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The gun barrel debate - A new approach. Can Eon Productions please read this and consider this...
I have no idea if anyone from Eon Productions visits this board but if they do... can they please consider the following...
(Thanks)
As we all know, the gun barrel scene is at the end of Skyfall. There has been much debate about this - is it good/bad/right/wrong? Whatever your thoughts about it, it seems clear that Eon Productions - under the leadership of Barbara Broccoli and MG Wilson - don't want to put the gun barrel at the start of Craig's James Bond films. But how about a radical change...
My suggestion is this...
Put all future gun barrel scenes at the beginning of James Bond films but completely change the gun barrel. Instead of Bond walking from right to left and firing in the middle he can walk straight towards the camera or it can be something totally new like he's at some firing range and the bullets create the 007 logo. It can be anything as long as it still is a gun barrel sequence and still telling the audience:
"THIS IS THE START OF THE NEW JAMES BOND FILM."
I think this would be the ideal compromise. Fans will get to see the gun barrel at the start of all future films and Eon Productions get the opportunity to completely revamp the gun barrel scene. It can look totally different, the more radical the better, perhaps. Eon could hire some graphic designers/artists to come up with some new ideas and the best one gets the job in doing the new look sequence.
I love the classic gun barrel sequence, the look of it, but it is 50 years old. Perhaps it's time to completely update it with a totally new look. Eon should consider this. Revamp the look but put it back at the beginning. It will be a great way to market the new film. There can be a teaser trailer hinting at what it will look like, perhaps? And then when the film is released people will see what it looks like! It's a win-win for everyone. I think it's worth considering. I think it's a big mistake to keep moving the gun barrel from the front to the back then to the front. Keep it at the front but make it look totally different. Like nothing that's ever been done before. Fans will accept this because they'll understand it's time for a new look. No more white dots, perhaps no more blood. But Bond will still fire the gun. But the rest will be radically different.
(Thanks)
As we all know, the gun barrel scene is at the end of Skyfall. There has been much debate about this - is it good/bad/right/wrong? Whatever your thoughts about it, it seems clear that Eon Productions - under the leadership of Barbara Broccoli and MG Wilson - don't want to put the gun barrel at the start of Craig's James Bond films. But how about a radical change...
My suggestion is this...
Put all future gun barrel scenes at the beginning of James Bond films but completely change the gun barrel. Instead of Bond walking from right to left and firing in the middle he can walk straight towards the camera or it can be something totally new like he's at some firing range and the bullets create the 007 logo. It can be anything as long as it still is a gun barrel sequence and still telling the audience:
"THIS IS THE START OF THE NEW JAMES BOND FILM."
I think this would be the ideal compromise. Fans will get to see the gun barrel at the start of all future films and Eon Productions get the opportunity to completely revamp the gun barrel scene. It can look totally different, the more radical the better, perhaps. Eon could hire some graphic designers/artists to come up with some new ideas and the best one gets the job in doing the new look sequence.
I love the classic gun barrel sequence, the look of it, but it is 50 years old. Perhaps it's time to completely update it with a totally new look. Eon should consider this. Revamp the look but put it back at the beginning. It will be a great way to market the new film. There can be a teaser trailer hinting at what it will look like, perhaps? And then when the film is released people will see what it looks like! It's a win-win for everyone. I think it's worth considering. I think it's a big mistake to keep moving the gun barrel from the front to the back then to the front. Keep it at the front but make it look totally different. Like nothing that's ever been done before. Fans will accept this because they'll understand it's time for a new look. No more white dots, perhaps no more blood. But Bond will still fire the gun. But the rest will be radically different.
This discussion has been closed.
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Comments
I do like the idea of changing it completely to signify the new reboot continuity though.
If its so dated and needs revamping then why has their whole poster campaign/50th logo hung on the classic GB?
Anyone ever heard of the term 'brand recognition'? Coca-cola is still written in the same font of 100 years ago and they wouldnt dream of changing it.
I can live with placing it at the end of CR as Bond hadn't achieved double-O status at the beginning of the film but he sure had by the end of the film and by the beginning of QoS.
