Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

In the film, "Agent Carter," the shot opens up with a flashback scene, including Captain America (Chris Evans) and Peggy (Hayley Atwell). The scene shows Captain America going into action while saying the final words to Peggy. This is done through the use of close-up and choker shots, which help show the intensity and emotion of the scene. Additionally, there is dim lighting which makes the scene feel more sorrowful. Along with the camera shots and lighting, the performance of the two actors helped enhance the scene -- the audience saw raw emotion through facial expressions and tears. The scene itself does not include much dialogue between the two and lets the performance make its impact. In the final moments of this scene, the instrumental music increases as it shows Captain America focusing on a picture of Peggy whilst he sacrifices himself in battle. 

The next scene opens with the words "One Year Later" titled across the shot. This allows the audience to understand the change in time and see Peggy's evolvement after the "sacrifice and death" of Captain America. An establishing shot is used to show New York City, the place in which Peggy is now located and is working. Here is where the audience and see elements of mise-en-scene, as they get a greater glimpse of Peggy's clothing, hair, and makeup -- which and allude to the 1940s time period of the film. Camera shots, like full-body, cameo, and close-up shots, are used variously throughout this long scene. The shots show the office in which Peggy is working, make it alarmingly clear that she is the sole female in a man-dominated environment. The camera angles to her and her facial expressions whenever she is being disregarded by her co-workers. As the evening moves on, all of the other employees begin to leave and the lighting becomes darker. Then the film includes a bit of diegetic sound as a phone rings that both Peggy and the audience can hear. The final bit of this scene, shows Peggy answering the phone and listening to the details of the mission. We hear the voice on the phone say that the mission will need three to five agents, but then the camera pans down to Peggy crossing that out on the paper -- implying that she will tackle the mission alone. 

In the following scene, it opens with a medium shot that shows Peggy walking towards a building, assumed to be the location of the mission, in her clacking heels and holding her briefcase. The shot then transitions into a low medium shot and then moves to a panning show that shows a car driving by. Given that it is still the late evening, the lighting remains quite dark. The audience is then seeing the three men, in the middle of a dialogue with music playing, in the building as they find Peggy approaching them. Two of the three exits the building to confront Peggy and in mid-conversation with them, Peggy smacks one of them with her briefcase and begins to beat them up. The scene shows a hint of parallelism because as this is happening, the man inside does not see them being attacked until later, instead he is sitting reading a paper and eating a sandwich. This sequence is fast and full of intensity. It starts to diminish when Peggy pushes one of the men through a glass window. This causes a reaction on behalf of the man inside. The next few seconds focus on him as he pulls out a gun from under the desk. When it pans back outside, Peggy is gone and he, nor the audience can see her. This helps create tension and builds up suspense. As the camera follows being him, he slowly beings to walk outside and assess the situation. The audience then hears Peggy's voice telling him to drop the gun, yet she is still nowhere to be seen. This is until the shot shows a gun being put to the man's head. This frame shot is what ends the scene. 

Word Count: 675