Prisoners-Scene Analysis

In this essay I will be analysing a scene from the 2013 American thriller film, Prisoners, directed by Denis Villeneuve and staring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The scene starts off with the camera panning towards Jake Gyllenhaal's character in a mysterious way and he appears to be in a kind of roadside Chinese restaurant. The lighting inside the restaurant is neutral and the camera stays at eye-level with Jake Gyllenhaal's character. The mise-en-scene in this part is very typical of a film in the thriller genre because all throughout the whole scene it is pouring down with rain, when the camera is panning towards Jake Gyllenhaal you get a sense that someone is creeping up on him but it is revealed that it is just the waitress going over to the protagonist. When the waitress has left the protagonist, the camera cuts to a wide shot of the restaurant which could be showing how the protagonist feels isolated and alone from everyone else in the movie. The sound in this part of the scene is completely diegetic because you can hear the rain thumping on the roof, Jake and the waitress's voices and as the scene goes on you start to hear the police radio messaging Jake's character to go to a place that has links to a recent crime.

After the restaurant scene there is a cut to Jake in his car driving to a gas station and all the while you can hear the diegetic sound of the rain in the background and you can still hear the police radio that is informing Jake of where to go. The camera then does a POV shot through the car windscreen to suggest that we are looking through the eyes of Jake's character, however, now there is some non-diegetic humming in the background which could be building up to a climax in this scene. the scene then cuts to a different character who is in an RV and could be suspicious because the non-diegetic sound builds up even more when he is introduced and the camera uses another POV shot through the eyes of the unknown character looking in his rear-view mirror at Jakes character, the camera then cuts to another POV of him looking in the other rear-view mirror and seeing blue lights (police) incoming. Also, throughout this whole bit the lighting is very low-key to suggest that this unknown character is suspicious and the lighting could be suggesting that the police don't know who this character is which further plays into the mystery.

Further along in the scene you hear more diegetic sound of the unknown character's RV revving and he then reverses at some speed which further adds to the diegetic sound because you can hear the tires screeching on the ground. Then he crashes into a tree and you hear the diegetic sound of the windows smashing and the metal crunching, also, you can still hear the diegetic sound of the rain throughout this bit. Throughout this whole part of the scene the lighting is completely low-key with the only light coming from the torches of the policemen. The scene then cuts to a wide shot of Jake pulling the unknown character out of the RV which shows of the gloomy landscape and shows of all the police which is part of the mise-en-scene of a film in the thriller genre and Jake has a gun which also plays into the mise-en-scene of a film of this particular genre.

In conclusion, this scene from the film Prisoners is a great example of how to use low-key lighting to add effect and how to perfectly use more diegetic sound over non-diegetic sound, also the use of POV shots really makes you feel the emotions felt by the characters in the scene.