Mise-en-scene-

Costume- The costumes used in The Prestige are relevant to the time period it was set in. This helps the viewers to understand the time setting, so will have some idea as to what to expect, technology wise, for example.
Lighting- The opening scene of The Prestige is very dull. This may be to set the time period, a time of misunderstanding, and developement of ideas in technology & science. As the audience progress through this film, putting together evidence to figure out what is hapening (voleurism) so is the progression of understanding in this film between the protagonist and antagonist.
Props- Props used are necessary for the film, such as simple props to help with the magic tricks the main characters perform. In the opening credits a number of top hats are shown. This seems very strange to the audience, so the question is raised 'why are they there' or 'how did they get there'. This question is later answered in the film, and becomes a main feature in the film.
Sets- The setting of The Prestige opening sequence is a city, where they are able to perform their acts at a theatre. This setting becomes necessary in the filming of The Prestige, as otherwise the film would not be as effective. The top hats are shown in a forest, a stange and completely different setting to the city in England; so again a question is risen 'how will they be relevant to the film'.
Make up- Minimal make up is used in The Prestige, to keep it simple and more realistic.

Narrative themes
-Magic and illusions are the main theme throughout the film, the battle for finding the perfect magic trick, which noone can figure out.
Murder- The Protagonist wants to find out and avenge his wifes death.
Rivalry- finding out how the antagonist does his illusions.

Character roles
Hugh Jackman at the beginning of the film is friends with the protagonist. This changes throughout the film and become a main narrative theme.
Cristian Bale is a magician and has a wife, the death of his wife spurs him to challenge his friend, hugh jackman, and becomes his rival.

Conventional for a thriller?

Yes, The Prestige opening sequence introduces the audience to the main characters, and the main fature of the film, magic. Questions are raised at the beginning and are answered later on in the movie, it becomes the job of the antagonist and the viewer to figure out why, what, and how things happened (voleurism).

Safe hands poster

Safe Hands Poster

Childrens Film Opening - Final

Last lesson of editing. Progress.

We have been told that we have been cut 1 lesson short to edit and make the music. This gives us 1 hour and a half to finish the majority of the clips music, and tweak the editing to make it better in anyway. Currently we are trying to find a beat to bring into the new scene when the football playing starts. This is to show that a more exciting activity is taking place, and the main theme of the movie is about football.

1st lesson of editing progress.

During todays lesson we hope to create the sound track for our children's film 'Safe Hands'. So far we have created the very first scene, and the music develops and cresendos to warm in to the film. We have stopped the music with the entrance of any dialogue, so the words spoken can be heard. As Liam goes outside onto the football pitch the music starts again, to let the audience know the action has become more exciting and up beat. Once Liam realises his gloves are magical, an even heavier beat is added, to show that even more exciting action is coming.

Progress so far

We have been given our 3 filming lessons and we feel we have progressed a lot. We managed to film all our clips, but one, in the first filming lesson, and upload them onto the Macs. This gave us an advantage of 2 more lessons to edit with, which we used well.
Unfortunately with the absence of Jack, we lacked team support, but eventually we managed to upload and string together the clips so it made sense. After we did this we added a fade in fade out to the beginning clips so the audience can 'warm in' to the viewing of this children's movie.
During the second lesson of editing without Jack we focused on the beginning credits. This proved difficult but we learnt many new skills including how to fade out credits and how to move the text about the screen. We incorporated these skills into the children's film beginning sequence.
In the sequence we also learnt how to modify the speed of the clip and also learnt how to reverse a clip. These skills are also used in our children's film.
During the next few lessons we will hope to make the sound track for the film on Garage Band and tweak any minor problems with the opening sequence.