As you can see, I like The Prestige. I found that the movie to kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I kept trying to figure it out. The excitement the movie brought drove me to look into how it was created to make me so entertained. I found the editing to play a major role in the movies success.
The film does not unfold in a linear format. Instead, it jumps back and forth between two different time periods. For example, the audience will be watching a scene where The Great Danton is performing onstage and immediately the film cuts to a scene in the future where Angier is in jail for the murder of The Great Danton. The plot continues to unfold, jumping between times with no set pattern.
Editing plays a vital role in this films success. The opening scene starts at the present time, while the rest of the movie takes place in the past. The Prestige unfolds through flashbacks and jump-cuts, while revealing the details of the characters fate witnessed in the beginning scenes. By using these flashbacks and jump-cuts, it is easy for the audience to become confused, yet also intrigued as the plot unfolds. Nolan also uses many short takes and rapid cuts to intensify the moment. In the scene in which Angier’s wife dies; many cameras are used to capture multiple shots of the scene. This effect allowed the audience to see Angeir’s wife dying from many different perspectives. Rapidly cutting these images together adds extreme intensity to an already tense situation, thus adding suspense to the film. Another important scene where rapid editing enhances the film is when Cutter, (Angier’s assistant) is teaching Angier a new trick. This relatively boring scene is brought to life by short takes and rapid cuts. The film jumped back and forth several times from Angier learning his new trick, to performing it for the first time.
Parallel editing is another essential editing technique utilized by Nolan in the closing scenes of The Prestige. In these scenes, Nolan cuts back and forth between the two deaths of the main characters. Borden is being hung for the murder of Angier. However, Angier was never murdered. Instead, he framed Borden for his death which later leads to Angier’s real death. The scene takes place in the jail which symbolizes Borden’s confinement over the past several years. Angier’s real death came as a shock to the audience because Fallon, who is disguised as Borden’s friend/assistant throughout the film, is actually Borden’s twin and is revenging his brother’s death. By parallel editing, the viewer saw two things taking place at the same time, although the two scenes are set in different locations. The success of this scene is due to parallel editing, because the audience is shocked by the parallel life Borden and Fallon shared.
I hope that I did not spoil the movie for anyone who has not seen it. If you have not seen the movie I highly recommend seeing it even if you know how it ends. You will be able to put the puzzle together easier now that you have a head start!
Director Info-
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0634240/
Interesting Info-
http://www.worstpreviews.com/review.php?id=139§ion=preview
1 comment:
When I watched The Prestige, I too was totally in to it. I did not even want to get you to get anything to eat or drink until it was over. Now that I think about it if I would have taken this class before I watched that movie I would have noticed a lot of what the camera was doing; zooming, the different points of view -- but it was cool just watching it for the excitement.
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