Film Analysis

Shawshank Redemption- 1994
“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free”.
Genre: Drama, Prison Crime.
The opening sequence of the film involves the character Andy played by actor Tim Robbins sitting in his car were he gets a gun and several bullets out places them his lap and begins to start drinking alcohol, then the scene changes to Andy in a court room being questioned about killing his wife and her lover. It then flashbacks to his wife and her lover at her lovers house about to make love with the sound of Andy getting questioned playing in the background, it then goes back to the courtroom where Andy is still under questioning where all evidence seems to be against him.
At this point you believe that he committed such a crime, as you have no reason to think other wise especially with all the evidence is proving to be against him. The opening scene also shows the credits over the picture and has music playing in the back the music is old fashioned and in a way depressing to show the atmosphere and feelings of Andy and where he is in the opening scene.
This film has quite a complex opening scene compared to others that have no detail just credits and music, the opening scene is set in a non linear narrative structure as the events shown in the opening scene are portrayed after they have happened for example the lovers getting shot happened before the court date. However the rest of the film is set in linear narrative structure as all the events are portrayed as they happen.
This film has the usual codes and conventions of a prison crime film it has definite conflicts between the inmates and the guards as if you step a inch out of line with the guards you will get severely punished publicly or being confined in a small dark room for weeks or even months. The film has antagonist characters which are Andy and Red, and protagonist characters the guards and the warden. Another code and convention included in the film is the use of a voiceover character for example Red’s character does a voice over the some of the scenes e.g. the scene when he says that this happened to Andy for years ( how Andy was treated) because in reality the film would have had to be much longer if it included every year Andy was in prison because he was in there for 20 years so by Red talking over it skips through the years, this happens in lots of crime films as a way of skipping out years to make room for the important parts of the films.
A good example of this conflict is the scene of the movie were Andy sneakily locks himself in the warden’s office and decides to play Mozart’s music over the Shawshank’s public address system for all the inmates to hear and enjoy which Red quotes about the music made “every last man in Shawshank felt free” . This scene shows the conflict between the inmates and the guards, as Andy rebels against the officers when they try and tell him to stop and to come out, and when he does not the officer breaks in and sends Andy to “The Hole” for a month shows the power the officers have, however this scene shows us that the officers are not always in control as Andy managed to get inside the wardens office.
To summarise the film, its about Andy and Red played by Actor Morgan Freeman friendship in prison, and the reality of how prison was back the late 40s and how badly treated the men were. And with hope anything can happen.


Goodfellas (1990)
"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster." -- Henry Hill, Brooklyn, N.Y. 1955
Genre: Crime, Biography, Gangster and Drama
The opening scene of Goodfellas is in the present narrative and involves Henry Hill- played by actor Ray Liotta and his friends driving in the car with the date New York. 1970 comes up on the screen, then they pull the car over because they hear a banging sound from the boot of his car they open the boot where they see a man tied up barely alive making noise trying to move, then Joe Pesci pulls out an large knife out of his jacket and begins stabbing the man tied up until he knows he’s dead then Robert Deniro decides to shoot him a few times to make sure that he’s definitely dead both men have no remorse after killing the man. Then the scene pauses on Harry hill where it has his speaking over the picture saying the famous quote “ As far as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a Gangster”. This opening scene tells the audience quite a lot within two minutes it shows us what type of people the characters are and how they can treat people they perhaps don’t like and also the main character thoughts which basically tells us what film is going to be about with him saying he’s always wanted to be a gangster tells us that’s the plot of the film.
This film has the usual codes of conventions of a gangster crime film; such the characters success is measured in material goods such as expensive clothes, cars, and jewellery. For example all the main characters are dressed in expensive clothes and also their other half’s are expensively dressed in the movie. Money seems to be no object for the characters in the film; they just spend the money on whatever they want because they know they can just get more by doing more deals. Another typical code and convention of a gangster crime is the loyalty the gangster has for his roots the loyalty Harry has in the film is more to his friends as they are the people he’s grown up with more than his actual family because to him his friends are his roots. The film is also set in a big city like most gangster crimes, also the gangsters can only gain power by taking it which is a main theme in Goodfellas as they are always taking things or taking lives to gain power in the mob hierarchy.

To summarise the plot of the film is basically how Harry Hill and his friends build their way up through the mob hierarchy and killing or hurting anyone who try’s and get in their way. Goodfellas is set in an linear narrative as the events within the film are set in the order they happened.


Alpha Dog (2006)
“Inspired by true events”
Genre: Crime, Drama
The opening scene of the film shows video clips of the characters in the movie as young innocent children playing together with the song “over the rainbow” playing over the video clips this scene has no relevance to the type of film it is as this the scene shows the characters in a different light and by just watching this scene it could be from any type of film genre because it’s so innocent it gives no hint about what the films about other than the children from the clips could be who the film is about. However the opening scene set out this way is good because it doesn’t give away the plot of the film like some opening scenes of crime films do it leaves the audience curious to what’s about to happen in the film.
The style of this film is made for teenagers and young adults as they can relate to the modern style of the film. You can also tell this film is for a younger teenage audience by the way the film is set out and the way the characters are portrayed and how they act, heavy violence, boozing, partying, sex and drug use is shown throughout the film and by the way the teenagers talk and treat each other symbolising a more modern way of how teenagers act.
The codes and conventions used in the movie include the usual gang dynamics and how they stick by each other and only listen to the instructions of leader of the gang the gang members do as he says as they don’t want to be on the bad side of the leader because they know what power he has and what he can do to you if you step out of line also the way the gang acts such as they do what they want ,when they want and if anyone tries to get in their way they will start a fight by giving them a bloody nose or shooting them which is the same as most gangster type characters act ,this dynamic is the same in most crime films if there is a gang of people there is always a leader that the rest of the gang look up to and follow. Also the social context, how the characters speak to each other and to others around them a ghetto way of talking as the characters in the film are mainly teenagers they don’t treat each other with as much respect as adults perhaps do. And the use of swear words are extremely common in their vocabulary which is another common convention of a modern crime drama for the teenager audience.
To summarise the film, it’s based on a tragic true story of the kidnapping and murder of Nicolas Markowitz an innocent 15 year old teenager the movie shows the involvement of Jesse James Hollywood a young middle class drug dealer and his friends living in California. The film itself demonstrates the internal gang dynamics and the social context that contributed to the events leading to the kidnapping and murder of Nicolas. Alpha Dog is set in a linear narrative as the events are shown as they happen.