A Systematic Analysis of a scene from the movie “The Prestige”

Systematic Analysis

In this scene of the movie, Christian Bale (Alferd Borden in the movie Prestige) is demonstrating a magic trick to the audience in front of him. This scene is from the start of the movie “The Prestige” that is about two friends who later on became rivals (Priest, Pp. 4-28). In this scene the character is standing on the stage with a cage in his hand that has a dove inside it.

The systematic analysis of the above shot from the movie “the Prestige is illustrated as follows (Giannetti, Pp. 86-90):

Dominant.

The dove in the cage is the brightest object in the scene. The eye of the viewer is attracted to the dove at a first glance.

Lightning Key.

High key lightning is used on the centre of the shot (the dove in the cage) making it the brightest object in the scene. Medium key lightning on the character in the frame, and low key lightning on the back drop of the stage.

Shot and Camera Proxemics.

The shot is taken from a distance. Making the person, who is watching the film to consider him/her as he/she is sitting in front of the stage, along with the rest of the audience. The camera proxemic range is slightly more than social that is around twenty to twenty five feet.

Angle.

The angle is slightly higher than the eyelevel. Due to the nature of the shot, that is magician on the stage that is elevated from the ground, and audience in the hall at ground level.

Color Values.

The dominant color is white that is the color of the dove and also the color of the shirt and the bow tie that the character is wearing.

Lens/filter/stock.

The lens that is used is standard, and it does not have any filter attached to it.

Subsidiary Contrast.

This includes the figure of the magician demonstrating the magic trick. As the dominant object in the image is the cage.

Density.

The shot has a moderate density as the key elements that are shown in the shot are the cage and the magician.

Composition.

The image is divided into just one area that is centre where the character is standing.

Form.

Definitely open as the character is standing on a stage that has a huge audience and hall in front of it.

Framing.

The framing is loose as the character has a lot of space (the complete stage) to move around.

Depth.

The image is composed on two depth planes, the main figure (the magician), in the front, and the back drop of the stage at the back.

Character Placement.

The character is placed at the center of the stage, along with a cage in his hands.

Staging Positions.

The magician stands in the centre of the image with a cage in his hand in front of him. His is in the profile position of a demonstrator in front of an audience and the camera.

Character Proxemics.

There is just one character in the image. The character is positioned in such a way that equal space is seen to the left and right side of ...