Prisoners (Textual Analysis)

Media Language:

The media language used within the opening scene of the 'Prisoners' movie presents a simple setting of an off duty detective, enjoying a coffee in an empty cafe. The director tactically a hold off showing the main characters face to evoke suspense and create an effective atmosphere around the main character, which presents him as both mysterious and cool. Through the dialogue, we come to realise that it is thanks giving, and he's eating alone in an empty cafe. This establishes that he is a very isolated man, and perhaps too invested into his work. Nevertheless the overall atmosphere is what is expected from the opening to an opening scene.


We see the camera proceed from a long shot range and close into the range of a mid shot, to which it changes shot to the front of his face, as the main character engages in small talk with the waitress. The rain remains as a constant factor throughout the scene. Although it dies down during dialogue- its presence remains and its volume come to full affect as the character leaves the cafe to start work. This heavy non-diegetic sound of the rain, thunder and lightning dictates the atmosphere of the scene, as we see characters struggle to proceed through it, and its presence controls the tempo the clip develops at.







With the change of location from cafe to petrol station (use of mise-en scene), we hear ominous diegetic music engulf the clip, as a the camera slowly  zooms towards a poorly parked caravan.







The caravan is effectively left in the darkest corner/ aspect of the shot, whist the police cars are left in the light which presents a subconscious depiction of good vs evil or light vs darkness for the audience members.

 Theres's a point in which we see the caravan frantically pull out and then drive towards a tree and crash. This all happened in a single shot, and interestingly, there was no use of non-diegetic sounding to make the audience jump or feel uneasy; which may present a sense of normality or perhaps a proleptic warning in saying the worst is yet to come, as it would be un-wise for a director to use too many tension build ups as they would, inevitably, lose their affect after a while. As we see the men enter the car, there is heavy breathing which acts as an effective depiction of how the character is feeling, which may,perhaps be full of anxiety and uncertainty. Through effective use of lighting and camerawork, as the police pull the man out of the caravan, it appears as just dark figures which makes for a more engaging clip to watch for the audience.



Representation:

The only characters which we are introduced to at this point in the opening, are the lead detective, a waitress and the criminal in the caravan. As already stated, the leading character is eating alone during thanks giving in an empty restaurant. It is later made clear that he's taking a brief break from work- which presents his as a 'workaholic' detective who perhaps feels he has no time for a social life due to the type of work that he's in. Despite this, he's still shown to be a friendly man, which contradicts what you would expect to see from an un-socialble detective who works on his own. His friendliness is made evident when he engages in a very 'human' conversation with the waitress. Which may show us that perhaps he takes any opportunity he can to to interact with civilians/ normal people; since he's always with work colleagues and criminals. A lot about his character is also shown, in how quick he was to react to the call for work. He could have easily passed the job off and allowed someone else to handle it- which would show the typical 'lazy cop' stereotype. But, he neglects that option and goes to work; which shows he may be in the middle of a case that he's very invested in, or he just needs to continue occupyiyghimself for whatever reason. We see a drastic change in persona from this character when he starts talking to the man from the caravan. The detective shouts at him aggressively and demands answers, which shows him to be both passionate and also a person who can adapt accordingly to circumstances.

Audience:

Targeted audience members for such a film would be people who admire a true thriller film. The plot presents a situation where you're always having to guess. The movie keeps you constantly on edge, and causes you to question what you believe to be ethically correct as an audience member. All of this, amongst a star packed cast of Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. With all this in mind, such a fail would appeal to a wide range of 15 and plus audience members, who are looking for a movie full of suspense and thrill.

Genre:

The film genre is a thriller based drama with multiple in-depth characters, who all seem to have there on inner demons and struggles. The concept of a thriller is presented through the use of sudden drops in non-diegetic sound, to present a shock or make the audience jump. The uses of guns and moderate/ not so moderate violence shows the generic use of visual means to further captivate an audience.

Narrative:

The theory of Todorov can be applied since the script is linear and follows the basic construction of: everything is fine- problem occurs- multiple means to rectify problem are attempted- solution to problem is found- then a conclusion of peacefulness is used to end.

Institution:

The film was a large box office movie which had a budget of 46 million dollars to make. The film grossed 122.1 million dollars  in revenue, with a profit of 76.1 million dollars. The film was produce by Alcon entertainment; which has produce multiple large motion pictures, which are then distributed by Warner Bros. The film was extremely successful, and was also nominated for multiple awards and, the actors claimed a lot of recognition, as well as award nominations.