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Prison Break is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring, which premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company on August 29, 2005. The series revolves around two brothers; one who has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other, a genius, who devises an elaborate plan to help him escape prison
Our second thriller is TV drama Prison break, i decided on this because it displays various camera shots that produce different meanings and reveals enigmas and delivers suspense for me i am a big fan of prison break because the cinematography used gives a clear understanding of audience engagement.
The episode i have chosen is season 3 episode 11 ‘under and out’, i have chosen this particular episode because it uses cinematography very well which helps develop the thriller in an essential way. In the opening scene there is mid close up shot of the protagonist Michael Scofield having a conversation with a young boy, in the scene the boy uses emotional facial expressions as he pleads for Michael’s help to help him escape from Panama Prison, during this an extreme close is shown on the boy’s face as he begins to get desperate. This connotes a message to audiences that Michael is a main character as people are asking him for help and creates enigma’s for what might they need, this engages the audiences to watch as it can lead to a crime and creates suspense in the thriller drama to what might the outcome be. This also represents men as independent individuals as they can work alone, during the drama an point of view shot is shown of Michael’s escape route, the audience can identify that Michael is an intelligent individual and is more dominant over his following characters who were shown in an long shot soon after.
However as the drama progresses they was an extreme close up of Michael once he had suffered a headache which he had experienced in his childhood days, audiences now know that the main protagonist has a weakness and can effect is changes of escaping Panama prison, a clue is revealed and this can later on cause suspense to occur as they plan to escape, this engages viewers to watch the drama as it gets intense as they intend to break the law. Michael is always introduced as an important character within the drama as he was established with a low angle shot with a conversation with is fellow inmates and this makes him look more dominant and superior over the rest of the characters clearly showing his importance within the thriller. The audience can identify with Michael that he is a highly educated protagonist, but has a weakness; however this might not affect him as he intends to help free his brother as he is an innocent person as he knows, but the government seem to disagree. Lincoln is captured with a close up of a shot reverse shot of him and Michael talking is he innocent after all? Audiences will be questioning whether the fact Michael should be on the other side and him in Prison, however close up and long shots were shown in the conversation showing the location set in a deserted prison, this portrays them as lower class people as they are shown with filthy clothing and sweat dripping showing signs of nerves coming in, this creates enigma’s as audiences can wonder why they might be so nervous and afraid.
An antagonist that had fought his way in the group known as teabag is introduced with a fade in shot once he had presented himself with his voice, a close up was shown of the protagonist digging a tunnel, this was also presented with a extreme up of the dirt being dug up, during this various of shots were shown of the protagonists working to escape, such as a long shot on the characters digging all this was backed up with loud heavy score music that had represented the scene and the roles of the males as they were seen as strong individuals, audiences can stereotype them as strong criminals, the music engages the audiences as they are breaking the law with a limited time limit this revealed the enigma which was crime and creating suspense. What does teabag want?
As the theme corrupt authority occurs, for example (a police man escaping prison) this engages the audience to be engaged to the drama as it isn’t something regular in life this helps the drama to develop suspense for audience engagement and creates enigma’s these are answered as the antagonist goes ahead to escape for his life and makes the drama more interesting and intense. Prison Break is a multi strand narrative as it shows individual scenes in different locations, having this in the drama can develop enigma’s as two things are happening at the same time audiences will well be engaged to two parts of the drama than one, this makes audiences keep guessing as this leads to suspense and keeps them wondering, clues are hinting clearly in prison break as they are mostly backed up with extreme close ups. For example Michael and his group had left the tunnel and looked outside for the rain that had caused a problem, and a extreme close up was shown of a puddle, this was cut back to Michaels facial expression which was shown as nervous, with loud non - diegetic score music in the background, the audience can relate to the feelings of Michael as he can be caught by security can could be killed this shows the enigma: what might happen next? This creates suspense within the scene.
Sound plays an important element in Prison Break because it represents each individual scene as how it should be portrayed to audiences having this occur it gives full deep effect towards the scene as a whole. The use of the light being dark brings out the connotations of a thriller as black is a dark colour; this represents danger in thrillers as most situations occur at night for example: death as this also builds tension and creates suspense. For example: in the tunnel it is dark and a protagonist had been injured by being knifed in the leg. Having Michael Scofield being the main protagonist this shows various of shots on him as he is the hero as he is the brains behind escape routes, a high shot was shown once he was talking down to others and this clearly states he is important within the exciting thriller. Props are also important this actually represents a character for what they are for example: a person holding a gun is seen more dominant than a person without one clearly showing power, as the episode before showed us a clip of someone being shot this makes the thriller interesting.
Extreme close ups gives the best suspense in thrillers because it discovers clues as Michael had come across a security guard with dirt and blood stains on his sweater this gives a clue to audiences to what they think the guard is thinking and keeps them guessing throughout.
Why is Michael Scofield so nervous? Audiences will begin to wonder and what might happen, and what they might think is going to happen for example: someone might get caught or left behind to be killed creates suspense all the way through the drama. Can also create more suspense for example a clue could get left behind.
As the episode falls near the end a juxtaposition of shots were used, for example there was a long shot that had cut back to a close up of Lincoln once he had high jacked a bus, an extreme close of a knife as we associate knives as dangerous tools, and death, this clearly undermines any individual with this as violent and scary. This creates an intense situation that can occur. Lincoln had pulled out a knife representing him as dominant and independent as he shouted aggressively to the passengers, this connotes a message to audiences about the stereotype of men are powerful and this also answer an enigma and creates suspense in the scene. The audience can identify the protagonist as violent and scary, this was also played with non diegetic loud score music that represented the scene and exploits the characters special ability. The hero Michael scofeild must uncover the plan to escape from prison in order to save his loved ones and other people’s lives enigmas such as: why is he helping the antagonist?
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