Shawshank Redemption Essay

Introduction: Attracting your audience is a key skill, producers release trailers giving the an audience and idea of what type of film is been shown, Also actors in a film can make a big difference because you have big mainstream stars that some people favorite or have big opinion towards them such as Tom Cruise he mainly stars in Action films he even has series of action films like Mission Impossible and more. Genre also helps because as an example, I like comedy and whenever I see a comedy film being advertised I’m instantly interested and think about going to watch it. Some people are more into a particular genre then others.

Hybrid: This is where genres are mixed together giving the audience two genres to feedback of. A film like the Rush Hour series is Action/Comedy which you get both sets of genre. It doesn’t just have to be action and comedy it could be many other genres like sci-fi and action or crime/drama etc. its a mixture.

I will be explaining and summarizing the film Shawshank Redemption in this short essay. The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.I will cover the following sectors such as

• Characters
•  Narrative
• Mise-en–scène
• Themes (messages and values)

The word Mise-en-scène is actually a French word, but in the correct terminology the meaning of Mise-en-scène is when your filming it sums up everything that is included in that actual scene such as actors, props, sound and lighting even the costumes etc. Apart from the viewers that watch a film after all the work is done, It’s the Directors job to complete the design of a scene. The Director and a Production Designer work closely in relation to provide a good-looking scene, generally within the industry it is there responsibly.

Scene’s in Shawshank are very detailed and give the audience some sort of description. At the start am sure you would probably notice that the film is a classic and set in the olden days. You see the cars and shops etc., which tell you these sorts of things, even the soundtrack it’s opera music even the officer customs are classic along with the Prison Yard, the gates around the court etc.

The Characters, Tim Robbins as Andy has a very calm humble look but is very intelligent and prefers to keep himself to his self when he arrives at the prison. Regardless of all the drama whiles Andy is an inmate he is really hopeful and likes to help others, even when he doesn’t need to.

Andy and Red (Morgan Freeman) developed through the film they also built a bond, a strong friendship that included meeting up socializing outside of prison if they ever got out which they did. Whiles in Shawshank they both helped and understood each other and had a few things in common. They were both smart and educated in some sort of way. Red was the man to get “anything in and out of prison” especially because he spent most of his life there, he had knowledge on how to get things around. Andy already had a career before being convicted for murder, he was known as a banker you even see in the film he helps the prison officers with finances. Again helping others, which he didn’t need to do. The prison officers where bullies towards the inmates, they assaulted them, even killed one then tried to make a story about the inmate tried to escape so they had to shoot on sight, but it was all a lie.

Warden Norton is supposed to be this religion guy who believes in God, but actually he is very hypocritical towards his religion and only believes in making more money. Not only did he plan a murder of an inmate, he try’s to destroy Andy’s life and manipulate him. In the end after Andy escapes Shawshank Warden Norton realises the sort of person he is, also realises Andy had taken his money and reputation. Police come to arrest Norton but he shoots himself after everything that’s happened.

Byron Hadley is the captain of the guards, maturity of time he looks like a tough guy with no emotion what so ever. Although he seems like this, he does have moments where him and Andy help each other out and other inmates. For an example after Bogs and The Sisters attacked Andy for the last time, Hadley had beaten up Bogs so badly he would need to eat through a straw. But that wasn’t just a simple favour, Andy would help Hadley continuously with finances. As long as Andy does he’s job, Hadley will look out for him. After following Warden Norton’s instructions which was to kill another inmate (Tommy) he was found out and arrested by police.

The Narrative structured the story very well, with the setup, the development, and the resolution. Making the audience feel some sort of sympathy for Andy as he looks innocent. Also the narrative showed the audience the actors charisma during the movie. example: as red read is reading Andy’s note when they are both out of Shawshank you can see the excitement for Red he has faith and hope after reading it. Also when Andy arrives at the prison things are not easy he gets sexually harassed at one point. Another scene as an example is when Brook is released from prison and find after life completely different, the v.o gives an idea of what he is going through and how he see’s life, at the end unfortunately he decides he can’t take no more so he commits suicide.

The resolution is a joyful ending as karma hits the guards that tortured and treated individual inmates differently which gives audience some knowledge that when you do wrong you get wrong back, even the spiritual side of things Warden Norton doesn’t get what he wants in the end even when he tells inmates to read the bible and so on he still does wrong.

Themes – Films that are a prison genre have many common things such as the Bully inmate and a victim or even a aggressive prison guard etc.

The film Magdalene Sisters is another genre that is similar but they both have many differences, they don’t have cell’s of a court yard or even get to play sports. It is a film which keep custody of young girls who live and do daily labor until they die or sometimes get released they are sent here if they break the law or do things they know they shouldn’t do. Once they are sent here they are removed from society. Shawshank and The Magdalene sisters have a lot of similarity even though they may not have prison guards or inmate cell’s. The Worden is similar to the Head Nun because they have the same psycho charisma it’s like they are corrupted and end up having a break down when out of sight.  A scene where all the girls are naked in front of Nuns they sexually insult, mocking and comparing their sexual parts, gaining fun out of it.Its fairly the same as Shawshank when the new inmates came into the prison they was told instructions and even one was insulated, this is were its similar.

Conclusion: Specifically in a prison genre people expect a twist or sometime inmates who intend to escape plus they like to show punishment like Magdalene Sister one of the girls got her hair shaved for escaping the house. Filmmakers need to make trailers about there film expressing the story it doesn’t need to be full to end but its good to show the main scenes that express a lot. Also twisted the story or giving the unexpected like killing the Protagonist at the first sight of the movie or even switching the charters etc. Doing series of the same title is another interesting way to hold viewers because they want to know what is next in the storyline.

 

Tyrone Dsane