled with bullets.

In the scene when Bond is questioned by the psychologist, Mendes uses harsh fluorescent lighting to make the scene more tense. “As Stanley Kubrick proved in Doctor Strangelove with good overhead lighting you can hold the master shot for much longer and then bring a kind of tension to the frame,” he says in the commentary for the film. In this scene, Bond’s dialogue helps to establish the character for the audience.

Psychologist: I’d like to start with some simple word associations. Just tell me the first word that pops into your head. For example, I might say “Day” and you might say…Bond: Wasted.Psychologist: All right. Gun.Bond: Shot.Psychologist: Agent.Bond: Provocateur.Psychologist: Woman.Bond: Provocatrix.Psychologist: Heart.Bond: Target.Psychologist: Bird.Bond: Sky.Psychologist: M.Bond: Bitch.Psychologist: Sunlight.Bond: Swim.Psychologist: Moonlight.Bond: Dance.Psychologist: Murder.Bond: Employment.Psychologist: Country.Bond: England.Psychologist: Skyfall. Skyfall.Bond: Done.

In the subsequent scene, mise en scene and sound are used to convey the sense that Bond has hit rockbottom. Mendes cuts to a shot of Bond backlit by harsh fluorescent light in a dismal washroom. He removes his shirt, grunting with pain and grimacing. Mendes cuts to a close up as Bond as he removes a pen knife and pierces the wound, a trickle of blood running down his chest. The camera dollies in on his expression of intense pain before Mendes cuts to a shot of his hands washing the bloody shrapnel. He pokes the shrapnel gingerly with one finger. Mendes cuts to a shot of Bond who emerges from the darkness, handing a ziplock bag of bullet fragments to someone before saying, “Get these analysed. For her eyes only.” This scene is important in the chain of cause and effect, propelling the narrative forward as Bond resolves to rebuild himself and track down who stole the secret files.

When Tanner receives word about the origin of the shrapnel, M instructs Bond to track down a mercenary Patrice in Shanghai. “Find out who he works for and who has the list,” M says. “Then terminate him, for Ronson.” The first act of the narrative ends and Bond is propelled headlong into the pursuit of the terrorists who stole the files and destroyed MI6. “I didn’t know Bond passed the tests,” Tanner says as Bond leaves the room. “He didn’t,” replies M.

In the subsequent scene, Bond meets with Q to receive his equipment for the mission.

Q: Always makes me feel a little melancholy. A grand old warship being ignominiously hauled away for scrap. The inevitability of time, don’t you think? What do you see?Bond: A bloody big ship. Excuse me.Q: 007…I’m your new Quartermaster.

Bond: You must be joking.Q: Why, because I’m not wearing a lab coat? Because you still have spots. My complexion is hardly relevant.Bond: Well, your competence is.Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.Bond: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.Q: I’ll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.Bond: Oh, so why do you need me?Q: Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.Bond: Or not pulled. It’s hard to know which in your pajamas. Q.Q: 007. Ticket to Shanghai. Documentation and passport.Bond: Thank you.Q: And this. Walther PPK/S 9mm short. There’s a micro-dermal sensor in the grip. It’s been coded to your palm print so only you can fire it. Less of a random killing machine, more of a personal statement.Bond: And this?Q: Standard issue radio transmitter. Activate it and it broadcasts your location. Distress signal. And that’s it.Bond: A gun…and a radio. Not exactly Christmas, is it?Q: Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don’t really go in for that anymore. Good luck out there in the field. And please return the equipment in one piece.

This scene is a good example of how mise en scene can contribute to character. The scene opens with a shot of JW Turner’s painting ‘The Fighting Temeraire’ which shows an old warship being hauled away for scrap. “Obviously we

play that as a metaphor for Bond,” says Menes in the commentary. “The ageing hulk being taken to the scrapyard.”

In the next scene, Mendes cuts to a series of establishing of the Shanghai skyline. Towards the beginning of the Shanghai sequence, Mendes uses editing to structure time. There is a full shot of Bond sitting at a hotel bar, the camera slowly dollies in as his telephone rings. Mendes cuts to a close up of

the phone, then to a mid shot of Bond who picks it up. An extreme close up of the screen reveals the words “EWA FLIGHT 226 9PM”. Mendes cuts to a shot of Bond, thinking, and the diegetic sound of a plane landing can be heard before he cuts to a shot of the airport.

