TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

OFFENDER Interrogation Scene 

The officer in this scene had to deal with 3 suspect linked to attacking their probationer officer and linked to an armed robbery.  The three suspects are acting like they weren’t involved with any charging facing them. The narrative in this scene is straight forward and it’s similar to other interrogation scene. The police officer keeps on raising his voice to get the suspects angry and say something they might regret.

The camera angles used in this scene is medium close up and close-up shots. This is because it allows the audiences to examine the characters facial expression and keeps the audiences focused on the characters as they could only see the characters and nothing else. As the first two characters were asked about being in the stolen car they stopped shouting and looked like they were making up an excuse as they the stop. We know this as the second character rolled his eyes left and right before answering the question. The third characters interrogation cinematography was medium close up. This was useful as we could see that he tried to play out calm as the officer question him. We couldn’t tell by his facial reaction that he wasn’t guilty as the other characters were moving shifty and his tone was the same throughout till the end of the interrogation.

The police officer is dressed formal as he is the one leading the interrogation. This is to show that he is more supreme than the suspects. The three suspects are dressed in black jackets and black jumpers. They look like they fit the description by seeing their clothing. Moving on, the main lighting is right above the table this makes the rest of the room dark and it placing the suspects is a spot where they’re uncomfortable. Also the windows are little and are placed high up the wall to show that there’s no escaping this room if you’re guilty. Also it infers that this going to be a similar surrounding if they’re found guilty. In addition, the actors are all male in this scene. The actors are mainly black Africans with only one expectation. The other character is seen to have adapted the attitude of black males. The stereotypes of black people are generally dangerous, criminals, gangs, drug etc. This scene supported and also challenged this stereotype by showing black male character in both roles such as black police man and black suspects. Furthermore, the setting was a police interrogation room as the officer was trying to get information out of the suspects. The light was directly above the table making that the main focus in the room. Also we know that this is an interrogation room as we could see the mirror placed on the wall. This allows other officers to examine the interrogation and it allows them to do so without being detected. 

Offender – first 2:05 mins

The main character is walking through an alleyway. The camera shots used were a long shot than a medium close up right at the start. This was effect due to the editing as we couldn’t recognize the characters face. The edit used to make this effective was a cut as he was walking at the start of the alleyway the cut effect allowed us to visualize the character. The medium close up allows the audiences to analyse his facial expression. The sound used at the start was a non-diegetic. The music playing built up tension as the police siren got louder. The way they’ve introduced the main character is interesting as he was made out to be the villain at the start of the film. Also the character seemed pleased with him assaulting the police officer. We know this as he smiled whist getting sentenced. This is an unusual way of starting a film as it started off with violence. The assault scene has created some enigma codes (Barthes) as this scene made audiences question themselves as they didn’t know why the main character attacked the officers.