Shawshank Redemption

Shawshank Redemption was directed by Frank Darabount and the screenplay was also written by him. The film shows Andy Dufresne as a middle aged banker who gets sent to prison for the murder of his wife and her lover, when Andy Dufresne goes to the prison Shawshank he meets a guy called Red as the film progresses we see there relationship develop as the two have there own shady deals within the prison. In the photograph I have added you can see a two shot of Andy and Red. At the start of the film it is made out that Andy is the murder although he denies this the audience is placed into the position of agree with the jury during the flashbacks he has in the court scene, later on in the film we see that he is innocent however the whole prison is also “innocent”.

I have chosen to place this film into the Art of Films as before I looked at Amelie that has beautiful cinematography but the storyline of the film is very strange whereas Shawshank Redemption still has the beautiful visuals but the storyline is extremely strong and the whole nature of the film is beautiful. The colour palette inside the prison is often very clinical, low lighting and the palette emphasises the blues and greys by doing this it creates the industrialised view of the prison with the correct atmosphere, the photograph I have inserted is a representation of  what a prison structure is like very symmetrical with almost no differences between either side, there is no focal point just the prison as a whole.

One of the most talked about sounds from Shawshank Redemption is Reds voiceover which narrates the prison and how daily life is, Reds voice is  monotone he never raises his voice, this is an ideal voice over for a prison although we mainly see prison from Andy’s point of view, Red is who we are constantly listening to he is given almost god-like qualities within the prison.

Shawshank Redemption is one of those films where everything gets explained at the end, we see that Andy has always planned to escape from the prison, he uses a rock pickaxe to make his escape chiselling through the wall to his escape. I particularly like this shot of the warden this shot implies that he is now trapped within the walls of the prison, the colour palette has also changed from cold and clinical to warm which shows the happiness from Andy ‘s escape and the positivity, The escape scene is in my opinion the best part of the film as we find out the plan he has been making and how it has all gone perfectly it is also quite comical this style of the escape scene.

I was so gripped by the storyline of the film the outcasts of society is now who we feel sympathy and empathy for which is a complete switch in stereotypes of what we see from criminals, we hate the police and love the criminals. I mean we feel empathy for murders this feel is utterly brilliant for the way it distorts your perception.

The dialogue of Shawshank redemption is extremely important to any film but its the dialogue that makes us see this perception one of my favourite lines from this film “Gets busy living or get busy dying” I think this line perfectly sums up Shawshank Redemption most of the prisoners who are in there for life are busy dying but Andy and Red are different and get busy living.