The Shawshank Redemption - Cime Dama

In the opening of The Shawshank Redemption the audience go through a door and are confrunted with a point of view shot of 5 men well dressed in suits siting at a large table looking out at the viewer. This is a very dawnting shot to open to and the lighting used means you cant see the faces of the men; making them a group of powerfulmen wityhout an identity. The sets of papers and sheets show that thesemen are official and somhow important.
-0:02-
We then see a blackman has walked through in a old flat cap and wearing prisson clothing with a number on the left breast poocket. This gives us a sence of location and what these menmight be doing here. It is a prison and the 5 men sitting in the suits must be somekind of parole group, to decide if the prisoner is worthy of release.
-0:10-
The prisoner sits down and confirms his name, he looks afraid but humble. He knows the signifigance of this talk. he is the less powerful figure in the situation. He is in the full light from the windows looking out at them, he is on display. The room he is in look nice it does not look like a prison but a home. There is a teapot and cups in the backround. There is a photo in a frame nexrt to the large wooden door. It is a classic styled house. The men sitting down then comfirms hes already spent out 20yers of a life sentence. your view of this prisomer then changes, he looses the humble inocence in the eyes of the audiance. He is asked if be belives be has been rehabilitated, he then gives a hubling speech about how he has changed, this then puts the audince back in the view of a humble man. But the sternlooking men decide to denie him, he slams down the stamp on his papers and its done. We then see the same man standing outside. his head is slumped and as he puts on his flat cap he walks up a set of steal stairs. We then see more men in the same blue suits. He then walks up to a group of men sitting at a set of bleachers. The men ask if he has been given his freedom. The setting is bleek and grey, the road is cracked and litered with potholes. There is a large brick building around in the distance with large factory style towers. This is a harsh and depresing environmnet. As the men stand up they walk out across a dusty courtyard filled with other prisoners, the black man who came out of the building is leading the group, he has composed himself and walks with preseces and power not a depressed and humble man anymore. This show the dinamics of prison life and how he needs to be viewed by others in the miniture prison environment.
 -1'40-
We see another smaller man comeup to him and the shot goes to a long shot were you can see the height diffrence between them, this is showing the power of this man and the fact that someone came up to HIM make you know he is signifigant and is more important than the standard prisoner.
  - 2-10 -
We then see a full view of the entire building, giving a sense of the scale of the building. As a grey 50s style bus comes up the road, giving a idea of the time set, meaning the audience have a full idea of the setting. This exteme long shot then turns into a birds eye view of the building and the courtyard, the prisoners then all swarm to the gate as the tower alarms them of a new set of prisoners. We then see the inside of the bus and a group of men all looking out the windows at the prion, and its ocupants. The camera then focuses on one man sitting at the back staring blankly at nothing. The men in the bus are all wearing civilian cloths not the classic prison ware. The man we focus in on is in a suit, meaning he has not had any oppertunity to change and his hair is messy and ungroomed, he has not had a chance to go home and wash since his arrest. the fact that he is in a suit means he had a respectable job not petty criminal activites, raising the question of what crime he comited The first group of prisoners move to a high wall to leen up against and watch the new prisoners coming In. they stand up on there perch very comfortable and with ease, it is familier and they have watched from there many times. In the final scene you see a line of armed gards, standing firm in smart uniforms, through the front window of the truck. This is the first view of the prison the new prisoners get. It is a scary veiw with these guards being the only seperation between them and the pisoners. The whole of the opening gives a scence of dawnting, confiding but vast space. You feel as if its you are traped in this space. There is a lot of room but you still feel as if you cant move. The prison atmosphere has been captured very well.