What are your favourite Directorial SHOTS?
actonsteve
Posts: 299MI6 Agent
You know the ones - the ones that reek atmosphere and beauty. The ones where you think "wow" the director really knew what he was doing there
Here are mine
- OHMSS, the establishing shot of the swimming pool during the day slowly fading to night was ONISAC illuminated in the water
- TLD, the shot of the Mujadeed at sunrise with the desert light streaming out of them from behind. Combined with John Barrys music
- FYEO, the transition from Cortina from Corfu. Bond picking up the 'Dove' pin slides effortlessly into a dawn misty shot of a floating Greek monastery - helped by the music
- MR, theres an awesome shot of a Draxite (as they are called in the CW novelisation) getting burst open by a space laser and screaming as he spirals away to the sun
- FRWL, Grant stalks Bond from the train as Bond moves along the platform (Zagreb I think!). Full of mystery and menace.
Worst.
Anything from GE. I would disagree on any shot in GOLDENEYE. Everything in it is over-lensed, over-directed and over-shot. The beach scenes are too filtered, all the exteriors scream night-shoot on a studio backlot ...
Here are mine
- OHMSS, the establishing shot of the swimming pool during the day slowly fading to night was ONISAC illuminated in the water
- TLD, the shot of the Mujadeed at sunrise with the desert light streaming out of them from behind. Combined with John Barrys music
- FYEO, the transition from Cortina from Corfu. Bond picking up the 'Dove' pin slides effortlessly into a dawn misty shot of a floating Greek monastery - helped by the music
- MR, theres an awesome shot of a Draxite (as they are called in the CW novelisation) getting burst open by a space laser and screaming as he spirals away to the sun
- FRWL, Grant stalks Bond from the train as Bond moves along the platform (Zagreb I think!). Full of mystery and menace.
Worst.
Anything from GE. I would disagree on any shot in GOLDENEYE. Everything in it is over-lensed, over-directed and over-shot. The beach scenes are too filtered, all the exteriors scream night-shoot on a studio backlot ...
Comments
To me, two of the films really stand out as being especially well-crafted -- FRWL and OHMSS. These are great examples.
In addition, for OHMSS I think the aerial shots in Switzerland -- when Bond and Bunt fly up to the summit, when Bond and Tracy ski down from the farmhouse, when Bond and Blofeld fight on the bobsled track -- are breathtaking.
For FRWL, the scene you mention is brilliant, as much for its atmospherics as anything else. Even better for me is the scene when Bond, Tanya and Kerim run to the train station and are followed onto the train by a running Benz. As Benz boards, there's a continuous tracking shot that pans back from him to Grant, who then closes his window. This cannot have been easy, with the choreography involved. IMO, the closest thing any Bond film has to a truly virtuoso directorial moment.
The other film that probably deserves some mention is YOLT, if for no other reason than Gilbert made some interesting decisions. While I think the Kobe dock fight is in general overrated, filming it from way above was a cool idea. Also, the montage of neon upon Bond entering Tokyo was well done, albeit pretty obvious. Earlier still is the lovely orange sunset as Bond emerges from the water after being shot from the submarine -- again, it's a pretty obvious idea, but beautiful nonetheless.
OHMSS, when arriving in Piz Gloria he is shown to the room by Bunt and as he acclimitises he opens the blinds. And there not ten feet away is a helicopter moving close to the windows. Its such a class moment.
AVTAK, a forgotten bit is the investigation of the oil pumping station. the frogman swims to shore and she emerges at sunset. Not just any sunset but a blue/purple sunset. The light caught at that point is terrific.
Next, I want to add that for me, the best-directed movie of the series is, hands down, OHMSS, for reasons having to do more with pace and montage than cinematography.
However, since this discussion seems to be more focused on suggestive individual scenes, I'll try to stick to the topic. These are my two cents, from the PTS:
OHMSS: the teasing play with partial shots from improbable angles before we get a full view of Bond's new face.
TLD: the shot of Gibraltar from the air (easy, even to the point of being facile, but it gets me every time).
GE: the opening sequence with the contraposition of a low and narrow shot of running feet and a wide shot of the dam from above.
CR: the montage of the quiet interior in the Prague office against the messy public lavatory of the first kill.
Not PTS:
MR: The scene of Corinne Clery being chased by wolves in the forest (unforgettably atmospheric, shot like a dream-sequence, it's the closest the series ever came to stepping into the art-house)
There is alot about MR that I like. I love this scene. The first part of this movie had such promise.
I also love the whole Bond following Goodhead through Venice scenes. I thought it was captured wonderfully.
Another one I like is in TSWLM, Bond in the Pyramids. Actually, whilst on the subject of TSWLM, I will also have to mention the PTS which not only had one of the most fabulous stunts ever but is also one of the most beautifully shot.
I must be a Lewis Gilbert fan and I didn't even realise!
I'm not really that interested in the technical side of filming so I can't go into any details as to why I like them but every now and again I come across a scene where I think that looks fabulous, and I assume then that the director is doing his job
Too many to choose from, at least inasmuch as I could include them all in one post...right now I'm thinking about CR:
The shot of the torture sequence, with Craig in close-up on the left side of the screen...and Le Chiffre is in medium-long on the right...Bond, in agony, laughs at his torturer.
LE CHIFFRE: You're really not going to tell me, are you?
BOND, still laughing, shakes his head: 'No.'
B-)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Actually several already mentioned scenes are the same ones I think of. Corrine Clery being chased through the forest is beautiful. Q's last scene in TWINE is another good one. I also like the parade scene in TB where Bond is being chased by Volpe and the henchmen.
Most of FRWL.
A heckuva lot of CR.
The PTS of GF/credits/into Miami. Actually GF up to the horse ranch is pretty awesome, then it gets a bit choppy (Hamilton--and Fleming--pigeon-hole US gangsters as "Guys and Dolls" rejects, gets annoying...I guess that stereotype had already been invented whereas the super-spy one was still being worked on, lol). Still great stuff throughout GF, just doesn't finish as strong as the others.
Gilbert makes some pretty pictures, but he's just too all-over-the-place. I don't think a "shot" or a "look" is such a much, it's using what you've got to best effect to move the story along IMO. Gilbert geeks on visuals, riffs on gags, all at the expense of character (can't just throw a token nod in there once in a while, it needs to drive things, like OHMSS, or CR).
I don't agree with that. I think that GF was brilliantly directed the whole way through. Yes, the first half was *slightly stronger than the second half, but IMO the second half was still IMO one of the two best film halves in the history of the Bond films
As for Gilbert, I agree with you that he doesn't focus on character as much as other directots, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. For example, TSWLM is IMO a vastly better directed film than CR. But I guess I'm in the minority with that.
*I think that many of the best Bond films have halves that are slightly or alot better than the other halves. For example, IMO OHMSS's second half was better than its first half.
Dont get that. I watched TWINE for the first time in years the other day (ye gods, it was very hard work) and there is nothing overly directorially impressive about that scene. Certainly nothing memorable. But the Brosnans wernt that impressive with direction. I count Lee Tamahori to be the worst in a Bond film.
I thought of another one - the fade in from the titles in GF - the streaming plane, the zoom in to the Fontainebleau hotel, the closeup of the diver in the pool, the swimmer underwater, the skaters - all in one fluid move.