Now You See Me

Cast
Jesse Eisenberg - J. Daniel Atlas 
Mark Ruffalo - Dylan Rhodes
Woody Harrelson - Merritt McKinney 
Isla Fisher - Henley Reeves 
Dave Franco - Jack Wilder

Institutional information
Now You See Me was directed by Louis Leterrier and had the budget of $75 million. The film was successful and made $351,723,989 at box office after it had been distributed by Lionsgate (a Canadian-American entertainment company) and it's subsidiary Summit Entertainment. The film was released on May 31st 2013 and critics gave mixed reviews because of the incomplete ending, IMDb gave the movie 7.3/10 stars where as the average rating on Rotten Tomatoes was 5.7/10. It was then released for home media purposes, on DVD and blu-ray on September 3rd 2013 where it received $24,816,921 from sales.

Narrative
Four talented magicians are brought together by an unknown benefactor, they start to perform high-tech, high-profile magic shows, first amazing audiences by remotely robbing a Paris bank while in Las Vegas, and then exposing a white-collar criminal and funneling his millions into the audience members' bank accounts, baffling the authorities with their intricately planned capers. FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes is determined to make the magicians pay for their crimes and tries to stop them before they pull of a magnificent heist. But he's forced to partner with Alma, an Interpol detective about whom he is instantly suspicious. They start to think that there may be someone behind the scenes, who has done all the planning.

Iconography/Mise-en-scene/Genre 
We expect certain 'genre indicators' to be seen within the film, for example the iconography of a crime film would be guns, cars, drugs, weapons, money. In a mystery film we expect to see hand/foot prints, weapons, yellow police tape, tents and detectives. In an action/thriller film we anticipate car chases, explosions, violence, gadgets and weapons. Semantic elements are used to convey these genres in Now You See Me. The lighting in the trailer changes, it mostly makes use of natural lighting however it low key lighting is apparent in their shows which makes it more mysterious. Locations such as an arena, apartment, an investigation room, a bridge give it variety and makes it more interesting than just having one place where it is set.  Props such as the cards and scarves are used to portray the 'magic'. Bank notes, the volt, chains/handcuffs and police cars represent the crime. The fast cars, explosion/fire, helicopter and guns represent the action. Now You See Me is a crime, mystery, thriller film which overlaps a few types of genre to create an innovative idea which uses conventions of each individual genre type and puts them together. In this particular film the crime is the bank heists, the mystery is a surprise twist at the end which is not expected and the thrilling parts involve car chases and fights between the characters.  This also involves the conventions of an action film as there are guns, explosions, helicopters etc which is evident in the screenshots taken from the trailer below;

Sound
As the trailer begins there is a sound effect which builds up suspense and makes the audience feel excited and grabs their attention which is important to maintain their interest. There are loud, deep bursts of sound which starts the trailer , they fade quickly to entice the audience and create an element of mystery. A voice over says 'Come in closer, because the more you think you see' while the sound continues to build up quickly and becomes more high pitch and then suddenly comes to a halt where it becomes silent for a few seconds to add emphasis to 'the easier it will be to fool you'. After this an upbeat, pop soundtrack begins to accompany a montage of the film, the music reflects their success during their shows which gets a lot of positive attention. The sound track suddenly changes when "The Four Horsemen" get arrested which is quite daunting and low pitched, this reflects the mood of being caught and in trouble. The music starts to build up again as it looks back on their clever magic trick which shows the audience that it is an engaging narrative which creates more interest. This soundtrack then stops, and there is just dialogue from the characters which creates an element of comedy which could be appealing to potential audience members. When the footage involves action, such as the car chase, another soundtrack begins which is loud dub step and rock music combined which is exhilarating. At the end the title appears with a sudden sound effect which is gripping and another voice over is used, similar to the beginning which is memorable. 

Editing/camera angles
At the beginning of the trailer the camera zooms in, starting with an establishing shot of the city and there are quick fading out to black effects which fit in with the sound effect to create anticipation which is an important convention, especially for a thriller. 

The fade effect is commonly used throughout this trailer, it normally indicates a change from one event to another or a character. The fade helps build anticipation as it is a transition where the next shot is different. 


For example, there is a wide shot to show the performance and audience then a fade to black and a change to a medium close up of another character to show their reactions and emotions. 

The editing changes from being fast paced at the start to slower when the FBI arrive to arrest them, this shows the comedown from being successful and popular to being interrogated and controlled. However the basic editing shows the characters to be quite sly, smug and clever to the audience. This is represented through the use of an over the shoulder shot which creates a sense of realism to the audience and shows the characters facial expression.

A point of view shot is used to create a sense of realism and enhances the audience's involvement in the action when the mallet is thrown as the glass screen. A cross fade is used to show the chase between the magicians and the FBI which creates excitement and eagerness.