Now you see me

now you see me 

now you see me is a crime thriller/ mystery from the start of the opening 2 mins. you can tell straight away who are the main characters because the opening 2 mins focuses on summarising the characteristics of each of the characters and in each shot it keeps the characters in the centre of the shot keeping them the main focus of attention also in each scene they have the most dialogue compared to the other people in the scene. the magicians in the opening 2 mins are not generally viewed as stereotypical magicians as magicians are normally seen dressed with a top hat, cloak, bow tie and waist coat also they normally use a wand and when it comes to magic tricks they are normally seen pulling a rabbit out of a hat or doing card tricks where as the magicians in the opening 2 mins are not matching up to this stereotypical view instead they dress in normal clothes and don't wear reasonably large hats. normally magicians are males and the assistant is a female however in this film one of the main magicians is a female which again goes against the stereotypical view towards magicians. there is mostly diagetic sound which is because it gives the viewer the feel that the magicians are real and the magic is real to. the shots are mostly medium shots so that the tension doesn't rise too much but keeps the viewer interested in the film. the film is full of mystery and tricks and the more you think you know about how the trick is done it changes which entices the audience to keep watching the film to find out how the trick is actually done. the typical target audience for this film would be teenagers and young adults this is because the films story is based on magic which would appeal to the younger audiences because they take more of an interest in it; they find that it amazes them and they want to know how its done, the film could possibly appeal to older audiences because it is full of mystery and the story quickly changes direction and the viewer gets more interested in the film because they want to find out what is going to happen and how the trick is done. by showing the main characters in the opening 2 mins of the film it straight away establishes with the audience that they are the main characters and the audience is interested on how the film is going to use these completely different magicians to create an exciting story line. the main characters are not wearing typical magician hats or cloaks instead they wear casual clothes this goes against the typical stereotype towards magicians this gives the film a unique swing and that is what gets the viewer interested in the film. in the opening scene with the first of the main characters in the film he uses cards which is the typical traditional trade mark of a magician and because of that the audience know straight away that he and the other main characters are magicians and that they are also the main characters.
the opening scene of now you see me shows the audience exotic locations for example the first location the audience sees is a city they can tell this due to the big buildings in the background they establish this location to the audience first using a wide angle long shot and as it is the only location out of the four shown that has had a long wide shot of the location and it was also in the background this would suggest to the viewer that this city the character first shown is in is the main location of the film (it is where most of the film is going to take place) the other locations are still exotic but are not shown off as much for example the audience can only tell that the second location is exotic because of what the characters are wearing for example the main character in this scene is wearing some kind of holiday hat and has a shirt on but no tie suggesting to the audience that he is not there on business but rather more of a relaxed break, in the background there are exotic leaves which is the only give away that they are in a exotic country but you don't see allot of it as it is poring down with rain which creates a fog like cover over the leaves which shows the humidity in the exotic country. the third location in the opening sequence is in a city again however this time its on a boat with less crowds suggesting that the main character who is suppose to be the next best magician isn't that popular or well known to the public which makes the viewers feel sorry for him when another character ruins his trick by working it out but just like in a real magic trick the viewers were fooled into thinking the main character lost $100 when what they didn't see was the main character stole the other characters wallet and watch making a fool out of that other character this makes the viewer interested in how he did it and because they sided with him earlier in the scene they felt happy that he got the other characters money it also makes the audience feel like it was part of the plan all along. the fourth location was not in a open area on show to massive crowds or anyone who walked passed instead it was in a warehouse of some sort and people had to pay to see this magician this doesn't tell the audience if its in a exotic location or not however it does tell the audience that the character performing magic tricks is popular and therefore must be good at them it also tells the audience that she doesn't have to steal money like the past two characters who have been forced to blackmail or pick pocket money off people suggesting that they are not rich and are not well known for their magic. the type of people who come to see this character seem to be teenagers and young adults this can be told by what they are wearing as most of them are wearing hoodies and shirts with jeans where as older adults don't typically wear that sort of clothing this suggests that the film is targeted at a young audience teenagers and young adults this is because the younger audiences can relate the characters in the film with themselves making the audience more interested in the film.
most of the shots in the opening sequence of the film are close up shots this is because the director wants to build up tension whilst the magic tricks are taking place which adds to the suspense in the film making the viewer interested in how the magic tricks are done, in some cases there are extreme close ups to build the tension quickly between the audience and the film creating very tens moments in the opening of the film making the viewer wonder if the magic trick will be a success or not or if something dramatic is about to happen in the film. the idea of the close up shots is so that the viewer can feel like they know whats going to happen with the trick and to make the viewer feel like they know how the tricks are done but just like the saying in the film the closer you look the less you see and as the trick becomes revealed the viewer is amazed at how it was done (plot twist) for example at the beginning when one of the main characters had a pack of cards the viewer thought he was going to do a simple card trick when actually he ended up making the girls card appear on the side of the building which shocked the viewer and made them feel as if the magic trick was done in real life in front of them which was the aim of the director to bring the audience in to the film.
in the beginning of the film there is a lot of shot reverse shots used to establish with the audience who the main character is talking to, the shot reverse shots are used to allow a consistent flow of dialogue which the audience can follow this creates the flow of the scene and allows each shot to flow together making the film seem real to the audience. as well as shot reverse shot another technique was used in the opening of the film and was one of the first the audience saw but did not notice this was called focus pull this is where the camera blurs out the background and keeps the foreground in focus or the other way around making the audience with out even realising it focus on the characters/objects in the foreground or the characters/objects in the background and sometimes within a single shot the focus pull can change either from background to foreground or foreground to background it can do this as many times as it wants just like in the opening scene of the film where the focus pull kept switching between one of the main characters and the deck of cards this makes sure the audience is focused on the magic trick and nothing else.