For my media unit, I have chosen to study the opening sequence of 'Tomorrow Never Dies' a James Bond film. I will describe and evaluate the dramatic techniques used in the sequence

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Media Unit (Bond) By Zac Southwood

For my media unit, I have chosen to study the opening sequence of  ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ a James Bond film. I will describe and evaluate the dramatic techniques used in the sequence. I have studied the social and cinematic background to the James Bond movies as spy films and as the originators of their own genre - The action spy adventure. I have watched the video of ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, paying particular attention to the timings. I have also watched the video of ‘Mission Impossible Two’ also paying attention timings. Hereinafter ‘Mission Impossible Two’ will be referred to as ‘MI2’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ as ‘TND’. I have studied the shooting script for ‘TND’ and the original screenplay for Bond 18 later named ‘TND’.

The opening scene of TND was set in a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border. James Bond has been sent there to identify terrorist suspects, a camera had been concealed with a satellite link to Headquarters in London where the mission was being controlled by British military officers alongside British intelligence controllers. By way of the camera HQ was able to identify many of the worlds most dangerous terrorists and armaments they were trading. Admiral Roebuck decided that this was now a military matter and immediately ordered a missile strike to take out the whole bazaar. A scene showing the missile launch from an offshore battleship followed where it was stressed that from launch there was 4 minutes and 8 seconds to impact. Admiral Roebuck informed M the controller of British intelligence to ‘get her man out of there’ and that he had 4 minutes and 8 seconds to do so. A message was sent to Bond, however further camera surveillance revealed that one of the jets at the bazaar had two Soviet nuclear torpedoes as part of its payload which should the missile strike would make ‘Chernobyl look like a picnic’. From the time that the missile strike was launched the events that followed took place in real time with the film sequence running exactly 4 minutes and 8 seconds. Bond decided ‘to do his job’ having realised the potential disaster he fights his way to the jet destroying arms and killing terrorists along the way. He boards the jet and flies it with its dangerous cargo out of the scene in precisely 4 minutes and 8 seconds just avoiding the missile impact.

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R Spottiswoode the director used many dramatic techniques to make the sequence as exciting and tense as possible. Admiral Roebuck is portrayed as an arrogant man who acts in haste at the same time as M is shown to be worried that his actions may be risky. The interaction between the characters creates dramatic tension with M being cautious and Roebuck ‘gung-ho’ the resultant mistake confirms M’s fears. The conversation between Tanner and Bond, which leads to the revealing of the torpedoes and realisation dawning on, a now equally worried Roebuck ensures and enhances our realisation that there now ...

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