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1. By Josh West
Mad Men Series 1 Episode 1 Evaluation
In this essay, I will be evaluating some of the camera motions in
the first episode of Mad Men; I will briefly explain what I think
each camera motion and scene means and how it portrays life in
the 1950s.
Pan Camera Motion. This camera effect was used within the
first two minuets of the program, the camera showed all of the
men stood at the bar smoking cigarettes, this implies that the bar
back in those days was a very masculine place to be, as no
women could be seen at the bar with all of the men.
Shallow focus
This focus effect was used in the first cut of the first scene, it
shows an over the shoulder medium-short, shallow focus shot,
this means that the main character was in focus, this shows
dominance over the rest of the characters in the bar.
This effect shows the how the men were ranked higher in society
because there wasn’t any women in the bar, implying that the
bar was mainly a place where men would go.
Tracking shot
This camera effect was used during the office scene were talking
to each other about how to please the men in the office,
generally the men were higher ranked up in the office payroll
due to the men being the more dominant.
This camera scene ‘Tracking Shot’ is a convenient way of filming
a moving shot, without the camera shaking, as it is fixed to a rail.
Medium Shot
This was used the in the elevator scene prior to the tracking shot
where the two women were speaking to each other, the 3 men
where discussing how men where dominant, and when one of
the men questioned the other man why he was talking in such a

2. manor, and he simply replied ‘its so the women know how to act
for the men’ this quote strongly argues the point in the
hierarchy.