Analysis of LA Noire and Casino Royale

Comparison between Casino Royale and LA Noire

In this essay, I will be comparing the film Casino Royale and the game LA noire. I will be looking at 3 main elements; Genre, Cinematography and Representation.

Genre

LA Noire seems to be set in 1940's California in “a city” near Hollywood. The voice over has a deep husky, American-Italian accent which connotes danger and crime, relating to the Mafia. Relating to mise en scene, the costumes relate to the genre of film. The men wear suits and are smartly dressed, and the women are wearing casual dresses but with perfectly pinned hair. This was the stereotypical fashion for the 40's. The city which the narrator is describing seems to be again a stereotypical city. However he implies that not everything is as it seems. This signifies danger and mystery to the game. In my opinion, this game seems to be a gangster genre with hints of crime, danger and action. It is a typical man’s game because it appeals to his adventure side of life.

Similarly, in Casino Royale, the main theme in the beginning is action. Even in the first few minutes, murder, guns and crime are brought to the viewers eyes. Furthermore, the characters never seem to be in the centre foreground. For example, when we first see Bond, he is the the very corner of the room. This suggests that he has something to hide and he doesn't want to reveal it all by being in the centre limelight. Casino Royale was released by Columbia pictures, which is an American studio. In most action American films, british people play the bad guy. Here in the first few scenes, the person Bond is there to kill has a very strong, posh English accent. This is a cliché thing to have in an American action film.

Cinematography

LA Noire uses colour filters and long but slow moving shots to show how pleasant “the city” is to an outsider. The wide angle shots also show how the rest of the people are interacting and going about their day. Although it may be lightly focusing about a few characters, it's talking about the city in general. The clip shows different peoples lives and although everything looks good on the outside and the city is described as “a city of dreams,” “not everything is as it seems”. The clip seems to be a performance for a commercial; showing new people what the city looks like and inviting them into the city, but in reality it seems fake and put on, like the narrator is trying to cover up the dangerous side to the city.

However, on the other hand, Casino Royale uses a black and white filter to connote the uncertainty of the characters future and if he is going to survive. The diegetic sound creates an eeriness to the scene and allows the viewer to become submerged in the characters actions and what his fate will be. The long shadows in the office create a deeper effect to the meaning of the scene. It's not just a normal, proceeded killing, it makes Bond realises that killing isn't just part of the job, it's personal. The opening scene uses quick cuts to make the action seem more heightened and frantic, like there is a panic. It also gives the idea of a POV from the viewer, like they are blinking and missing part of the story. The low key lighting follows the trend of danger and wrong-doing. This hints to the viewer the genre of the film and how the rest of the film will proceed. They use mid shots to show the action while at the same time the characters expressions, long shots to show the whole 'picture' to the audience and extreme close ups to display true aspects of the characters personality.

Representation

LA Noire shows peoples everyday lives and jobs and how the “city” has made their life better. Firstly, it shows how owning a car is a sign of “freedom” and how without it, your life is constrained. This could link to the recent past of the great depression and how people were restricted of life by the amount of money they owned. It goes on to explain how having a house is like a “castle”, it's each and every persons own bit of land. The narrator carries on to say that California is a “land of dreams”. This again reflects how people saw California as a sign of the promised land, because it held everything people needed: money, jobs and land.  Ambient sound is also represented to produce a common scen effect.  The scene also uses an L cut to produce the sound  just before the next scene to make the edit feel smoother. At the end of the opening scene, an illuminate reference is given from the narrator. He explains that this city has “no boundaries and can stretch as far as the eye can see” and as he says this the camera pans over a building with an eye in a triangle. This suggests that there is a superstition to the city.

In Casino Royale, singular words make Bond have memories. In this memory, he is the opposite to everyone else. Instead of enjoying the cricket game he is watching something else and while everyone else wears white or light coloured clothing, he wears a black suit as he stands in the shadows, like he has something to hide. It represents Bond as an outcast to the norm. As bond chases the victim through the building, the cricket match carries on, completely senseless of the chaos happening inside. The last shot in the opening scene is the victim trying to shoot Bond. It shows Bond down the barrel of the gun. This represents Bond as a target and how he always seems to be getting into the wrong situations. The blood dripping down the screen symbolizes the power of blood and how it can save or destroys lives. 

In conclusion to this, both LA Noire and Casino Royale use many micro film elements like mise en scene and sound to create a good opening scene for a thriller action film and game.