Throughout the film director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins use lighting as a motif for the shadowy world of espionage. When talking about Raoul Silva (javier Bardem), M says: “He comes from the same place as Bond, a place you say doesn’t exist: the shadows.” Midway through the film, during her testimony to an

inquiry about the stolen data, M also mentions the shadowy world where covert operatives exist: “I’m frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They’re not nations, they’re individuals. And look around you. Who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No! Our world is not more transparent now, it’s more opaque! It’s in the shadows. That’s where we must do battle.” Throughout the film, this shadowy world is reflected through Medes and Deakin’s

use of lighting. During the fight between Bond and Patrice, they are silhouetted by large digital displays.

When Bond arrives in Macau, there is a brief dialogue scene with Eve. During this conversation, the character of Gareth Mallory is developed further.

Eve: My official directive was to help…”in any way I can.”Bond: Like spying for Mallory.Eve: You know, Mallory’s not as bad as you think.Bond: He’s a bureaucrat.Eve: You should do your homework. Gareth Mallory was a Lieutenant Colonel…

Bond: Lieutenant Colonel in Northern Ireland, Hereford Regiment. Spent three months at the hands of the IRA.Eve: So there’s more to him than meets the eye.In this scene, director Mendes uses a “gentle tracking” from side to side to create sexual tension between Bond and Eve, nothing that there’s “something sexy about the way the camera is moving”. Acting contributes to this sense as well, Mendes noting that there’s a “kind of lovemaking in the shaving itself and the movement of it and how close they are and how still they are.”

When Eve and Bond arrive at the Macau casino, Mendes uses dialogue to help establish the film’s antagonist Raoul Silva. Before he appears onscreen, his cold-bloodedness is hinted at through a conversation with Séverine (Bérénice Marlohe). “You belonged to one of the houses,” Bond says. “What were you? Twelve? Thirteen? I’m guessing he was your way out. Perhaps you thought you were in love. But that was a long time ago.” Bond suggests that he knows everything about fear. “Not like this,” Séverine responds. “Not like him.”

When she delivers this line, Bérénice Marlohe gives a nervous smile before the corner of her lips turn down slightly to convey a sense of unease. In his commentary for the film, director Sam Mendes talks about the “wonderful, neurotic edge” and “trembling tension” of her performance. During their conversation, music is also used to develop the character of Séverine. In an interview with Empire magazine, composer Thomas Newman spoke about the leitmotif for this character. The music features alternating minor and major chords as well as a harp which creates a “sense of darkness and exquisiteness and sexiness all at the same time.”

After Bond seduces Séverine, Mendes cuts back to London where Mallory and M learn that one of their operatives has been captured.

Newsreader: Captain Husein, an MI6 operative embedded in the Middle East, was one of the five agents exposed in what is now being considered the greatest internal security breach in modern British history. The Prime Minister continues to express public support for MI6 while the opposition has taken the position…Mallory: …has taken the position we’re a bunch of antiquated bloody idiots fighting a war we don’t understand and can’t possibly win.M: Look, three of my agents are dead already. Don’t embroil me in politics now.Mallory: The Prime Minister’s ordered an inquiry. You’ll have to appear.M: Oh, standing in the stocks at midday? Who’s antiquated now?Mallory: For Christ’s sake, listen to yourself. We’re a democracy, accountable to the people we’re trying to defend. We can’t keep working in the shadows. There are no more shadows.M: You don’t get this, do you? Whoever’s behind this, whoever’s doing he knows us. He’s one of us. He comes from the same place as Bond. The place you say doesn’t exist. The shadows.When M says the word ‘shadows’, Mendes cuts to bright sunlight reflecting off the ocean as Séverine’s yacht sails towards the island. Bond emerges from the yacht and Mendes cuts to a close up as he activates the radio transmitter given to him by Q earlier in the film.

