Textual Analysis

	The Shawshank Redemption	The Godfather	The Godfather Part II
Genre	Crime Drama	Crime Thriller	Crime Thriller
Mis-en-scene	Dark Walls Hosepipe Gun Bullets Alcohol Firearms Cars Vans	Phone Desk Cat Pictures Typewriter	Coffin Chairs Guns
Camera Angles	Widespread Close up Extreme Close up Aerial Over the shoulder	Close Up Aerial Standard Extreme Close Up Sideways	Close Up Over the shoulder Standard Long Distance
Connotations	When the prisoners are shown you immediately think poor, lower class people. Most indoor scenes suggest death, pain and misery.	The man at the beginning is dressed in a smart suit. We think he is rich and maybe dangerous based on the way he talks. He reminds used of Italian gangsters from other films.	When we see the people going to a funeral we know that they are poor and weak. When we see the gangster we see he is powerful and rich and dangerous.
Lighting	Dark inside which signifies misery. Dim lights also reflect this. Outdoor is brighter.	The lighting is dark and mysterious. It creates a dark mood. Outside the lighting is clearer.	The lighting is very bright because they are in the desert.
Music	Sad music at the beginning of film when credits run through. No other music	There is music in the background of the dancing scene. It is happy and jolly due to the light hearted event.	The music is very dramatic at the start. This is sad and we straight away know something bad will happen at the start.

Summary- All the films are similar and have the same type of props. Weapons and furniture, which indicates the opening scenes are inside. They all use close up camera angles and there are also Aerial, Standard and Over the Shoulder shots. These are the common features in the opening scenes of these films. The costumes and clothing allows the viewer to see which characters are the more powerful and which aren’t. The sharp suits and ties indicate that that character is a powerful one, e.g. The Godfather. Whereas the poor quality clothing of the characters in the Shawshank Redemption makes us immediately think that they are poor, powerless people. The dark lighting used creates a mysterious mood where the audience are on edge. In the light the audience aren’t expecting much action because of the relaxing mood. Music also gives the audience an idea. The sad music at the beginning of Shawshank tells the viewer that the film will start on a sad note, the music creates a mood for the opening scene. Another example would be the happy music at the beginning of The Godfather which symbolises the happy scene of people enjoying themselves at the dance. All the things that we see and hear like costumes and props and music effect the mood of the opening scene and the viewer can follow this. These are useful components to use in our film.