Behind the scenes of successful product placement in cinema
There is a less-discussed success. However, that has delighted the particular crowds of advertising agencies: product placement. Aston Martin’s DB5 is celebrating its 60th birthday this year, and as we prepare to watch a few 007 films during the holiday season, I examine how the Aston Martin name has become a staple of the series.
Bond-Craig earns stripes
In Goldfinger by Hamilton, James Bond drove an Aston Martin DB5 for the first time, just like his fictional alter ego, Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, in 1959. The DB5 was featured in eight Bond movies – Goldfinger (Young 1965), Thunderball (Campbell, 1995), Tomorrow Never Dies, Spottiswoode 1997, Casino Royale (Spottiswoode, 1997), Skyfall (Spectre), No Time to Die (No Time to Die) and Skyfall (Spectre). Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan drove it.
Sean Connery, Goldfinger, 1964.
In the prologue of Casino Royale, the British agent enters the remote surveillance room, a room that is reserved for casino employees. Bond searches the hotel cameras for his adversary, who exits an Aston Martin DB5. James Bond, the rookie, sees the car through an interposed screen.
The Aston Martin DB5 appears in Casino Royale.
The director distanced Daniel Craig from James Bond by placing him in the same position as the movie-goer. This mise-en-abyme is a clever way to show the actor’s inexperience. The agent still identifies Dimitrios’ car as a “magnificent Aston Martin 1964”, a terrorist with ties to the Cipher. Bond plays poker with his adversary later. Dimitrios holds three kings. To stay ahead, he wagers his Aston Martin DB5. James Bond wins with three aces. Bond leaves the casino in his new Aston Martin, which Bond-Craig now owns.
The Aston Martin was not included in the MI6 kit. James Bond must fight for the privilege of driving the mythical car that is his character. When Daniel Craig was announced as the next Bond actor, the media focused attention on his athletic physique. Martin Campbell creates a psychologically charged scene instead of the muscular action we might have anticipated. The production made a gamble by putting on an actor who was very different than Bond’s standards and imagination. It also imposed a new hero, who slowly became the character.
In Casino Royale, Bond-Craig drives the Aston Martin DB5 for the first.
The prologue shows how the protagonist is transformed into a Double-0. The viewer does not see him as James Bond. Daniel Craig’s symbolic move towards his character is to drive the Aston Martin DB5. This product placement is narrative because it is a dramatic point and the beginning of the plot. This product placement can be described as qualifying as the Aston Martin, which is a fundamental and primordial attribute of James Bond and his coded world.
Aston Martin breaks records.
In order to prove that he had earned the trust of “M,” MI6 gave him a brand new Aston Martin DBS at the end of the mission. In the film, the new model is revealed. The new Bond must impress by outdoing his previous self in his role and in the financial revenues that it will generate. His car, however, is in harmony, as it also breaks records. According to the Guinness Book, the Aston Martin DBS has rolled over seven times while traveling at 120 km/h. This is the record for most rolls. The agent was not hurt by the car, which managed to crush it, but he did escape with only minor injuries.
The car and 007. are inseparable. It is like the armor of a modern knight. In Quantum of Solace, the DBS is also featured in the opening sequence. In a car chase, Bond-Craig starts his revenge behind the wheel of the powerful DBS model. Aston Martin has become a part of the agent’s life, and he continues to be associated with them in his subsequent films.
The four Aston Martins in the movie Dying Can Wait (scheduled to be released in April 2021).
No Time to Die includes four Aston Martin vehicles: the DB5, Aston Martin V8 similar to that in the 1987 movie The Living Daylights, the DBS Superleggera driven by the new female Agent 00 Nomi, and the mid-engined Valhalla.
Return to Tradition after a rupture.
The staging of Bond-Craig’s Aston Martin is different from the previous films. For once, it is not accompanied by any innovative gadgets. It was not until Skyfall that the head of MI6’s Q section, who provided 007’s famous gadgets, made a return. Skyfall is the 50th-anniversary film of the 007 franchise. It sounds like an homage to the series, while also erasing the slate.