Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

Using the digital effects of the comic book pages flipping the scene seems to dissolve into the symbolism of the Marvel brand name. In the background you hear a voice over of the female leading character explaining the overall setting of the story. This leads into a master shot of Captain America in his classic red,white, and blue costume, this gives the status of this character. The female seems to be dressed in what appears the 60’s apparel. The eye level shot of this scene gives a personal feeling, which is important in what is happening in this story line. The usage of non-diegetic sound gives the tone of a sad mood. This is important for viewers to feel because they have yet gotten to understand the characters or the story. The camera shot soon follows into an establishing shot of Captain America in the air, in what appears to be a spacecraft. The scene switches back and forth between Captain America and Agent Carter to really represent the mood of Captain America making a sacrifice. Agent Carter displays frontality to show the feeling of sadness. Then the camera cuts to the setting of the mission control room. Once again a cut is made to transition from the sonic flash back to the symbolism of New York City. This can also be seen as an establishing show to the view of the location the movie will be taking place. It can also creates the mood of the story. Diegetic sound of the red alarm goes into a wide shot to show the set of the coming scene, that being an office room. Blocking is used to show the sexistism that was present in this time period. By placing the males in the front of the room, where as, the singular woman is shown in the very back of the room. The typewriter is shown on Agent Carter's desk. This is symbolism for the oppression of women, since no male is seen with one and at that time a common job for women was a secretary. The following shot seems to surround the boss to the main room in the office. This follow shot shows the significance of that character. When the boss and Agent Carter began to discuss the camera follows them throughout the conversation and cuts back and forth between the two characters; ending the conversation with a cut away, this shows the reaction of Carter to her sexist boss. The next scene is shown to be later in the day, around night time, and low lighting is shown to give the mood of a slow stillness. Showing a medium shot the scene is able to demonstrate the ratio of females to males at her work, which explains the sexist behavior that was so common at that time. Once alone, diegetic sound of the alarm rings again. A low angle shot is presented at the desk of her boss. This perhaps represents the symbolism of her now being more important than her male peers. The offscreen phone call quickly cuts into another lowlighting mastershot of agent carter on her first mission.