In the subsequent scene, Bond meets Raoul Silva. Silva is established using a number of production elements, notably acting and sound. The character is introduced with a long shot. He slowly walks towards Bond who is tied to

a chair in the foreground. This use of this shot size focuses audience attention on his words: “My grandmother had an island. Nothing to boast of. You could walk around it in an hour, but still it was, it was a paradise for us. One summer, we went for a visit and discovered the place had been infested with rats. They’d come on a fishing boat and gorged themselves on coconut. So how do you get rats off an island? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and

hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait and the rats would come for the coconut and… they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one…they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don’t eat coconut anymore. Now, they only eat rat. You have changed their nature. The two survivors. This is what she made us.”

As he approaches Bond, his voice is soft and melodious, incongruent with his anecdote about the rats. When he talks of the rats eating each other, he makes a nibbling sound which helps make the character seem macabre and menacing.

In his commentary for Skyfall, Mendes reflects on how the use of mise en scene helps to establish the character of Silva: “Silva is, in a sense, Bond’s doppelgänger. He’s his double. And I always had an image of a fallen angel. There’s a reason why he’s dressed in white, Bond’s in black. He’s kind of a negative image of Bond which you can see in this shot here. He’s what Bond would have been, or could have been, if Bond had turned bad. Of course, he was abandoned/betrayed by M which you could Bond has been in the first reel. So there are all sorts of parallels.”When Bond says that he scored seventy on his marksmanship test, Silva gives a loud and derisive laugh. He smirks and raises one eyebrow slightly. Bond’s character is developed further as Silva reads excerpts from his evaluation: “Medical evaluation: Fail. Physical evaluation: Failed. Psychological evaluation: Alcohol and substance addiction indicated. Pathological rejection of authority based on unresolved childhood trauma. Subject is not approved for field duty and immediate suspension from service advised.”

After reading the results of his evaluation, he sits down in front of Bond. “Mommy was very bad!” he says, pursing his lips and nodding. His eyes flick down to Bond’s chest. Mendes cuts to a reverse shot as he undoes one of Bond’s buttons. Cutting back, Silva smiles slightly. After examining the bullet wound, he traces his fingers lightly across Bond’s chest. “We can either eat each other,” he says. “Or eat everyone else.” He runs a hand over Bond’s neck seductively. “How you’re trying to remember your training now,” he says. “What’s your regulation to cover this?” He smiles as Mendes cuts to an overshot as he strokes Bond’s legs.

He releases Bond and Mendes continues to develop the narrative’s antagonist. “England,” he says, scoffing. “The Empire! MI6!” He rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders in a mocking gesture. “You’re living in a ruin as well,” he says, shaking his head and pursing his lips. “You just don’t know it yet.” Javier Bardem’s eccentric performance continues as he makes a ‘beep’ noise and mocks Bond’s ‘little gadgets’.

When they emerge from the building, tinny Latin music comes from outdoor speakers, contributing to Silva’s madness and eccentricity. As he approaches Séverine, the incongruity of his soft voice conveys a sense of menace. He smiles and kisses her on the lips. She recoils in terror, acting contributing significantly to the character’s sense of menace. “Don’t lose your head,” he says, as Mendes cuts to an extreme close up as he places a shot of whiskey on her head. He smiles gleefully and turns around. “Time to redeem your marksmanship score,” he says ominously.

This scene is both an interesting example of audience engagement and character development. When he hands Bond a pistol to shoot the glass from her head, Mendes slowly dollies in on Séverine who is bound and terrified. He cuts back to a close up of Bond who flinches visibly as Silva leans in to whisper, “Let’s see who ends up on top!”

