Film Viewing Practice Essay "Agent Carter"

 As we can see in the beginning of the film, there is a flashback between Peggy Carter and Captain America, in which Peggy fears she has lost Captain America forever, which has had a significant impact on her since his death. The dramatic orchestra music sets the tone for the opening scene, while the background music sets the tone for the incredibly sorrowful moment they are spending together. Both characters' eye level shots allow us to feel the anguish on their faces and how difficult it is for them to say goodbye to each other. The dolly shot is then utilized to slowly back away from Peggy crying, representing the emotional instability that she will experience throughout the film. Through this opening scene, we saw the real feelings that these two shared. Following this scene, we jump into a workplace where it looks very busy. Many people are moving around and the background is filled with many different noises to show how busy it is. Diegetic sounds like telephones ringing in the back portrays that there is something to do for everyone. This busy setting gives off the impression that the work that they are doing is very important which we can see later on in the film. However, before we get to that part, Peggy Carter is asked to do some work while all the other workers are allowed to leave. We can see the dissatisfaction in her face when she is told to stay back and lockup. While she is working, you can see the dark room and can expect that something is going to happen. The anticipation is created by the setting and light that the director uses. Sure enough, when she is cleaning up, the phone starts to ring like an alarm which breaks the silence in the room. Peggy rushes to the phone to pick it up because it seemed like an urgent matter. During this phone call, we see Peggy Carter writing down information that they were telling her. Through the call, it sounds like we hear a set of coordinates which the mysterious caller wants to investigate. Instead of Peggy staying back to report the investigation, she decides to go on this mission alone because she was treated with disrespect as we saw earlier. When she crossed out the 3-5 agents recommended for this mission, the audience could infer that she was going to go on this mission herself. As seen later, she is fully dressed up carrying a suitcase to the location that she was sent to with sound playing in the background. There is a mix of nondiegetic and diegetic sound in the scene after that because you can hear a song playing in the background lightly to change the mood away from all of the alarms and loud sounds, but the audience can also hear the action when Peggy is fighting the two men outside of the assigned mission. This both deals with the alarm confusion and the music that plays during Peggy's battle with the two men, and helps to change the audience's mood by making them think about why all this commotion is going on and what had transpired in the first place. After Peggy defeats these two men, the last enemy tries to gun her down but cannot find her. There is much suspense created in this scene as the audience also does not know where Peggy has gone. However, we soon see her come out from the shadows and turns the tables when she comes from behind him and stops him in his tracks.