Comparing two film

sequences

The Shawshank Redemption

Synopsis: Andy Dufresne is a young and
successful banker whose life takes a drastic turn
when he is sentenced to life imprisonment for the
murder of his wife and her lover. The film is set in
the 1940s and highlights the inequality of being
inside the prison; along with his friend Red.
Directed by Frank Darabont , also renowned for
The Walking Dead and The Green Mile. It was
realeased in 1994 and was a success as it
$28,341,469 as its domestic lifetime gross. The
film is also critiqued as a crime/drama.

Conventions of a
crime/drama genre
This film is labeled to be a crime film, yet also possesses the
sub genre of a drama. The conventions of this genre are
normally identified through the use of:

Has an engaging narrative normally associated with the

injustice of politics, gender, race or social and cultural
values.

Questioning of morality

Debates of innocence and guilt

May involve over the shoulder shots, jump cutting and

establishing shots to show the change in setting.

Escaping Andy Dufrense;

analysis

In this scene we are watching the ordeal between Red and the hierarchy of their
prison concerning the location of Andy Dufrense. He has appeared to have
escaped yet the prison is inescapable; until Andy Dufrense came along.

The scene opens with an establishing shot to show the setting of the scene, it
also shows the isolated place of which the prisoners live. It appear to be a very
barren place therefore resembling a realistic prison.

To show the significance of Red within this scene we are given a long shot of him
with the remainder of the shoot blurred.

Corresponding to the idea hierarchy we are introduced to a stern man all

dressed in uniform; this is presented through a mid shot at 0:29 seconds. This
emphasizes how broad this man his therefore exemplifying physical largeness as
well as possessing dominance.

At 0:42 seconds, there is a track to follow the officers movement as he gets

closer to Dufrenses cell. Within this long shot we can also the the faces of the
many other prisoners, this highlights the emotional affliction of which they
posses as as this point they dont know he has escaped but only defying his
orders. This shows companionship between the cell mates despite the usually
conflict that does happen between the prisoners.

Following the idea of dominance, at 0:51 seconds, the officer is shown on

the screen once again from a low angle shot, making him seem a lot larger
asserting authority onto him.

At 0:56, the scene jump cuts to another location, assuming another

member of the hierarchy concerning the prison, but at first we are only
given a long shot of him changing his shoes rather than establishing the
location. This acts as plant match as Dufrense doesnt wear his shoes to
escape; therefore the focal point of this, especially leaving them in a box,
foreshadows the narrative later on. A crane is then used to reveal the
unknown males face.

At 1:39, after realizing Dufrense has escaped, there is a shot behind

another two officers but their faces are blurred. This wide shot shows
equality between the officers, this can associate to them being dimwitted.
The main officer is then located in the center of the shot in-between the
officers; showing that he still acquired authority of the two.

At 2:30 the window in the background is well lit from the light outside. The
male still carries on speaking, but having this within the long shot
established the significance of this; again plant matching this for a further
purpose later on in the narrative.

Furthermore at 2:43, the man questioning the officers on Dufrenses

disappearance mentions the poster that is on the wall; we are then shown
Reds face through a eye level shot as he was one the one who enabled
Dufrense to have the poster. This highlights the connection between Red
and the poster as we are given shot reverse shot as if she was a character;
therefore emphasizing the significance of this poster that is to be revealed
shortly.

Within the next few seconds of the scene Red and the rock are in the same
side of the lense, this helps to not divert the focus from the audience
concerning the rock and the part of which Red played within Dufrense plot
without him realizing it.

As the male throws the rock, at 3:12 we are met with some ambient noises
of the rock carrying on falling into the wall; rather than bouncing off the
wall, much shown the reaction of Red flinching.

The poster is then shown in a wide shot but the camera is now within the
hole in the wall,, is slowly zooms out but establishes the 2 officers faces
and Red; showing how innocent Red truly is within the scheme despite the
offences. As it carries on zooming out it makes them look smaller to make
the hole look deeper and on going; this shows the epiphany of that
Dufrense has escaped.

Non diegetic music then fades in to make the epiphany more of a

relevance.

