“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is the pilot episode for the AMC television series Mad Men. Having never seen the program and being completely unaware of its concept, I viewed the episode as if it were back in 2007 when the series first aired.
Prior to the screening I was unaware that “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” was the pilot episode, however while watching the episode I got the impression that it was indeed the pilot episode. I always find that the pilots of well made television series convey the story of the episode in a manner that makes it viewed as more of a feature film. With the purpose of pilots being to sell the concept of the show, the production value and effort that goes into it is set at a higher standard, the Mad Men pilot is no exception. …show more content…
Settings and locations that are to be recurring in future episodes are established in the pilot by taking advantage of using wide shots, making the audience familiar with the location and their connection to the specific characters. This is heavily used in scenes that take place in the office, namely Draper’s office, as well as the office space where all the secretaries and clerks are situated. While other one-off locations are shot utilising mostly tighter framing to emphasise the character’s identity, examples include all of the bars, nightclubs and restaurant. On top of the framing of the scenes, the camera work while it is not bad, is also nothing spectacular. Camera pans and tilts are used heavily, at least one shot in each scene. While it is nice to have some camera movement as opposed to a stock-still camera, a bit of stability would be nice. The amount of handheld camera work, personally does not feel fitting of the time period that the series is set in. Every dialogue scene is reliant on over-the-shoulder reaction shots, which are tedious and plentiful. In defense of the series however, this is the pilot episode therefore, the filmic style is not yet concrete and hopefully in later episodes the camera work will be more definite and less
Prior to the screening I was unaware that “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” was the pilot episode, however while watching the episode I got the impression that it was indeed the pilot episode. I always find that the pilots of well made television series convey the story of the episode in a manner that makes it viewed as more of a feature film. With the purpose of pilots being to sell the concept of the show, the production value and effort that goes into it is set at a higher standard, the Mad Men pilot is no exception. …show more content…
Settings and locations that are to be recurring in future episodes are established in the pilot by taking advantage of using wide shots, making the audience familiar with the location and their connection to the specific characters. This is heavily used in scenes that take place in the office, namely Draper’s office, as well as the office space where all the secretaries and clerks are situated. While other one-off locations are shot utilising mostly tighter framing to emphasise the character’s identity, examples include all of the bars, nightclubs and restaurant. On top of the framing of the scenes, the camera work while it is not bad, is also nothing spectacular. Camera pans and tilts are used heavily, at least one shot in each scene. While it is nice to have some camera movement as opposed to a stock-still camera, a bit of stability would be nice. The amount of handheld camera work, personally does not feel fitting of the time period that the series is set in. Every dialogue scene is reliant on over-the-shoulder reaction shots, which are tedious and plentiful. In defense of the series however, this is the pilot episode therefore, the filmic style is not yet concrete and hopefully in later episodes the camera work will be more definite and less