The Cinematography of the Prestige
The Prestige, released in 2006, tells the story of two illusionists, Robert Angier (The Great Danton) and Alfred Borden that strive to out perform one another. The death of Angier’s wife in the beginning of the movie causes the once friends to become enemies. The plot unfolds as each illusionist works to better their act. Director Christopher Nolan uses many filming techniques to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
The lighting in the film helps create mysterious and somewhat eerie scenes. The Prestige is predominantly shot in low key night scenes. Many of the characters have shadows on their faces and have negative space in their background. By choosing to shoot the film in low key, it adds a level of fear for the audience. If the film had been shot in a high key fashion, it would have lost the depth needed to accompany the story’s intensive plot.
Also important, is the fact that the majority of the film is shot at eye level. Seeing the film at eye level allows the audience to have a connection with the actors, causing the film to appear more realistic. There are no extreme camera angles. The way Nolan was able to capture emotion and feeling was through shot lengths. In many scenes that contained extreme conflict or emotion, the close-up was used in order for the audience to feel what the characters were feeling. In the two separate scenes where Angier and his wife died in the water tank, Nolan captured their struggle against death with a close-up. This close-up shot captured the distress and fear on the characters faces as they struggled for breath. Eventually, the audience sees Angier’s wife, and later Angier, stop fighting and become still with death. If this scene was simply captured with a medium or long shot, the audience wouldn’t have been able to make the emotional connection.
The long-shot was only used a handful of times in The Prestige. It was seen when Angier entered Tesla’s workshop for the first time. The use of the long shot in Tesla’s workshop was used as an establishing shot. It familiarized the audience with a new setting. Another important use of the long-shot was when the illusionists were performing their tricks on stage. The viewer was able to see both sides of the stage, all the props, and a full auditorium with people in their seats. The long-shot, accompanied by loose framing, allowed the viewers to feel as if they were members of the illusionist’s audience.
Tight framing gave the audience a sense of confinement and lack of control. Nolan utilizes this framing technique when Borden is in prison. In this scene, Borden is talking in between the bars to his daughter. The scene is shot with a close-up of Borden’s face surrounded and confined by the prison bars; alluding to his confinement. Tight framing is also used when Angier and his assistant, Olivia, discuss their plan for sabotaging Borden. Angier’s body is blocking the camera, giving Olivia nowhere to go and vise versa.
The choices Nolan along with the Cinematographer made in creating the Prestige allows the audience to truly enjoy this film.
More info on Film
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
- http://video.movies.go.com/theprestige/
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3 comments:
that's so awesome how you analyze the movie and related it to everything we've learned in class so far. it was very interesting to read and it opened my eyes. great job!
I have never seen The Prestige but it sounds like a pretty cool movie. I also think that the use of low key lighting is essential in creating the mystery and suspense of this type of movie. I saw The Illusionist and it was pretty good. It was filmed with many of the same techniques.
i like that you analyzed a movie for the blog. it's really cool that you were able to have it relate to things that we have learned in class. i agree with your analysis of the use of tight framing in the prison shot. it gave the scene a way more emotional and personal tone. you felt his against.
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