Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption

Valerie Hayes

Introduction to Film Studies/HUM 150

April 8, 2013

Christopher Robbins

Shawshank Redemption

Andy is a banker in Maine. He is convicted for murdering his wife and her lover, and sent to prison. Andy gets a job in the prison library to past time. He befriends “Red” Redding. A former inmate hangs himself when he is released from prison after spending decades behind bars and cannot adjust. Andy helps an inmate get his GED is shot by a guard to keep him quiet about information that might prove Andy is innocent of murder. Andy spends two months in solitary. After he gets out, the next day is escapes.

The film uses a number of editing techniques to make it appealing to the target audience. A mirroring, graphic match technique is used as the prisoner face in the center of the screen and then the next shot is of the gun which is also in the center of the screen. The effect is defined as; where two different objects are dissolved from one to another, usually the same color or shape. At this point, the gun is obviously not the same color or shape as the protagonist’s head but the technique represents a link between the character and the gun, creating a possible enigma and editing technique intensifies isolation for the central character, the sound bridge smooth cuts between shots and creates interest during the dialogue sequence.

The majority of the score consist of dark piano music, which plays along the main character’s role. The music was very dark that fully expresses how prison may be like. The depressing cellos and emotional violin. Some believe this score is a bit too0 depressing. Others think that it is the best left in context of the film.

The scenes inside the prison are very dark. Close-ups are very common in conversation. Low key lighting is used throughout the film. One of the most striking uses of formalism in the film takes place when the "sisters" attack Andy for the first time. In that sequence,...