analysis of the panic room

1. By Charmaine Mccann

2. The film starts with the titles across the city. The contrast of the bright sunlit
skyscrapers juxtaposes to the atmospheric music. Although the city seems full of
sunlight and hope the music seems to put the viewers on edge and make them pre-
empt something bad is going happen soon and in this city. Also the shadows cast by
the buildings show that darkness exists in the here.

3. This is a wide shot and the character they are focused on in this frame is the estate agent
as shown by the lighting he is the silhouetted man in the doorway.
The shadow in the doorway foreshadows the villains in the film breaking into the house. It
also subconsciously makes the viewers anticipate fear in the sense that the house is
dangerous. The amount of locks on the door gives the audience a hint that this house is
not safe and that the last person who lived in the house felt a threat from danger. The
locks on the door could also hint that the last person who lived there was trying to protect
something precious from anyone who wished to take it. Portraying the estate agent in this
lighting shows that he is not going to be a nice character in the film and could hint to him
having a part in the danger they will face.

4. The wide shot of the mother shows that she is worried about the new move and the fact
that her and her daughter are moving to a new place and the fact that her daughter has
been moved away from her town and her father and everything she has known. The sun
shining at the end of the street shows that there will hope later on and this could
foreshadow the mother and daughter being saved by the police and the father later on in
the story.

5. This wide shot through the banisters in the stairs symbolises that they are trapped in
the house, this could not only be from internal threats but also the people that seek to
harm them from the outside world. This could also show that the young girl does not
want to move to a new house and therefore feels trapped away from her old life. The
mis en scene of having the little girl riding a scooter shows that she is innocent and
young and she does not know the possible dangers that she could face/ is going to face
in her new home.

6. The bars on the windows show that they trapped similarly to the wide shot of the
bannisters, it shows that the person who last lived there was trying very hard to
keep someone or something out. The fact that the man showing the house is
blocking the light and light is a symbol of hope in this film as the daughter uses a
torch to get the neighbours attention, this shows that he is portrayed a villainous
character in this film.

7. This wide shot foreshadows the later scene as the daughter is the one that ‘sees the light’
and uses the torch to get the attention of the neighbours so they will call the police. It is also
symbolises that the mother is in the darker part of the room as she knows the dangers in the
world and what it is like as an adult, where as her daughter gases out the window towards
the light in a hopeful manner, showing that she wants and believes things to/will improve. In
this image the mother is placed in the third, the rule of third is to show that the mum is the
subject here and this therefore shows her authority over her daughter. Another reason that
the director may have made the daughter smaller in this image is because she is less
significant and her opinion is less valued in decision making and she therefore had no say in
the fact that they were moving.

8. This medium shot shows that the daughter is more optimistic and she looks on
the bright side of life as she is still a child and therefore very naïve and she
therefore is in denial about moving away and doesn’t want to face up to her
feelings of being taken away from everything she knows and loves.

9. This close up mid shot shows the clear expression of fear and intrigue. The
reflection of the other houses through the window shows that she is focusing on
things outside of the house, this means that she feels tapped. She is mostly in the
third meaning that she is the focal point of this shot. Her yellow t-shirt and her
black jacket covering it, could foreshadow that she is innocent but she is about to
learn what dangers lurk in the real world. Her innocence could also be
highlighted by the brighter lighting the director has used to highlight her face and
also her naïve optimism.

10. This wide shot focuses on the mum as she is the subject and has been placed in the
third and the lighting although darker is centred around the mother. The house is
painted in plain and boring colours and contains no personal objects which doesn’t give
it the warm and homey feelings that most homes do, there has been no trace of life left
in the house, this could suggest that there has been some sort of death or accident
here.