To build suspense, the music ends suddenly and is replaced with the ominous sound of wind blowing through the deserted square. Mendes cuts to a close up of Bond, pulling focus to reveal the barrel of the gun that is trembling noticeably. The agonising silence continues as he cuts to a mid shot of Séverine who is shaking. The use of mise en scene contributes to audience engagement, the smear of dried blood on her face and her smudged eye makeup, creating a pang of sympathy for her plight. Mendes cuts back to the close up of Bond who continues to tremble as he points the gun towards Séverine. “I can’t believe it! Did you really die that day?” Silva says in a mocking tone. “Is there any, any of the old 007 left?” Mendes continues to build suspense as the camera dollies into a close up of Séverine. The gun fires suddenly, breaking the silence and shocking the audience. Cutting to a long shot of the characters, Mendes shows the stone behind Séverine exploding as the bullet strikes it. Silva fires off a shot. Séverine slumps forward and Mendes cuts to an extreme close up of the whiskey glass hitting the ground, her feet twitching in the background. “I win,” he says nonchalantly, his indifference conveying significant menace.

In the next scene, Mendes continues developing the character of Silva and his relationship with M. This is achieved using a combination of production elements. In this scene, Silva reveals how she betrayed him: “They kept me for five months in a room with no air. They tortured me. And I protected your secrets. I protected you. But they made me suffer. And suffer. And suffer. Until I realized it was you who betrayed me. You betrayed me. So, I had only one thing left. My cyanide capsule in my back left molar. You remember, right? So I broke the tooth and bit into the

capsule. And it…it burned all my insides. But I didn’t die. Life clung to me like a disease. And then…I understood why I had survived. I needed to look in your eyes one last time.”

Although there is a great deal of exposition in this scene, lighting, sound and acting also contribute to character development. In this scene, lighting helps to establish him as sinister and malevolent. He is caged in a hexagonal

glass cell, lit from above by harsh fluorescent lights which cast subtle shadows across his face. In his commentary for the film, Mendes comments on this “otherworldly top lighting” that gives the scene and this character an “eerie atmosphere”.

Similarly, sound editing also contributes to this air of malevolence. The reverb of the glass cell has been augmented by the sound editors to give it “weird

echoes”. The cumulative effect of this lighting and sound editing – combined with the idiosyncratic performance of Javiere Bardem – establishes this character as particularly malevolent. Similarly, when Silva removes his false teeth, Mendes and the sound editors “worked very hard in the mix” to create a deeply disturbing sound. In his commentary for the film, Mendes notes that the sound always makes him “kind of nauseous”. When M leaves the room, acting again contributes to Silva’s sinister characterisation as Mendes cuts to a close up of him laughing softly and manically. At this moment, Thomas Newman’s score also makes a subtle contribution to character development, eerie strings wail softly in the background, punctuated by suspenseful bass notes.

The sequence that follows is one of the film’s most engaging set pieces. In his commentary for Skyfall, Mendes speaks about his deliberate use of parallel editing to weave multiple storylines together: “What we’re able to do is tell three stories simultaneously: Bond obviously chasing Silva, Q following Bond on the combination of CCTV and graphics and M simultaneously fighting for her job and her life, you could say, in this inquiry into MI6.” The sequence begins as Q starts to hack into Silva’s computer. While he’s working, Mendes cuts away to a shot of Silva sitting cross-legged in his cell and moments later to the inquiry into MI6. As the sequence continues, this use of parallel editing to show multiple storylines helps to engage the audience by making the sequence more exciting. After a long shot of the inquiry – where they are “gathered to address important issues concerning the future of our national security” – Mendes cuts to a shot of Silva in his cell, stretching his arms and sighing, then to the guard who asks, “Going somewhere?” He cuts back to Silva who smiles malevolently and zips up his jumpsuit. At the inquiry, the interrogation of M continues. This scene features a lot of dialogue and, cutting back to Silva as he starts to escape, helps to punctuate the scene and engage the audience.When Q and Bond infiltrate Silva’s laptop, Mendes cuts to a full shot showing several trapdoors in Q Branch opening. “What’s going on?” Q asks. “Why are the doors open?” The camera dollies in on Bond’s icy expression, dramatic music starts playing and he runs out of frame. This combination of dialogue, camera movement, acting and music helps to convey that Silva has escaped.

His means of escape is explained using camera techniques in a series of subsequent shots. First there is a close up of the screen saying ‘SYSTEM SECURITY BREACH’. “Can someone tell me how the hell he got into our system?” Q asks. Mendes cuts to a shot of Q looking down at the laptop, then a shot of the laptop which says ’NOT SUCH A CLEVER BOY”. Cutting back to the reverse shot of Q, Mendes dollies down to reveal Q removing the ethernet cables from the laptop. “Oh shit, oh shit,” he says. “He hacked us.” This combination of acting, camera movement and editing is used to explain how Silva escapes MI6.

