Very early first version of what has become a MUCH better James Bond Montage over the years. If you came here by mistake, check out Version 4.0 instead....seriously! • Bond '62-'12 [Version ...
A little background --
I did this back in 1989 with 3rd generation copies of these movies (recorded at SLP no less.....ugh!). The song was from my 'The Spy Who Loved Me' soundtrack LP. The quality is horrible! I had a nice VTR Umatic video editor at my disposal at the time and I was trying to come up with something I could use it for. I came up with the James Bond montage to show someone that there was a LOT more to James Bond movies than the women in them. I felt I made my point successfully. I always liked the video, but hated the quality. Also, it only goes up through 'Octopussy', which I accidentally listed out of order during the title sequence. Not to mention totally skipping over "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
I did Version 2.0 and 3.0 in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Version 2.0 was a dramatic change from Version 1.0 in that it included more movies (up to 'Die Another Day') and I took out the "bad guy montage" that was in Version 1.0. Also, I included women in that one. For version 2.0 I was using video files other people had made from DVDs. The quality was getting better and I was able to use video editing software. Much easier to get the timing right.
In 2010, I figured out how to make my own higher quality video files directly from DVDs and decided to re-make the James Bond montage. I didn't make a whole lot of changes aside from video quality and better edits. I decided not to add 'Casino Royale' because I just wanted a better version of the video I had already created and to be honest I wasn't completely sold on Daniel Craig as Bond yet.............yet. Up to this point, I had only used the "Bond '77" music for the montage.
About Version 4.0 --
Jump ahead to 2012. 'Skyfall' blew me away enough to make me go back and watch 'Casino Royale' and 'Quantum Of Solace' again. Both were much better the second time around. I'm not sure what my problem was with 'Casino Royale', but it is now one of my favorite Bond films. 'Quantum Of Solace' still has some issues, but there is a lot more good in it than bad. Add to that that suddenly all of the Bond movies were now on BluRay, the fact that there was that 'Casino Royale' trailer music that I could never get out of my head, the availability of MUCH better video editing software, AND the fact that we were in the middle of a 50 year Anniversary for the James Bond franchise. How many more reasons did I need to re-work the whole montage to include Daniel Craig's films and somehow get the 'Casino Royale' trailer music into the mix, which I figured might help in getting the additional Bond movies into the montage smoothly.
After doing some HD tests, it was clear that this thing could really look awesome. I worked on getting the music edited together first. I wasn't sure it was going to flow. Then, with a little trim off the beginning of the trailer music and a very slight trim off the end of "Bond 77", it seemed to fit much better. Adding the drum beats at the end really sold it for me. I love trailer music and that drum cadence from the 'King Arthur' trailer was a piece that I have always wanted to incorporate into SOMETHING.....and there it was. It fit perfectly and I really think it brings it home to a great finale.
That's the gist of it. Then it was simply a matter of putting all of the pieces together. I think I ended up using anywhere from 270 to 280 separate clips.....give or take. All of the movies are represented (I actually tallied everything and 'A View To A Kill' has the least number of clips). With a franchise this big, it is hard to include EVERYTHING and still make the video watchable. There are always going to little scenes I see that I will wish I had included over others, but overall I'm really happy with how Version 4.0 turned out and I'm going to try really hard to leave it alone. It has become a 50 Year Anniversary Montage and I want to leave it that way. With as much as I've obviously seen it, I still enjoy watching it. I hope you enjoy it as well.
Finally --
I hope you can appreciate this Version 1.0 for what it is.....a VERY early rough draft/experiment. But at the time, it was also fun to do.