Prisoners: Personal Response (A grade)

The very first shot establishes the time of day as it is the behind shot of the car in a dark carpark, it also shows us that the car will become significant later on in the sequence, also it is pouring rain, which is pathetic fallacy and gives an overall mood to the scene, I think it makes it seem dreary and perhaps lonely. The next shot is a dolly in to Jake Gyllenhaal, and I noticed he is in a completely empty restaurant which could show that he is lonely however I also noticed he had put his coat on the chair next to him, these examples of mise-en-scene say that Gyllenhaal’s character is lonely but that is the way he prefers it, or maybe that he has chosen to be alone. When the waitress is talking to Jake Gyllenhaal, there is never a shot on her face, and the only time when her face is at all visible is at the beginning when the camera dollies in, and even then she is out of focus. This could mean the Gyllenhaal’s character has no real relationships and therefore he fills this void with pointless conversation with strangers who he knows don’t actually care about him. As Detective Loki’s meal is interrupted by his radio, there is a behind long-shot which brings the whole restaurant into view, the mise-en-scene here is interesting because it becomes apparent that every table has four chairs, these tables are obviously for families however Loki is alone, this gives ideas that maybe deep down he longs for a proper family or friends, or maybe that he is surrounded by happy families but is unable to have that for himself.

When Jake Gyllenhaal leaves the Chinese, there is a sharp contrast in lighting, inside the restaurant the lighting is high-key but outside the lighting is very low-key and the backlighting from the restaurant in the behind shot of the car causes Jake Gyllenhaal to look like a silhouette which makes him appear to blend in with the darkness as though it is part of him, while he seemed uncomfortable in the bright light of the restaurant. This could be symbolism for the fact that when he is exposed he doesn’t feel comfortable but when he is hidden away he feels in control. This continues in the next shot which is a close up of Jake Gyllenhaal’s face, the lighting from the restaurant casts a shadow this time which creates a sinister mood, the presence and absence of light work well together to show that leaving the restaurant is entering the danger zone. The behind shot of Jake Gyllenhaal that follows shows only the shapes of his face, which introduces a dark mood. There is then a jump cut to an over the shoulder shot of the criminal in the caravan, this instantly begins to build tension because the editing is so sudden. Also, this shot of the criminal is the same style as the one just before of Jake Gyllenhaal, which could be the director trying to tell us that the Detective and the murderer may have more in common than the audience first might think, for example they are both very isolated. Also in this shot the only thing that is clearly visible about the prisoner is his glasses, showing a weakness like bad eyesight gives connotations of weakness, making the murderer seem vulnerable. Another cut to the bright lights from the petrol station shows exposure and foreshadows that the criminal is about to get caught. Also in this shot the camera is stationary and the detective drives towards it. The camera is behind the windscreen but still close to Jake Gyllenhaal’s face, the rain falling onto the windscreen distorts Loki’s facial expression which makes the scene become quite scary.

The next shot of detective Loki is shot through a mirror and his silhouette is moving away from the light, he seems to walk confidently and I get the sense that he is more in control, which links to the uses of light and dark in the sequence. The fact that the camera shoots both mirrors on either side of the caravan makes me feel claustrophobic and surrounded, and in the mirror shot of the detective you are able to see him clearly, but the other policemen in the other shot are blurred. This shows that Loki is isolated from the rest of the police and that he has no real friendships with them. The dissonant music builds the tension and as the murderer drives into the tree the editing becomes very quick in order to establish action, a shot which intrigued me was the shot where the camera was inside the car and the dashboard was visible, this is a POV shot which allowed me to feel closer to the action and as though I was actually there. Noticeably after the van has crashed there is a medium long shot which shows that the lights to the caravan stay on, despite it being damaged from the crash, this is quite eerie and the lights are very bright which could symbolise exposure. As well as this in this shot Gyllenhaal is on the other side of the caravan to the distinctive police car lights, this shows he isn’t part of the team, and also gives him a sense of dominance over the other police officers. Also, I notice that I don’t see any of the police officer’s faces, apart from Loki’s, this really gives them an insignificance to the character Detective Loki and shows that they aren’t important to him, they are just people he is ordering around.

When detective Loki gets inside the caravan there is a medium long shot, but his face isn’t visible because of the flashlight. I think this shot is quite impersonal and shows that Loki is quite emotionless. It’s as though the director has kept his face hidden because there are no emotions to show. Tension does begin to build however when there is a POV shot looking around the caravan which is seemingly empty, this has heavy breathing in the background which makes me feel like I am in Loki’s shoes and somebody could jump out at me at any moment. I also noticed that the closeup of the branch that had gone through the window was very significant because it raised questions in my head, the murderer was sat right in the path of the branch so surely, he should have been killed by it, it made me feel quite creeped out because he could be anywhere. When Loki finds the killer behind the curtains the bright torch light is harsh and unpleasant and the fact that we don’t yet see the killers face is unsettling. As well as this Gyllenhaal’s face is visible and the camera is slightly tilted upwards, this shows he has dominance over the murderer and gives him a sense of power.