Prisoners Review

   

    The establishing shot of the clip is of a car and a what seems to be a café. The only source of light is from the café, creating a sense of hope for the audience. This shot is only short, probably suggesting that the stay of the owner of the car is a short one, creating an atmosphere of busyness. However this sense of busyness is quickly overshadowed by the slow zoom of the camera towards to what seems to be the protagonist. This quick change in mood could signal a sense of instability. Also, there is a reflection of rain around the car, also creating a sense of nowhere to go, creating preconceptions for the audience that the owner of the car is in a bad situation and may not be able to escape. The slow zoom could also be a sign that something is creeping up on the protagonist, possibly something evil. This further creates a sense of vulnerability for the protagonist as the camera is zooming up behind the protagonist. The protagonist seems to be wearing black; being a symbol of death. The shot is of eye level suggesting to the audience that the protagonist is ordinary; he is neither good nor evil.
    Around the cop, the restaurant is empty besides him and the waitress, suggesting to the audience that the cop is all alone, perhaps having a mental barrier associated with the job. The restaurant/café also seems to have warm lighting with a light coloured décor, suggesting coziness. In contrast to the dark clothing of the cop, this further reinforces the idea that maybe the cop is in a bad place; perhaps something to do with the storyline.
     The pathetic fallacy of rain can give ideas that the cop is in a dangerous situation, as the rain combined with night time creates conceptions of danger and that something sinister is about to happen. The rain could also suggest suffocation for the cop and it is everywhere; surrounding and smothering him. This pathetic fallacy is seen throughout, especially in the long shot of the cop getting into the car; getting salvation from the suffocation.
      There is then a silhouetted back close up of the suspect, only showing the audience one key feature, that he is wearing glasses, this creating a sense of mystery and creating questions for the audience such as: did he do it? Is he connected to the crime in any way? There is also a combination of low pitch music, classical almost that gives preconceptions that he is the culprit, making the audience feel disgust. Immediately after this shot there is a mirrored shot of the detective, sparking questions as to if the two are connected in some way, or if they both have something dark to hide from the rest of society.
      Each shot of the suspect is dark; almost a silhouette, showing he is shrouded in danger and evil. These shots range from a close up to a mid shot, both of him sitting in the van, staring into nothing. However, the background is lightened by the headlights of the van and the interior is all dark, showing that the outside world can be innocent, but behind closed doors, it can be sinister. In contrast to the suspect, the detective has a large amount of backlighting, giving suggestions that he is of angelic nature.
     There is an extreme long shot of the van being surrounded by police and the detective, creating another sense of suffocation and reinforcing the theme of no escape which is prominent throughout the clip. The van  is surrounded by lights in a low key setting, creating a sense of cleansing for the van from the darkness that is encases. The ‘cleansing’ carries on when the detective enters the van with only a torch and a gun. There is a mixture of high and low angles. The low angle is facing the detective, suggesting that he is in a bad place almost hell like. There is also smoke surrounding the area, creating another sense of mystery. The high angle is of a point of view shot of the detective trying to find the suspect, this gives the audience a chance to look through the world of the detective and allows them to almost feel what he is feeling. Whilst the detective is walking around the van, the audience can only see his eyes through a low angle shot. This allows the audience to see the true emotions of the detective.