Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter”

The scene begins the opening credits with the Marvel logo. A voiceover is immediately presented with a dialogue exchange between a man and a woman, and the tone of their voice indicates that they seem distressed. They are discussing a dire situation at hand that the audience has not yet scene. Immediately following, simultaneity is shown in close up shots of a man in an airplane, and cross cutting to a woman who is sitting in what looks to be in a control room but a close up of her face shows that she knows she might be saying her final goodbyes to the man. This background scene establishes who the main characters of the story are, Agent carter and Steve, and their time period based on their clothing and the technology of both the airplane and the control room. The scene then fades out to black (fade out editing) suggesting to the viewers that this transition will go into a different scene. Next, an establishing shot of NYC displays the setting and time, which is dusk in the city, creating a mysterious emotion. A text overlay: “one year later” puts both time and place into the story, establishing a chronological sequence of events. A soundbridge of a military siren blaring allows viewers to predict what the next scene may be and creates short lived suspense as we are waiting to understand what the siren means.

A cut to the next scene discloses the location, an office building, in which sirens are blaring and desk workers are in a slight frenzy to get up and grab their briefcases, standing ready at their desks. This contributes to the overall mood because viewers wonder what is going on and why everyone is lining up in such a way.The scene makes a small jumpcut to a close up shot of man answering phone where the siren noise is perceived to be originating from. There is a mix of diegetic and nondiegetic sound as there is dialogue, siren noise, and sound that only the audience can hear: a score or background music. This helps display mood of anticipation because adding the direct cuts to show quick action of the people as well as all of the commotion makes viewers anticipate why the sirens are blaring and why they are all getting prepared with their briefcases! The sound perspective of the man on the phone puts emphasis on the nature of the emergency and also supports the idea that the people inside the office are detectives, which explains the mysterious mood of the opening scenes. Once the manager discloses the mission to selected male workers and sends them off an over the shoulder shot of agent carter is displayed as she remains standing after all of her other male coworkers have returned to their seats. Emotion is shown in that it is clear she wanted to go on the mission with the three other men, and the audience hints that she may be unequal, considering she is the only visible female in the office.

At this point in the film, there are several elements which contribute to the Mise en Scene. The actors wear early to mid 1900s themed clothing, possibly 1940s-50s, suits and formal work attire, office building has outdated technology (no computers, smartphones, Apple watches, tablets) each desk has a typewriter and a rotary phone location is NYC in the background behind agent carter’s desk, the window pane displays “SSR” with an eagle logo. The SSR is “The Strategic Scientific Reserve, or SSR, was a top-secret Allied war agency during World War II. It was formed in 1940 to battle the Nazi special weapons division, HYDRA. The Allies won the war thanks to the S.S.R.'s Super Soldier Captain America” (Marvel).Despite this branch being fictional, it adds to the mise en scene of the time, location, and studio design. This gives viewers historical context and enables people to have a better understanding of emotional and social controversies, like women in the workplace, that were popular during this time.

After Agent Carter is discouraged by the fact that she still has not been picked for a mission, as displayed by her emotions, the producers film a follow shot of agent carter being questioned by her manager about her job. The emphasis being on Carter, as the exchange of dialogue reveals that she is treated unfairly in respects to her other male coworkers, and despite having expertise in the detective field she is treated as if she is a secretary. This is supposed to convey sadness and make the audience feel as though she is being unjustly treated. In the subsequent scene, when the dialogue signals that agent carter is not invited to go to the bar with her male colleagues. They leave her in the office and turn off the lights, switching the lighting to low key lighting and signaling a symbolic mood change in that now her internal feelings of loneliness (as she misses steve) are now physically seen as she sits alone and in silence in a dark office building.

As she is in her manager's office collecting papers, a close up shot on phone is filmed and suddenly a similar siren is sounded creating leitmotif (precedent has been set) because it is known to the viewer that this is dangerous and that the military siren means that here might be new information on the zodiac’s whereabouts. This manifests emotions such as apprehension and suspicion as viewers wonder what the call will specifically disclose about the zodiac killer, and how agent carter will respond. It is also important to be noted that sound plays into the emotion of this scene. Sound perspective is created as we can hear the man on the phone’s voice but see agent carter’s reaction. She is surprised when she hears that 3-5 agents are needed but a close up shot on her face portrays that she in interested in going by herself, as the camera cuts to her hand crossing out the note that 3-5 people are needed. Emotionally, the audience feels happy that agent Carter is finally given an opportunity to prove herself to her coworkers.

After, the scene switches abruptly into a jump cut to a moving car and agent carter walking away from view in a steadicam movement. A follow shot changes the emotion because viewers can understand that agent carter is determined to prove herself by pursuing the zodiac on her own. The audience is meant to identify with agent Carter and understand what she is feeling, and viewers anticipate what will happen next.

Once she arrives to the zodiac’s location, Sound mixing of the oldies (1940s) music and the zodiac and his cronies contributes to the mise en scene because more clues to the time period are revealed. Contrast in shown in the lighthearted mood of the men; despite being dangerous, supposed killers, they are listening to upbeat music and reading magazines. They play right into agent Carter's trap because they do not perceive her as a threat, noted by how her arrival to the zodiac's location doesn't startle him in the slightest. This can be detected from his dialogue to his cronies saying: “do you guys want to handle this?” like she isn't a big enough threat for himself to have to deal with. This again goes back to the time period because men did not think equally of women and they thought they were weak. Emotionally, the audience knows what agent Carter is going to attempt to do before she does it so anticipation can be felt, and even a little excitement on her behalf. As zodiac eats a sandwich, clueless of the events going on just outside, action shots are taken of agent carter single handedly beating up the two men. The clip ends with a close up shot of a gun being placed up against the zodiacs head, an offscreen sound of carter saying “drop it” about his gun, and a worried and astonished look on his face. The final emotion that can be felt is relief that agent Carter was safe and achieved her goal, and hope that her coworkers and boss will now look her eye to eye, as they should have all along.