Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins would be characterized as a character actor and a star. He had played in a lot of dramatic roles with a few comedies here and there. Even though he has played in a lot of dramatic roles, he plays the main character Andy flawlessly. He is a man sent to prison wrongfully, but tries to fit in as well as he can. He is able to become Andy, which makes his acting more believable.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman is a very well known actor, mostly for his calm and steady voice. Freeman plays more of the dramatic roles in his earlier days, but as he gets older, plays more of the quiet comedy roles; and a ton of narrating roles. Freeman is defiantly a Wild Card actor. He can play any role and excel in it. He is also a Interpreter actor. In chapter three of our text, it says interpreter actors “more typically refers to actors who take material and put their own stamp on it. Often this involves actors interpreting well–known roles” (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2011). Morgan Freeman played God in the movie Bruce Almighty. Even though Freeman does not look like any god ever portrayed in real life, he made his own version of God for that movie.

William Sadler

William Sadler played the role of Haywood, a prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption. In most of his roles, he plays the “ol’ country boy
type, like in The Shawshank Redemption and in his role in The Green Mile. That would put him in the Personality actor category. In The Green Mile, he played more of the Bit Part role. He was definitely a back ground actor with only a few lines, but he had a very important role in the film. He could also be put in the Character actor category as well. He has played in a lot of dramatic television series, like Law and Order and JAG.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The sounds on The Shawshank Remption

There are three different types of sounds used in movies, dialog, sound effects, and music.

Dialog is when the characters talk to one another. In some movies, the dialog becomes a major part in the movie. One of my favorite examples is in Kindergarten Cop, Arnold Schwarzenegger  yells “ITS NOT A TUMOR!

Sound effects are used in the movie to emphasis what is going on. In The Shawshank Redemption, the sound effects on jail cell doors slamming and echoing reminds you of exactly where the actors are.

Music in movies are used to enhance the mood of the film.

 

 

In The Shawshank Redemption, dialog is throughout the whole movie. That is how the story is told. What makes the film a little different is that Red, Morgan Freeman, is narrating the whole movie. This is known as voice-over. In the beginning of the movie, there is not much dialog going on, but there is the Freeman voice telling the story.

Sound effects are happening throughout the whole movie. The slamming of cell doors, the guard’s keys giggling, the echoes of voices though the halls.

As the movie starts, there is a song playing before there is any picture on the screen. It is “If I Didn’t Care” by The Ink Spots. This gives the audience a time frame of the movie; it starts off in the 1940’s.

 

In the very beginning of the movie, there is a sad sounding orchestra music playing in the back ground of the court scene. It is to give the audience a heads up of what is about to come. Afterwards, they play the same music as the bus is driving up to the prison. It sets the mood of the movie; sad and upsetting that the main character, Andy, was sent to prison when he was innocent.

 

If there were none of the sounds that I have mentions above, there would not be any set mood to the movie. Even though through the dialog, lighting, and conversation, the audience could see that it is a sad point in Andy’s life, but the back ground orchestra music and the voice-over make the story.

Lighting

In “The Shawshank Redemption,” low-key lighting is defiantly used through out most of the movie.”A low–key lighting design looks dark overall by comparison. It is marked by extreme use of deep shadows, with very high contrast between the brightest parts of the scene and the darkest parts, which are obscured in shadows. Often there may be only a single source of light, coming from the back or the side of the main characters. Low–key lighting is often used for intense dramatic scenes, horror films, mystery thrillers, and the like.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). The director, Frank Darabont, using the low-key lighting to show the misery and sadness of prison life. There are scenes in the move where Andy gets brutal beatings by the Sisters, and the lighting gets very dark to show how dark the scene actually is.

 

There is a scene during the movie that I believe that Frank Darabont uses high-key lighting. The scene where Andy speaks to Red for the first time, I believe that the director switches to high-key lighting to make an emphasis on the two becoming friends and people that each other can trust.

 

The benefits of the low-key lighting in this movie is that it shows the audience how sad and dark prison life is for the characters. They live a hard life with a corrupt warden and a murderous guard. I believe this lighting is suited for this movie. It targets the emotion for the main character Andy, who is an innocent man sent to prison for murder.

 

 

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

 

The Shawsank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

Year: 1994

Writer: Stephen King

Director: Frank Darabont

Actors: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton

The Shawshank Redemption is about a man, Andy Dufresne played by Tim Robbins, how is falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her new boyfriend. He winds up at Shawshank, where he meets Red, played by Morgan Freeman. Andy soon becomes the Warden’s, played by Bob Gunton, bookkeeper, where is learns all the under handed things that the Warden is up to. In the end, Andy breaks out of prison, after he sets himself up with all the Warden’s stolen money.

This film is presented in chronological order. It goes from day to day, year to year, of prison life for Andy and Red. This movie appeals to the audience because of all the hardships brought on an incent man. Even when Andy find out who actually killed his wife, the Warden puts him in solitary confinement and kills Andy’s friend who know who the real killer is. As the movie goes on, it shows the audience who the real bad guys are and who are actually the good guys.

The movie has the story line, but the plot of the movie is actually hidden. The story is the day by day actions of the prisoner. But what you don’t see until the end of the movie is Andy’s plan. After he gets in good standings with the guards and the warden and learns all the money laundering schemes he launders all the warden’s money and tunnels out of his cell with a small rock hammer. The whole plot is not realized until the very end when Red, who is narrating the story, tells the audience actually what was happening the whole time.