Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

 In the 2013 Marvel film “Agent Carter”, we can see many different film elements executed in different ways. In the opening scene, we are seeing a flashback which uses a cross cutting technique. Flashbacks depict the personal experience of a character by showing a memory of a previous event and they are often used to "resolve an enigma" later appearing in the film. The camera cuts back and forth between Agent Carter and Steve Rodger (aka Captain America). You can hear sad and suspenseful music in the background, which signals something troubling is about to take place. The scene cuts from Agent Carter and Captain America having a heartfelt conversation, and then the music and conversation slowly dies out and we are cut back to present day. The next scene opens to a bird’s eye view and establishing shot of the city which then cuts to the precinct. From the beginning of this shot, you can tell there is a use of lowkey lighting which signifies that the scenes taking place will not be necessarily happy and bright, but dark, mysterious, and suspenseful.  There is a hue hint of blue in this shot, and almost every character is wearing a variation of blue suits and clothing. The color blue represents a heroic feel, and we can connect the color blue back to Captain America’s suit color. This scene in the office contains many close-up shots, and eye level shots. This signifies the importance of the object in the frame. It's meant for the audience to really focus their attention on that character or object. There are also several cut- away shots to things in the scene, like the mission documents, Steve’s picture in Peggy’s drawer, and important mission files. Again, this signifies the importance of these objects in this scene. That may not always be the case with cut-away shots, but in this scene, I feel they are made to make the audience focus in on the objects in the frame. The setting of a dark and mysterious precinct, with the use of lowkey lighting keeps the audience intrigued as to what is going to happen next. When the mission alarm goes off, mysterious and increasing music begins to play. This sets the scene and adds context to what is about to happen. We are then transported to outside what looks like a storage unit. You can tell by the costume, setting, and music that this is set back in the early maybe 50’s. Old jazz music plays in the back, there are old Ford mobiles, and Agent Carter’s dress looks professional yet old.  In the final scene when Peggy is approaching the men, we see several cross cuttings shots. It is cut back and forth from Peggy walking up, to the guards, and then back to Peggy. As Peggy conversates in another instance of lowkey lighting, there is more cross cutting between Peggy beating up the guards, and then to the guard eating a bagel and listening to music completely oblivious to what's going on to his crew outside.