When Bond descends into subterranean London, parallel editing, camera movement and sound help to create suspense and engage the audience when he’s trapped in front of an oncoming train. “Oh good,” Bond notes dryly. “There’s a train coming.” Mendes cuts to a point of view shot of a train speeding through the tunnel. This point of view shot is highly engaging, encouraging the audience to identify with the plight of Bond. He cuts back to Q, the intensity of the soundtrack increasing, then back to Bond as he slams into the door repeatedly. This use of parallel editing increases suspense by drawing out the moment. Cutting back to Q, Mendes dollies in on his concerned expression. Another cut to the computer screen shows the train closing in. As the music continues to build, the pace of the editing increases. There is a quick succession of shots – the oncoming train, Bond firing his weapon, the door bursting open – before Bond hurls himself to safety and the train speeds past.

Another moment in the chase that is particularly engaging is when Bond realises Silva has boarded a train. Here, audience engagement is achieved mainly through the use of camera movement, acting and sound. “Bond,” Q says, pausing for a moment. “Get on the train.” Mendes cuts to a shot with Bond in the foreground, sighing with frustration as the train leaves the platform behind him. He cuts to a wider tracking shot as Bond pursues the speeding train. Thomas Newman’s score rises dramatically. There are several shots from inside the train as it speeds away from Bond. He runs past the camera and it lingers for a moment on an elderly couple watching him curiously. The music approaches its crescendo and Bond throws himself onto the train at the last second. Mendes cuts back to the couple. “He’s keen to get home,” the man observes dryly. This moment of humour in helps to punctuate the chase sequence and make it more engaging. This use of humour continues when Mendes cuts to a point of view shot from the perspective of the train driver, Bond tapping on the window. He cuts back to a shot of the wide-eyed woman. “Health and safety,” he says, when she opens the door to the carriage.

The three storylines reach their climax as Silva, disguised as a policeman, descends on the inquiry. The scene starts to reach its climax as Silva emerges from the London Underground. Thomas Newman’s score features driving strings reminiscent of Bernard Hermann, helping to increase the suspense. Silva gets into a police car. As he’s driving away, he takes a gun from one of his accomplices, dead eyed and stony faced.

Here editing helps to convey how close Silva is to M, the audience hears her voice before she appears on screen. “Today I’ve repeatedly heard how irrelevant my department has become,” she says. “Why do we need agents? The Double-O section? Isn’t it all rather quaint? Well, I suppose I see a different world than you do. And the truth is that what I see frightens me. I’m frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They’re not nations. They are

individuals. Look around you. Who do you fear? Can you see a face? A uniform? A flag? No. Our world is not more transparent now. It’s more opaque. It’s in the shadows. That’s where we must do battle. So, before you declare us irrelevant, ask yourselves, how safe do you feel? I’ve just one more thing to say. My late husband was a great lover of poetry. And I suppose some of it sunk in, despite my best intentions. And here today I remember this, I think from Tennyson: ‘We are not now that strength, which in old days moved earth and heaven. That which we are, we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.’”

As she speaks, Mendes gradually dollies in to highlight the intensity of her words. He cuts to another shot of Silva, expressionless, the police car drawing closer to the inquiry. He cuts back to M, then to a shot of Silva and his accomplices entering the building and shooting the security staff. As she starts to recite Ulysses by Tennyson, Mendes cuts to a high angle shot of Bond emerging from the subway, looking around desperately before plunging into the traffic. As M continues to speak, Mendes cuts back and forth to tracking shots of Bond running through the street and, finally, to a shot of Silva as he draws closer. When M finishes her speech, the music reaches its climax and Mendes cuts to a shot of the doors bursting open. There is a moment of suspense as he cuts from a close up of Silva, gun raised, to a shot of M. Here, sound editing contributes significantly to the suspense and audience engagement as the screams fade out and are replaced by an eerie, dissonant whine. The gun fires as Mallory pulls her out of the way at the last second.

