Shawshank Redemption Film Techniques Analysis Essay

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 think he is going to do something awful like take someone’s life. Low Key Lighting is generally used in films to show people feel bad or have a bad character and this creates a tense atmosphere for the viewer.

Another aspect used is Side Lighting. Side Lighting is when there is light on one side of the character and darkness on the other. Side lighting makes people look upset, angry or mean and is frequently used to emphasis people are dodgy or they are really unhappy. We see this when Andy is in court pleading his innocence to the court. His face is half lit, half in shadow which shows the viewer that Andy is not happy and it makes the audience unsure if Andy is innocent or guilty because he it makes him look like an angry person who could’ve killed his wife but he also seems convinced that he didn’t do it, so as the viewer we are not sure. It makes us want to keep watching and found out the truth.

Another production aspect used to show us this is Sound. One aspect of Sound is Diegetic Sound. Diegetic sound is actual sound like peoples movement, voices, animal sounds etc. These are turned up louder to create a tense atmosphere that emphasises to us what emotions the character is going through. This is used when we hear the