Magic constantly surrounds us at the movies. This magic from CGI technology and advanced editing has changed how we view films today. The digital age of film creating has quickly surpassed the old, classic films from more than 50 years ago.
This new type of magic is clearly visible in The Prestige, a film about the rivalry of two magicians and their quest for the perfect magic trick. In this film, magic is witnessed not only in the plot of the movie, but also in the camera angles, lighting and mise-en-scene. This film embodies the new technology that has been integrating into recent movies. After The Prestige was shown in 2006, most films have incorporated computer technology into action scenes, utilized special effects to highlight important features of the movie, and created images of imaginary worlds to trick the audience’s eyes into almost believing what they are viewing on the silver screen is reality. This is done in the same way that a magic show fools their audience, making their slight of hand so unnoticeable that the audience sometimes mistakes the trick for actually happening.
Using the Formalist Criticism to evaluate The Prestige, I am drawn to the opening scene of the movie. Two scenes are intertwined into one another to depict two separate disappearing acts and shows the audience the two sides to magic, the beauty in a simple trick and the deadliness when the trick goes wrong.
The technology in this scene is centered on the bolts of electricity that appear to be going through one of the magicians. First, the camera is positioned as if we are part of the audience watching both magic tricks from their point of view. This makes us focus on the film and directs our attention to the magicians in each scene. The lighting also shifts our focus to the magicians since they are in a brighter light than the rest of the people in the scene. Once the magician steps into the electrical, open chamber, the audience looks worried about his condition and confused on how the magician appears to still be alive with volts of power going through his body. This affect looks so real and would have been impossible to master without the aid from CGI technology.
This magic show demonstrates the magic that every film is capable of when incorporating computer technology into films. Without this magic, a film would be too ordinary to capture its audience’s attention.
