Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in prison for murders he claims he did not commit. He forms a friendship with another inmate named Red and adapts to the brutal prison life over 19 years. The film uses lighting, sound, editing techniques and camera work like close-ups to set a dark, tense and mysterious tone that conveys the harsh reality of prison life.

1. The Shawshank Redemption
Drama/Crime Movie
Textual Analysis
Ada and Nikoleta
AS Media Studies

2. Synopsis
Andy Dufresne is sentenced to two consecutive life terms in
prison for the murders of his wife and her lover and is
sentenced to a tough prison. However only Andy knows he
didn’t commit the crimes. While there, he forms a friendship
with Red, experiences brutality of prison life, adapts and helps
the warden, all in 19 years

3. Light
Light is one of the key aspects of this extract
which categorizes it into a crime movie. In this
extract, the lighting mostly used is low-key
lighting which is used to create deep shadows
and helps to produce the darkness and
shadowy effect in many of the scenes to
contribute to the theme of the film. The mood
and feeling that this type of light creates is
enigmatic, dark and mysterious. There is a
feeling of tension and that something negative
is happening.
In contrast to the low-key
lighting, there is also use of
flat lighting in this court
scene to convey the stillness
of the emotions and the
feeling of everything being
robotic.

4. Sound
 There are two types of sound used in this opening sequence. The first one is
diagetic sound, which is the dialogue and the second is non-diagetic sound,
the eerie, piano music, composed by Thomas Newman and a gunshot at the
end, in order to create a feeling of tension, in the scene where Andy is trying
to convince everyone that he is innocent.

5. Editing
 This film uses a number of editing techniques in order to get the
target audience to engage with it. Some of the editing
techniques used in this opening sequence are: L-cut, eye line
match, match cut, juxtaposition, cutaway, and graphic match as
well as a shot reverse shot between Andy and the lawyer. It uses
these to establish a mise en scene and a complex narrative. The
effects have been used well-they enhance the viewer’s
enjoyment of the film and display the narrative in the best
possible way.

6. Camera shots, angles and movement
Throughout the extract, the camera is mainly static, there is not much
movement. The extract is filled with several close up shots to show what the
character is doing and feeling and to see the face expressions. There is also one
two-shot in which Andy and his wife are shown kissing.

7. Mise en scene
 In this opening sequence, the costumes that everyone is wearing are very
smart. Everyone is wearing smart, formal suites and dresses as it is taking
place in a court, which is a very formal place and where people need to dress
appropriately for the occasion. There are not many props used throughout the
sequence. There is only a gun for when Andy is explaining what he remembers
to the lawyer.