The Prestige Analysis

The Prestige is a Fantasy Thriller about magicians who are in rivalry to succeed with the ultimate illusion. The sequence begins with the title instantly, with the picture in the background of a forest with lots of top hats. This definitely has to represent something in the film or be part of the film later on. This instantly gives the audience something to think about or ask questions about, which is an excellent start for the genre opening. After this a voice over is begun, explain magic tricks and how they are created and planned out. We see this scene, with what look likes a grandfather and granddaughter and then see a magician at the theatre. Throughout the sequence we switch  between either scenes in relation to what the voice over is saying. This then creates many questions of who these people are, what have they go to do with each other and what will happen because of this. There is relatively little music or soundtrack which is surprising as most sequences I have researched have a very deep and powerful soundtrack to emphasize whats happening. There is a slight orchestral background soundtrack which creates some sense of atmosphere and tells the audience something drastic will happen at the end of the sequence. At the end of the scene both magic tricks are done but the one in the theatre goes wrong and this is the climax of the opening sequence. It shocks the audience as they may not have been expecting something so dramatic in the opening sequence. As soon as the sequence ends suddenly the audience may be slightly puzzled and perplexed over what has happened. This is how the "thrill" is created and why the sequence works so well. I feel that the power of the narrative plays a very important part in the sequence and they way that it is scripted creates a very visual, dramatic opening scene.