The gun barrel sequence is a signature device featured in nearly every James Bond film.Cork, John & Scivally, Bruce (2002). James Bond: The Legacy. Boxtree, 46. Shot from the point of view of a presumed assassin, it features James Bond walking in from the right side of the screen until he reaches the center, turning, and then shooting directly at the camera, causing blood to run down the screen. The visuals are usually accompanied by the "James Bond Theme", composed by Monty Norman.
Originally designed by Maurice Binder, the sequence has been featured in every James Bond film produced by Eon Productions. While it has retained the same basic elements, it has noticeably evolved throughout the series.Barnes, Alan & Hearn, Marcus (2000). Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: The Unofficial James Bond Companion. Batsford, 18. It is one of the most immediately recognizable elements of the franchise and is featured heavily in marketing material for the films and their spin-offs.
The British media historian James Chapman suggests that the sequence is a significant part of the James Bond mythos because it "foregrounds the motif of looking, which is central to the spy genre".
Description In virtually every Eon-produced Bond film, the sequence begins with a white dot blinking across the screen, from left to right. Upon reaching the right edge of the frame, the dot opens up to reveal a rifled gun barrel's interior. From the point of view of an off-screen assassin, the camera follows James Bond as he walks from right to left against a neutral background.Pfeiffer, Lee & Lisa, Philip (1995). The Incredible World of 007: An Authorized Celebration of James Bond. Boxtree, 200. Suddenly he becomes aware of being observed and stops at the centre of the screen before he quickly turns to the camera and shoots his gun towards it. A red blood wash, representing the gunman bleeding, runs down the screen.
With a few exceptions, the gun barrel either moves from side-to-side across the screen (towards the end of the blood washing) then dissolves to a white dot, which typically settles in the corner, or simply fades to black. If the gun barrel dissolves to the white dot, it either segues to the title sequence, shrinks and disappears, or fades from white to a circular cutout of the first scene, expanding to reveal the full view of the scene shortly thereafter.
Origins
Maurice Binder created the opening titles of the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. Binder originally planned to employ a camera sighted down the barrel of a .38 calibre gun, but this caused some problems. Unable to stop down the lens of a standard camera enough to bring the entire gun barrel into focus, Binder created a pinhole camera to solve the problem, and the barrel became crystal clear.
Binder described the genesis of the gun barrel sequence in the last interview he recorded before his death in 1991:
The media historian James Chapman observed that the sequence recalls the gun fired at the audience at the end of The Great Train Robbery (1903).Chapman, James (2000). Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films. Columbia, 61.
Evolution of the sequence
Bob Simmons 1962–1964 Because Binder had designed the gun barrel sequence to feature Bond only in silhouette, with a non-widescreen aspect ratio, he used stunt man Bob Simmons, rather than Sean Connery, to film the scene.
Simmons hops slightly as he pivots to assume the firing position and, following the blood wash, the dot becomes smaller and jumps to the lower right-hand corner of the frame before simply vanishing.
In Dr. No, the white dot stops mid-screen and the credit line "Harry Saltzman & Albert R. Broccoli present" appears across the dot. The text is wiped and the dot continues the sequence. The sequence is accompanied by a soundtrack of electronic noises and then numerous notes that sound like they are being plinked from a wind-up jack in the box; the latter is cut short by the gunshot. The "James Bond Theme" then plays very loudly, albeit with the first portion, featuring the theme's plucked electric guitar riff, truncated. The gun barrel sequence in Dr. No segues directly into the credits, a grid matrix of large-scale, bright and rapidly changing coloured circular dots against a black background. This version, without the electronic noises or the Saltzman–Broccoli credit line, was also used in From Russia with Love with more red-coloured blood and Goldfinger which fades into the pre-credit sequence.
Sean Connery 1965–1967 For Thunderball, the aspect ratio of the films was changed to a Panavision anamorphic format and so the gun barrel sequence had to be reshot, this time with Sean Connery in the role.Lane, Andy & Simpson, Paul (1998). The Bond Files: The Unofficial Guide to the World's Greatest Secret Agent. Virgin, 145. It is also the first gun barrel sequence in which the white dot segues to the film's pre-credit sequence, opening up to reveal the entirety of the scene. This is also the gun barrel which moves the least amount of seconds, for the point of Bond's final stance and the opening shot (the fake coffin of SPECTRE's Colonel Jacques Bouvar) almost completely overlap each other.
Connery wobbles slightly while firing his gun as he adjusts his balance from an unstable position and he bends over to fire. Although the sequence was shot in colour for Thunderball, it is rendered in black and white for You Only Live Twice.
1969 (George Lazenby) With a new actor, George Lazenby, in the role of James Bond for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), a third sequence had to be filmed. As with Thunderball, the sequence was once again shot in colour.
