Film Studies & Camera Angles

Multimedia Communication: Film Studies

Shawshank Redemption - Tarring Roof:

At the start of this scene it show a tar bucket coming up the side of a building and on to the roof. This shot was done with a bird's-eye view and it then goes to pan shot on to the roof to show the captain talking to some officers this was done to show that the captain is one of the main guys in this scene, the camera comes to rest on him. It then dose a cut to tar mops and pans up to show how is tarring the roof. It dose this to show who is on the roof but it is a mid shot so only the visual of who is there and where they are is given from this shot. It then dose a group eye level shot to show that the prisoners are listening to the guards as they talk and to show how they feel about what they are saying.

It then cut to the caption again to show him talking about money and taxes, the shot is following him and the other guards are almost out of focus because they don't matter. This was done to again show that he is the boss and no one else matters that shot even follows him around as he paces back and fourth.

It then cuts to a close up of Andy looking at the captain. This was done to show that he is in grossed in what is going on. Then Andy walks off screen to wards the captain. Andy asked the captain if he trusted his wife and the captain then grabs Andy and drags him to the edge of the roof. It the cuts to an over head shot that is also a long shot. This was done to show where they were and how hight the roof was, also to get a senses of the danger Andy was in. It then pans down to an over over the shoulder shot to get the emotion on Andy's face. And as andy is explaining to the captain what he meant and how he can help him out the camera is panning to a two shot to see both their emotions wile the talk.

Then it cut to a close up shot of the captain shouting that the other prisoners to get back to work. And it cuts to a group shot of them all turning around and keep on tarring the roof. Then the captain lets Andy going and as he lets him going the camera follows Andy walking away in the background the captain is still look at andy. Some one walking away wile the camera follows the m means that it is the end of the shot.

Conclusion:

I thought that the shot had a lot of good cut and i could see why they were done to build up interest the captain and then that made sense that Andy would go over to the captain to help and it made and the use of the bird's-eye shot were good to show where the were and to make it intense when andy got dragged to the edge.