Does it meet the

conventions of this genre?
Within this sequence of The Shawshank
Redemption there are few key factors to
highlight that it is a crime, drama genre. This is
the fact there is the injustice of some form of
hierarchy; this is shown through Red and being
the only one to called to help them discover what
happened.
Despite this, within this there is no significant
moments to suggest this, there is a harrowing
narrative within the entirety of the film, yet this
can not be easily identifiable in this snippet.

10 Things I Hate About You

Synopsis: The new kid of the school must find a guy to
date the meanest girl in school, in this case it is the
older sister of the girl he has a crush on, who is not
allowed to date until her sister is.
The film is an adaptation of the Shakespeare play The
Taming of the Shrew and was was directed by Gil
Junger. The film was released in 1999 and over the
weekend of its theatrical release it received
$8,330,681, yet is Worldwide life time gross at box
office is $53,478,166. The genre of the film is a
romantic comedy due to the humor from Heath
Ledgers character yet, a hard hitting love story.

Conventions of a Romantic
Comedy genre
This film is known for the blossoming relationship between the two
protagonists yet also for its comedic elements. Within a typical romantic
comedy there are many conventions that are easily identifiable, these include:

The typical boy meets girl scenario.

Inevitability of the two ending up together despite the boundaries the have
to face and a grand gesture from someone to prove a realization of love
for the other character.

Often seen through the females perspective; mistreatment etc..

Normally set in an urban environment, including the work place and

schools.

Shots often include a two shot, shot reverse shots, close ups and extreme
long shots.

I Cant Take My Eyes off of

You; analysis.

The scene opens with a close up the male protagonists hands

sorting out a microphone and sound system. This specifies what
the scene is going to be about. This is accompanied by a pan to
establish this notion.

At 0:13 there is a establishing shot to show a large football field, it

presents how busy the field is. By doing this it shows that a large
gesture will occur with relations to the make using the
microphone. This is also followed by the 0:15 close up of the girls
on the field showing significance of who it is for.

There is a low angle shot as the male swings down from the pole,
singing. This makes him appear bigger than he actually is, this
shows that he is confident in what he is doing; despite it being out
of his character to do so.

At 1:37 he sings an elongated looove you, this is shown in a

close up to show the emotional connection he has with this girl.

Then at 1:38, a wide shot is shown behind the police officers

and the male protagonist as he is being pulled away. The
intention of this is so show the comedic gesture of what he is
doing. This also includes the police falling over as he escapes.

An extreme long shot near the end of the scene highlights

again how he is dancing across the entire stand in front of
everyone.

At the end of the it jump cuts to another place inside of the

school with a sign saying Detention on the door and a sign
up sheet next to. The camera slowly pans over it and zooms in,
this signifies the end of the scene as well has presenting the
consequences for his actions.

.
At 0:46 we are officially introduced to the girl he is
directing his singing at; this is shown through a close up.
Yet, there are still people blurred in the background
showing that she is the focal point of this piece but there
are other spectators around; this also represents the
urban background of which this film is set.
Comedy is incorporated within this scene through a wide
shot to show every party of his body and how he is
dancing. This is a still movement, therefore the camera
would be stood on a tripod as due to the amount of
moving he is doing the shot would be uneasy and difficult
to catch with a track. A steadiscope may have worked
better as we can focus in on the action.

Does it meet the

conventions of this genre?
Within this sequence we can identify the
clich boy meets girl scenario and the
large gesture of the boy proving
themselves. It is also set in an urban
environment.
There is also the use of extreme longs shots
to show the switch in different locations
within the scene. There are also multiple
close ups of each characters face to show
emotion of the character faces.

Comparing each genre.

Both of these genres are very different. They have different

features to highlight their genres and reasoning's behind this.

For example, within the crime/drama genre there are fewer

establishing/wide shots as they typically stay within the same
location area.

In both genres they use close ups frequently to capture the

characters certain emotions at the time; therefore they are
similar in this instance.

Editing wise, which may have not been seen in either of the
clips, there would typically be more editing used in a crime and
drama genre film to capture action and to enhance the
injustices of what is happening within the narrative.