Skyfall is a good example of how reception context can influence audience engagement. When Bond and M decide to lure Silva into a trap, they decide to change vehicles. Mendes cuts to a shot of a dark garage and Bond flicks on the lights, revealing a 1965 Aston Martin DB5. The car, which first appeared in Goldfinger (1964), is a recognisable icon of the franchise. An audience familiar with Bond would feel a thrill as the car is revealed, particularly considering is is accompanied by the “James Bond Theme” written by Monty Norman. Mendes cuts to of the car’s trunk as the engine roars and the lights turn on. It speeds away, accompanied by the classic surf guitar riff used in the 1960s.“It’s not very comfortable,” M complains, as they’re driving away. “Are you going to complain the whole way,” Bond replies and Mendes cuts to a close up of Bond flicking back the gearshift to reveal a red button. “Oh, go on,” she says. “Eject me.” Those familiar with the Bond franchise would enjoy these references to the car and its ejector seats.

“The combination of seeing that car and then hearing the Bond theme for many people, including myself, is a kind of orgy of nostalgia,” said Mendes in his commentary for the film. “Being in an audience that spontaneously applauds at that moment is probably one of the best moments of making this film.”

When Bond and M arrive in Scotland, a short exchange of dialogue continues to develop the character of James Bond, hinting at his past.

Q: Is this where you grew up? How old were you when they died?Bond: You know the answer to that. You know the whole story.M: Orphans always make the best recruits.Bond: Storm’s coming.When Bond and M reach Skyfall, his childhood home in the Scottish highlands, the film enters its third act. There is another moment of character development when Kincaid shows M the secret tunnel leading under the moors. “The night I told him his parents had died, he hid in here for two days,” he says. “When he did come out, he wasn’t a boy anymore.”

Mendes uses another montage to structure time, compressing the long process of fortifying Skyfall into a few minutes: Kincaid and Bond unveil a mirror; M removes sheets from chandeliers, smashing light bulbs and inserting them into shotgun shells and wrapping them into bags of screws and nails; Bond inserting shotgun shells beneath floorboards; Kindcaid and Bond boarding up windows; Bond retrieving sticks of dynamite; and Kincaid testing a sawn-off shotgun.

Before the climax of the film begins, there is a short scene which helps to reconcile the relationship between Bond and M. This reconciliation is achieved largely through the use of dialogue.

M: I fucked this up, didn’t I?Bond: No.M: You did your job.Bond: I read your obituary of me.M: And?Bond: Appalling.M: Yeah, I knew you’d hate it. I did call you “an exemplar of British fortitude”.Bond: That bit was all right.

The tone of Bond’s voice when he says the last line conveys a sense of warmth and contributes to the reconciliation of their relationship.

After Bond destroys Skyfall and the helicopter plunges into the ruins, mise en scene is used to further develop Silva. Mendes cuts to a full shot of Silva pacing angrily in front of the burning building. The raging flames behind him mean

he’s almost reduced to a silhouette. The fill light barely illuminating his face is red and orange, making him look particularly demonic. Embers fly around him and his breath creates great clouds of vapour. In his commentary for the film, Mendes talks about his deliberate decision to have Silva illuminated by the hellish fires. “He’s a vision from hell,” says Mendes. “Like he’s in the underworld now.” The camera is handheld as Silva shambles towards it, helping to convey how

unhinged the character has become. “Now it’s me and her,” he says, voice low and sinister.

As Silva, Kincaid and M limp away from the flames, the characters are also reduced to little more than silhouettes. There are countless examples of this lighting technique throughout the film which is a deliberate motif for the shadowy world of espionage. M mentions this explicitly during her speech at the inquiry: “Our world is not more transparent now. It’s more opaque. It’s in the shadows. That’s where we must do battle.”

As Silva approaches the chapel for his final confrontation with M, he pauses for a moment, studying a grave. Mendes cuts to a close up of the grave, slowly dollying in on the inscription: IN MEMORY OF ANDREW BOND AND MONIQUE

DELACROIX BOND. He cuts back to a close up of Silva, Bardem giving a smile, then a sinister chuckle before he sighs and the camera pans to follow his ascent to the chapel.

