Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

The Short 2013 film “Agent Carter” directed by Louis D 'Esposito gives off great examples of film elements. In the beginning you can hear Peggy's voice as the marvel intro rolls, not even 20 seconds in and the film is using a sound bridge or the process when sound carries over a visual transition in a film. The henchmen do a great job in looking scared and nervous and Peggy does an even better job at selling that she is a highly trained/ skilled agent. The eye level shots also help to show details into the faces of the characters demonstrating their personalities. To sum it up the use of camera angles , sound and mise-en-scene really help to bring this film to life making it believe and very entertaining to watch. The first use of a camera shot and angle is in the flashback between Peggy and Captain America when they are cutting between scenes the camera has a closeup on each of their faces which helps to capture the emotions and facial expressions by forcing the audience to view their faces. The scene then skips to Peggy heading towards the location walking right up to the establishment. After Peggy is not picked to go on the mission her boss comes and talks to her and in this confrontation there is a heavy use of over the shoulder shots and eye level shots to make you feel like you are the person who is listening in their place. The scene changes to a lowkey lit office filled with men and Peggy with an alarm blaring showing something important is going to happen. This use of music is an example of a non-diegetic sound or any sound that the characters on screen can not hear but the audience can. The boss gets a call that two agents are needed to be sent to go after a man called the zodiac and the music changes to something faster paced making the scene much more dramatic and intense. This is an example of a diegetic sound because the characters on screen can hear it. Right before the flashback ends you get a behind the back shot of captain America sitting in his pilot seat heading straight down towards the ground, this shot shows the setting but does not show what he is feeling in these supposedly last moments. In the back sad but hopeful music plays helping to inflict emotion in the audience. In this walk the mise-en-scene use of costume is exemplified demonstrating the time period by showing the men wearing clothing from a period like the 50’s , this helps to make the film more accurate and more believable. Surprisingly in this same scene the editing processes of crosscutting and simultaneity occur in the constant cuts during the conversation between the two. All in all, editing, sound, camera angles and mise-en-scene can bring a whole movie to a different perspective to help give off a better view to the audience.