Someone at Eon lost their mind on this matter. Please fire that person and restore sanity to the Bond universe. This is one of the stupidest things she has ever said. So we are at the whim of how it "feels"
It felt right at the beginning of the film for 20 movies in a row and it can continue to feel that way, thank-you.
bond walking towards the screen ia a bad idea. i just want classic gb
Basically we re-designed the opening so that the WHITE DOTS appeared, as if per normal, but then the 3 DOTS arced round and mixed through to 3 holes of an open gun chamber. The chamber rolled upwards to close into the gun, taking us with it, and into the gun's barrel. We constructed a ten foot long GB model, with spiraled metal interior matching the iconic GB design, but shiny and reflective like a real gun, and with great depth because we were looking down a ten foot long interior gun barrel like a long tube. As we revealed the interior GB, a figure appeared at the far end, Bond, against white (we used a guy who very closely resembled Dalton). As he turned to fire at camera (as per the classic GB pose) there was a FLASH inside the GB as a bullet was fired from inside the chamber. We shot down the GB - as the bullet's POV - heading straight at Bond as he fired back... We then cut to a front view of the gun (another large scale model we built) and the bullet (another model) shot out of the GB and right into camera. Then there was an explosion of glass and we then revealed that the image of Bond we fired at was actually a reflection in a mirror, and through the explosion of glass, and Bond's breaking image, we were propelled, still following the bullet's POV, into the film.
We shot with a motion control camera and rig for the moves into the GB and shooting down the GB (one frame at a time with motion blur), with the camera spinning just as a real bullet would spin following the GB spiral. Bond (previously filmed in a studio) was back projected at the front of the GB model.
Anyway, we screened the 35mm GB test sequence for "Cubby", Barbara, Peter Lamont and a few others at Pinewood. They were rather impressed, and "Cubby", a wonderful producer and man, requested a second viewing. They were all very gracious, especially Barbara, who I will always have great respect for.
Anyway, that was that, but if u watch the title seq. of GE you'll see similar shots, now done as CG rather than actual model work. I've no idea if our title test helped inspire those shots in GE (if they did, great), it was 5 years later, but the point I'm making is that even back in 1990, Eon were looking at ideas to re-invent the GB.
I think this is a silly choice. I can perfectly imagine the white dots, the gunbarrel, Bond shooting, and then the white circle going smaller on the right end bottom of the screen, and then opening up to the corridor where Bond's silhouette is appearing. Such a shame !
The gunbarrel at the end doesn't bring anything new, not even a surprise since it was done before un QOS.
Problem is, you "imagine", Sam Mendes and his editor did NOT imagine, they actually saw that the transition wasn't working well, obviously would have experimented with trying to make it work better, but found that it didn't work well enough. Check out the other GB thread because I explain there that we had the same problem on LTK and although the GB remained, none of us were really satisfied with the final transition from GB to opening shot.
In my opinion, I prefer a gunbarrel at the beginning, even if the tone is not the best (and I'm convinced that with a good music, every gunbarrel can impose its own tone to the movie, before the pre-title sequence even begins).
The gunbarrel at the end just looks redundant to me, since we already have seen it the same way in QOS. The ending with Bond acknowledging the new M is good enough in itself.
And speaking of transition, I find the one between the gunbarrel at the end, and the 50th anniversary logo poorly managed (this white color in the end does not really give justice to the movie).
Glad u like the LTK GB, but as I say, we had to play around quite a bit to get it to work well, and from our end, I don't think we ever that happy with it. The music was a departure too. It divides some fans, but I always rather liked it too.
Anyway, the thing about the GB is that it's not always been quite as straight forward and easy as it might appear in the finished film and I can personally see the difficulty Mendes and Baird had with the GB transition in Skyfall.
As DarthDimi says, it makes sense to see it appearing at the end, but I found the conclusion good enough, and not needing another Bondian gimmick. For me, the function of the gunbarrel at the beginning of the movie is more important then the way it is achieved. Beginning with the gunbarrel is for me the best moment, knowing a new adventure of James Bond is finally coming, and giving us a glimpse to the tone of the movie.
And it now officially makes no sense in QOS.
I'd still have preferred it at the start. Just have the dots shrink like they used to, then cut to the opening shot.
@fanbond123, by all means repost in the linked thread above.
Locked.