When Mendes cuts to the interior of the chapel, Thomas Newman’s score contributes to this sinister characterisation of Silva by using low, choral sounds. In his commentary for the film, Mendes notes that there’s something “strange” and “a bit ghostly” about the music.

This scene resolves the relationship between M and Silva which was the catalyst for the narrative. Mendes engages the audience using a number of production elements, encouraging the audience to feel sympathy for the plight of M and Kincaid. As he walks towards M, Silva is lit by the orange and red light spilling through the chapel windows, making him look particularly demonic. His hair is dirty and matted, face wounded and bleeding in places. Mendes cuts to a mid shot of Kincaid who emerges from a doorway on the other side of the room. He cuts back to Silva quickly, who raises his gun and fires. The gunshot is loud and shocking. Masonry explodes on the doorway near Kincaid. This use of sound helps to put the audience on edge and feel sympathetic towards these characters. When Silva crosses the room and reaches M, Mendes cuts between a shot/reverse shot of the characters, a close up emphasising the deranged expression on Silva’s face. He raises a blood stained hand slowly, gently running it across her cheek. The close up of M highlights her fear. Her whole body wavers slightly as she stares up at him. She gasps as Silva leans forward, grimacing, breathing heavily and pressing the gun towards her face. This acting, in combination with the tight close ups highlights the drama and intensity of their final confrontation. Holding the gun to her head, he grimaces suddenly and Mendes cuts to a shot of a knife in his back, then to Bond standing in the doorway. He walks back towards the door slowly before dropping to his knees. Mendes cuts to a close up of Bond who says, “Last rat standing.” There is a close up of Silva has he falls face first to the ground. This moment resolves the main storyline in the film, the confrontation between Silva and Bond, helping to resolve the narrative.

“007. What took you so long?” M asks. “Got into some deep water,” he quips before catching her as she falls. There is a close up of Bond who looks down at her wounds, then desperately towards Kincaid. “I suppose it’s too late to make a run for it?” she says. “I’m game if you are,” Bond replies, the corners of his mouth twitching with grief as he attempts a halfhearted smile. Here, the uneasy relationship between Bond and M is resolved through acting and dialogue. Mendes lingers on a close up of the dying M. “I did get one thing right,” she says, Thomas Newman’s score rises in the background, highlighting the emotion of the scene. When Mendes cuts back to a close up of Bond, he trembles slightly. Raising a hand, he closes her eyes, breathing ragged. After cutting to Kincaid, Mendes cuts back to a shot of Bond who leans forward, tears welling in his eyes as he kisses her forehead. The final shot in this scene, is Bond embracing M as the camera slowly dollies out. The scene in the chapel resolves two of the major storylines in the film, Silva’s confrontation with MI6 and the relationship between Bond and M.

A shot of the London skyline, British flags waving in the wind. The camera tilts down to reveal Bond standing on the top of a building. The score features warm, heroic horns which both contribute to a sense of triumph and loss. The camera comes to rest showing Bond standing proudly against the skyline. After a brief conversation with Eve, they return to Mallory’s office. “You know we’ve never formally been introduced,” he says as she removes his jacket. “Oh,” she replies. “Well, my name’s Eve. Eve

Moneypenny.” Moneypenny is a charter who has appeared in countless Bond films and this line of dialogue would be a surprise for people who are familiar with the franchise. In this scene, the use of mise en scene also evokes previous Bond films. The office is designed to mimic the office that first appeared in Dr. No. In the commentary for the film, Mendes reveals that the office was an exact replica of the original, right down to the wood panelling and coat rack. The James Bond Theme rises in the background when Tanner emerges from the office. “So, 007,” says Mallory when Bond enters the office. “Lots to be done. Are you ready to get back to work?”

“With pleasure, M,” he replies. “With pleasure.” The film cuts to the classic James Bond gun barrel logo and the credits roll.

Activity: Describe how Mendes uses a combination of production elements and film techniques to engage the audience during the climactic scene of Skyfall.