In this rendering, the white dot stops mid-screen and the credit line "Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli Present" appears, much as it did in Dr. No (albeit spelling out "and" instead of using the ampersand). The "James Bond Theme" keeps playing though. As the barrel begins to move and when it stops centre-screen, Bond is walking to position for around a second before turning and shooting as the camera tracks with him, resulting in a "treadmill" effect. Lazenby is the only Bond who kneels down to fire; this is also the only version where the descending blood completely erases Bond's image, leaving only the red circle. In this version, the gun barrel is awash with prismatic splashes of light.
1971 (Sean Connery) When Sean Connery returned to the role of Bond for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), the gun barrel sequence filmed for Thunderball was used. As with You Only Live Twice, the sequence was rendered in black and white, but was given a bluish tint. As in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the barrel is awash with prismatic splashes of light, which this time ripple through it. Unlike On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the splashes of light are erased by the descending blood. This was the last time the sequence was rendered in black and white until Casino Royale (2006). It is also the last gun barrel sequence in which Bond wears a hat.
Roger Moore 1973–1974 With the introduction of Roger Moore, and the use of a 1.85:1 matted aspect ratio, a fourth sequence was shot. It was used for just two films: Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. Moore wears a business suit and, unlike Simmons, Connery, and Lazenby, uses both hands instead of one hand to fire his gun, his left hand bracing his gun arm. The gun barrel only moves side-to-side to the left of Bond, without alternating to the right. This is the first gun barrel sequence in which Bond is not wearing a hat. Additional footage of this sequence was shot of Bond shooting with both hands, then walking straight towards the camera with his gun drawn, putting his face into view, as seen in theatrical trailers from Live and Let Die through The Spy Who Loved Me. The dots that start the gun barrel in The Man with the Golden Gun are blue but in subsequent releases the dots are white. It is the last gun barrel sequence until Quantum of Solace where Bond wears a business suit.
1977–1985 The anamorphic format was reinstated for The Spy Who Loved Me, necessitating a fifth version of the sequence. Moore's Bond wears a dinner suit (tuxedo) rather than a business suit and again uses both hands to fire his gun. This rendering would feature in all Moore's subsequent films in the series, for a total of five appearances, the most uses of the same footage to date. In this version of the sequence, it is noticeable that the background of this version of the sequence is tinted, rather than the usual white. The tint changes with every Moore film. The Spy Who Loved Me, for example, features an eggshell tinted background whereas the background in Moonraker has a strong shade of buff. In For Your Eyes Only, once the white dot moves in the middle of the screen, it does not open up to reveal the pre-credits scene, but cuts abruptly. The gun barrel sequence for Moore's final film, A View to a Kill, featured an error in the 2006 Ultimate Edition and subsequent DVD releases of the film. The error was a scanning issue which caused the gun barrel to be cropped off largely along with the opening dots going off of the screen, just like the Brosnan gun barrels. The issue was rectified in one of the latest iTunes releases.
Timothy Dalton 1987–1989 A new gun barrel sequence was shot due to the change in actor from Roger Moore to Timothy Dalton and was used for both of Dalton's films. Dalton walks swiftly with a slight bounce before sharply spinning and firing. Dalton crouches down slightly when he fires. Unlike Moore, Dalton shoots one-handed. John Barry orchestrates the music for the gun barrel in The Living Daylights (1987) but Michael Kamen composes a different orchestration for Licence to Kill (1989). This was the last gun barrel sequence to be designed by Maurice Binder before his death in 1991. The Licence to Kill gun barrel alters the gun barrel of the previous film slightly, showing Dalton's walk and pose as more zoomed in.
An alternate gun barrel sequence appears in The Living Daylights trailer, showing Dalton hopping as he fires, similar to Bob Simmons.
Pierce Brosnan 1995–2002 Following Maurice Binder's death in 1991, Daniel Kleinman became the designer of the Bond opening graphics. Beginning with GoldenEye (1995), the barrel was computer-generated (but still resembles the original images of the barrel itself) emphasising light and shade variations in the rifling spiral as the reflected light shifts with the gun's movement. Like Dalton, Pierce Brosnan shoots one-handed. Unlike the previous Bonds, he remains bolt upright as he fires, with his gun arm extended straight at the camera. The blood in this sequence is noticeably darker and falls faster than in previous incarnations; in keeping with this new pace, the main melody line of the "James Bond Theme" is omitted in two of Brosnan's gun barrel sequences, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough. In prior versions of the sequence, the white dot would open up to reveal the gun barrel before it reaches the right edge of the screen; in all four of Brosnan's films, however, the dot continues moving right until it disappears off screen. Then the gun barrel scrolls in leftward from off screen. The World Is Not Enough is the first Bond movie where the white dot opens up to reveal Bond, this gun barrel also shows Bond's final pose as uncentered, possibly due to a scanning error.
The teaser trailer for GoldenEye featured its own gun barrel sequence in which Bond, appearing in shadow, quickly shoots away six times the onscreen text "ON ONE MAN", before shooting his seventh shot on the letter "M" into a "7" to only leave "007". Bond walks into the foreground, revealing Brosnan's face and proclaiming "You were expecting someone else?", introducing him as the first actor to play Bond since 1989.