Opening of three films: 3rd Film - The Prestige

The Prestige – Opening:

The opening of this film is different to the others, as it actually declares the title of the film in the opening and then cuts to an actual scene. The first scene pans across the undergrowth of a forest floor, where there seems to be a hundred black hats which are exactly identical. This already sets the mood for the film, giving a mysterious and eerie feel to it. It then cuts to another scene where the camera pans across birds in their bird cages, in which a character grasps one out of its cage and shows it to a little girl. The narrative in the background also gives us the clue that this film is based on magicians and the secret to magic tricks. This foreshadows that our character will make the bird disappear and then reappear to please his audience, in this case the little girl. Yet dialogue has a very unnerving feel to it and that the speech has relevance to the entire film, that this ‘ultimate trick’ is the objective for our characters. The presence of an audience as characters in the film, also gives off that realistic feel to it and that the action and suspense is all too real and true.