Shawshank Redemption Film Techniques Analysis

In the film The Shawshank Redemption, the director, Frank Darabont uses many techniques to create meaning and emphasis regarding Andy and Red’s journey from institutionalisation to freedom. He uses a range of camera techniques, sound, theme and symbolism to convey his points to the audience. The audience sees the use of camera techniques to show that Andy is redeemed when he escapes from prison, sound to show the harshness of reality, theme to show that religion is to be interpreted, and symbolism to show that Red has an important decision to make.
The director uses camera work most effectively in the scene where Andy emerges from the sewer pipe. This is to show that he is reborn and redeemed when he leaves Shawshank. After Andy crawls out …show more content…
In one of the last few scenes of the film, Red makes his way through a field, walking alongside the wall where he is to find a letter with money enclosed for him. He sits against the wall and opens the letter which reads “maybe you’re willing to come a little further” and hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing”. By reading the letter, he is opening the door to potential freedom. He is giving himself the choice to cross the line from past to future. The letter is a symbol of hope, but ultimately it is up to Red to see it as a good thing as opposed to hope being a “dangerous thing” which can “drive a man insane”. The wall also is a symbol of Red being in limbo between physical confinements within the walls of Shawshank and mental barriers of being institutionalised, as opposed having complete freedom and release from the past. The audience sees a shot of this contrast, with Red in the middle, and the wall and field on either side. We remember what Red said about hope, and how his mind-set is changing. We find ourselves desperately hoping that he will make the decision to have hope. The fact that Andy never gives up on hope and manages to escape and eventually convince Red to come along is