'Prisoners' Clip Analysis

'Prisoners' Clip Analysis

The clip begins with a long shot; it establishes where the following scenes are going to take place. It hints at a diner, which is then proven true in the following scene, where the audience sees a young man sitting in the middle of the diner. The very first scene is important though, as it not only sets the location, it also shows the audience that it is night time, and that it is also raining; this could link in with pathetic fallacy as when it cuts to the main sitting down, he looks mysterious and almost lost. It's interesting as the time of the day shows the reader that he is still awake, for one reason or another, as it's an unusual time for someone to be sitting in a diner. 

It then shows a medium-close up of the main character. The audience can instantly tell this as he stands out immediately - not only does he look interesting and mysterious, he doesn't blend in with the background with his slick hair or his black long sleeve shirt. The audience can also tell this as he is in the middle of the frame and in focus, the rest of the diner is a blur so that the audience can focus on him directly and not worry about what is going on in the background.

The next interesting detail is that we get this extreme close up from behind the main character as he is in the car, responding to the police radio. What is so interesting about this is that there is instantly an element of enigma as there is one shot of him, and then a quick cut to the same shot but of a different person. 

The audience can instantly tell that the second scene is not of the main character, creating some tension and drama within the clip. The main character responding to the call looked serious, almost worried, so the director has tried to convey the same feeling to the audience using the quick cut to the mysterious black figure sitting in a car elsewhere. It's almost like the person with the glasses is waiting for the main character to come and find or get them, as they do not appear to be worried, but more calm and relaxed. 

The director has then used two different camera shots in the above images. The first one is a long shot, where the camera is stable but the actor drives up to the audience; as he gets closer, we can see his worried facial expression, meaning something bad may be about to happen. The second is then a shot from behind the actor; this puts the audience in the place of the main character. We see what he sees, which is a white RV, sitting alone in the middle of the night and the pouring rain. With all these adding up, it doesn't sound right at all, adding to the enigma. This scene could also relate to the previous scene, where we saw a mysterious figure sitting behind a wheel. The darkness and the bad weather are common conventions of horror and drama, both of which are seen in the 'Prisoners' clip. 

The extreme long shot above then establishes the scene and the location to the audience; it let's them know what is going on without actually saying it to them. The audience can see the police car in the background, along with the two policemen moving slowly towards the RV as the main character does too. Their body language shows that whoever is in the RV may be dangerous, as they're moving slowly and carefully, along with the main characters serious but concerned facial expressions that the camera continues to go back to throughout with the use of close ups and medium shots.

The audience are almost like the main character now, putting the puzzle pieces together. We saw the close up of the dark figure with glasses before, but now the director is letting us see more of the vehicle using a behind medium shot. This enables us to figure out that this is the person the police want, with the location and the vehicle matching up with what we were shown before. As the figure moves their head, it reveals that this is indeed the same person with the glasses.

As soon as the main character steps foot into the RV, there is a sudden drum beat, almost to mimic the heart dropping or the heavy footstep entering the vehicle. This is followed by heavy breathing and a point of view shot to really put the audience in the main character's position, putting them right at the heart of the action. In addition, the only source of light is from the flashlight, making even the main character look like a mysterious dark figure, but we cannot see what is behind him as we are almost blinded by the direct light going onto the items inside the vehicle. This could link into horror, as there is an element of suspense and terror as the mysterious figure that we have only seen the behind of has vanished from the driving seat, as seen in the shot before when the camera panned left to show the audience the damage done to the RV. This could mean that he could jump scare and/or attack at any moment, if he is so dangerous as he is portrayed to be.

The series of close ups of the curtain when the main character supposedly has found the mysterious figure, followed by the close ups of the main character's facial expression then leaves the audience confused, as we do not really know what is going on - although we thought we did. At this point, the audience is left wondering if the figure we saw before is in the vehicle anymore, due to the person hiding behind the curtain. The cuts are also quite quick, leading to no real answers for the audience to acknowledge. 

Although the light source is still the same, the direction has changed and the mysterious figure is almost completely revealed to the audience. However, there is now a shift as the police and main character are the dark figures, and the villain's face is now lit up entirely.