Shawshank Redemption Film Techniques Analysis Essay

1050 words 5 pages
In the film The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont the purpose of the beginning sequence is to introduce us to Andy Dufresne and his situation; being accused of the murder of his wife and her lover. This sequence uses lighting, music, sound and camera work to show us Andy’s struggle.
A production aspect that shows us this idea is lighting. Low Key Lighting is used in the scene when we see Andy in his car drinking bourbon and loading his hand gun. Low Key Lighting is when the lighting in a scene is dim and it is often used in movies to show people are thinking dark thoughts. This tells the viewer that Andy is going through a rough patch in his life watching his wife enter the room with her lover and it makes the viewer
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In this scene it suggests that Andy is uncomfortable being questioned by the pushy lawyer and it suggests that he’s in for a horrible result because no one believes he is innocent. It makes us think harder about whether he is innocent or guilty and it makes us feel for him so we start to think that he could be innocent.
Finally, another production aspect used to show us this idea is Camera Work. Close up shots are when the camera focuses closely on someone or something to draw our attention to it. It helps us understand a character’s emotions. We see a Close- up shot on Andy when he is standing in front of the judge at his court case and the judge is reading out his sentence. The use of this aspect is to show us how Andy is feeling, the close up shot on Andy shows the audience that he is feeling shocked with the sentence he has received. This makes us feel sorry for him and think that maybe he is innocent since he is so upset and looks like he didn’t expect to be given a guilty sentence.
Another example of camera work is when Andy is in the back of the bus and the camera is zooming in to him. This camera movement is used in films to show us what a character is feeling. The zooming makes us feel like something is about to happen so it creates suspense. In this scene Andy is arriving to the prison and the camera zooms from the inside of the bus onto his face to show us that

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