Cape Fear

CameraworkBegins with a pan slowly moving down while presenting a large variety of things the detainee ha, such as violent pictures, comic book images and all of his books.

The camera then pans over his back showing off his tattoo which is a cross with the balance of truth and justice on either side.

The camera then tracks him as he leaves his cell and walks out of the prison.

Shallow Focus

Camerawork

Low angle tilt from the gat up to his face.

Extreme close up as he walks up to the camera from the prison.

Soundtrack

Very deep and ominous

Overdramatic due to the motion of the character simply being walking out a prison. This could indicate the ‘evilness’ of the character that the audience would have experienced presumably earlier in the film

Expresses how he is the antagonist

Emphasizes his fiendish nature

Editing

Continuity editing keeps the fluidity of the entire piece to maintain the ambiguity of the character as he acts in a very mysterious and malicious way.

There is then a jump cut to the jail gate which is used to create disorientation in how he has suddenly changed clothes as well as location in a second.

The whole shot follows a linear narrative.

Mise-en-sceneGruesome & unusual images Variety of jail books

Mise-en-scene

Prison Setting

Prison guards – uniforms

Prisoners – All in the same prison uniform

Thriller Conventions

Extreme close ups on the protagonist’s face and body to express emotions and physical scarring to emphasize his role and make an emotional connection to the audience so that they recognize him and what he is capable of.

Acts arrogantly, he leaves the jail as if it meant nothing to him due to the way he simply walked out.

Intense shots, such as this clip. The whole clip is quite intense with the ominous music as this criminal antagonist is now leaving prison to be released back into the world to continue his horrific tasks.