Film Analysis: Now You See Me

     Now You See Me is a film about magicians and has an action based genre. The opening scene consists of each of the different magicians performing a tick in front of an audience, either a large one or a small one.  

     The first magic trick involves a close up shot of a man surrounded by a crowd in a city at night. The man is holding a deck of cards, about to perform a magic trick. The close up is to distract your attention from the magic trick so you don't figure out how it works.

     You can tell straight away that the film is set in various big cities as the city names come up in captions at the beginning of the film and you also see shots of each of the cities that the trick takes place. Some of the establishing shots show smaller places such as a boat or a cafe and less of the city as a whole which shows that the characters are just normal people in normal places.

     The beginning of the movie is set in both dark and light places, rather than just sticking to one kind of place/lighting to show how different all of the characters lives are to give a bit of background knowledge to the audience. There are a lot of long and mid shots as these show more of the scene at once and so is helpful for setting the initial scene for the audience. These kinds of shots also help the audience to get to know the characters as not only are they seeing the character but they're also seeing how the character acts amongst other people and so what kind of a person they are.

     It usually flows quite smoothly from one shot to the next to avoid it being jumpy, making it smoother which helps with the whole theme of magic and illusion as if the audience is always focussed on the same part of the screen, they are less likely to notice the slight of hand magic tricks or the give away to the illusion, making the audience feel as though they are really there.

     The films set in very realistic as it is meant to be set in real cities rather than a fantasy place, and so real cities are shot to show this. The lighting is also very natural; harsh where it needs to be but softer and more natural in other places to show the variation of real natural light.

     The narrative of the story is mostly various magicians doing their magic tricks, usually including dialogue between the magician and the person or people they are performing the trick on. This kind of style makes the viewer feel like a spectator and like they are watching the man or woman perform the magic trick on someone.
   
A very naturalistic approach is taken with acting to add to the idea that it is in a real life setting and ugh many of the characters have bike and outgoing personalities, they are acted in a relatable and human way rather than it being too over the top and comedic.

The sound uses in mostly diegetic, such the frequent dialogue between the magician and the person they are performing the tricks on as well as noises such as the flipping of cards or background noises from boats and passers-by. Despite this, there is often also non-diegetic background music used to add tension and dramatic build up to the reveal of the magicians trick to make the audience become as excited as the actors as they wait in anticipation to see what the magic trick is going to be.

   

Comparison of editing: Interstellar and The Lego Movie

     Interstellar opens with close-up clips of various people talking in an interview-like situation, suggesting a documentary like style. It often cuts between these close-ups of people to establishing shots of the things they were talking about, such as the crops and the dust storms, which helps to set the scene for the viewer and helps them understand what the characters may be thinking. Interstellar has quite a sci-fi/action kind of genre and although interview style shots aren't exactly conventional, they're not unheard of amongst the genre and can be very useful to set the scene and give the viewer some insight on the situation.

     There are then some close up shots of a man inside a plane. There are quite abrupt jump cuts between these shots to give the idea of confusion and panic as the plane seems to be about to crash. Using these shots helps the audience understand the characters emotions as when jump cuts are used it is hard to keep track of what is what and so they'll feel the same confusion as the character.

     The beginning of Lego Movie has many establishing shots and mid shots which help to set the scene for the audience. This is important for films like the Lego Movie because there might be younger children watching it and so it's less confusing if they can see what's happening and also because it makes it easier to show off the Lego stylisation of the film, as everything is made of Lego pieces and they live in a Lego world.

     A lot of mid shots are used when focussing on the character rather than long shots as Lego characters are obviously going to have a lot less facial expression than real human actors and so using a mid shot allows their limited range of facial expression and gesture to be seen at the same time to help show how the character is feeling.

     There are quite a few high angle and birds eye view shots at the beginning of the movie, which are also used to set the scene, such as the cars driving through the city, to emphasise the methodicalness of the characters lifestyles and how everything is done in such a basic way.

     Because the films are of two very different genres, there is quite a difference in what is used. For example, there is a lack of interviews in Lego Movie (although there are some later in the film, however, they weren't used for establishing). Just as there is a lack of birds eye views in Interstellar. This is because Interstellar has more of a drama genre than Lego Movie, and so doesn't show everything at once to keep some mystery about what is happening, where as Lego Movie is more about action and is more of a child's movie and so keeps things simple by establishing the scene in an obvious way immediately so the viewers can focus more on the plot than where they are.

Movie Genre Conventions: Documentary

    A documentary film is often based on real life happenings reenacted by professional actors to tell the story in a more dramatic and interesting way. These films can often be quite educational if portrayed well and not exaggerated too much, as they often contain video footage of the real incident happening if such footage exists.

    

    Documentary films do not have to always be based on real life events though. Some documentaries could be completely fictional action or horror films where the conventional documentary style filming and commentary is used to make the film seem more realistic and personal as the viewer will feel as though they are witnessing these events first hand and more privately than if it was made in a more ordinary style.

    Actuality is the term used to describe said clips of real footage rather than actor recreation. Explanation, commentary and dramatisation are also conventional of documentary films as they are used to make it feel as though the viewer is being directly spoken to and dramatisation makes the story line for intriguing for the reader because if it's quite a boring event, it will seem more normal to the viewer and so they will be less drawn into it.

    Voice-overs are often used in documentaries, which are usually spoken by the protagonist, or the person 'filming' the documentary (when it's usually actually a professional.) There is also some duologue in documentary films, often between the cameraman/woman and the/a person in the shot. This can often be in the form of an interview, which is particularly effective in showing the potential points of views of the people there at the time.

    Archival footage is the word used to describe the footage used in actuality. Archival footage is footage from a real life happening stored in a library or archive, which can later be inserted into a film or other footage.

    Documentary films frequently start with exposition which is used at the very beginning of the film and is there to introduce important themes. Common themes of documentary films are non-fiction, disaster, drama, action, horror, romance or sci-fi. Documentaries can basically be done with any theme/sub-genre as you can document anything really.

    A documentary is not really limited to any particular kinds of shots, however, it is unlikely to find unnatural camera angles such as birds-eye views as this is often unacheivable when using a hand-held camera, unless you're stood above someone. Mid shots and close ups are typical of this genre as well as establishing shots.