Shawskank Redemption - Prison Bus Arrival
To set the context, the main character, Andy Dufresne, has been charged with the murder of his wife. This second scene in the film sets the landscape for the majority of the film, because Andy is in the prison bus.
So, this shot pans towards the prison, giving a wide shot of its surrounding walls and landscape. This gives the audience and idea that there isn't an easy escape from this prison because of the guards in the watchtowers and above the prison gates. Again, there is barbed wire and we can tell the prison covers a large area because the camera angle changes to a birds eye view, showing current convicts running towards the prison gates, and a megaphone speaker system has to be used to let all the guards know of an arriving bus. The megapphone indicates how old the film is. As the camera pans from a wide shot to a birds eye view, it loses sight of the bus and I feel this is done to convey the scale of this massive building it is going into.
There is also music behind the imagery, and this music sounds orchestral, again, maybe its a metaphor to convey the size of Shawshank Prison. Its also quite sorrowful and reflective and that can relate to the main characters situation because he is innocent of the crime, but he is being sent to prison and he feels shocked, depressed about it.
The birds eye view of the prison shows the current inmates rushing towards the gates to boo at the bus, and this is part of the mise en scene. The director wants prison to live upto its reputation by it being intimidating, dull and dangerous and we get a sense that its dull because all the inmates are wearing the same colour overalls. Its intimidating because the convicts are booing the new arrivals, plus in the next part some inmates bet on the new arrivals to see how long they will last. And dangerous because, obviously, there are hardened criminals in there so they don't really care for anyone but themselves.
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