In this essay, I will be showing how a feeling of suspense is created in the station scene in the film, 'The Untouchables'. The three areas that I am focusing on are camera effects, lighting and sound.

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In this essay, I will be showing how a feeling of suspense is created in the station scene in the film, 'The Untouchables'. The three areas that I am focusing on are camera effects, lighting and sound. The scene itself is set as the dramatic climax for the entire film, and is made to be recognised as such by the audience.

        The film is set in 1930's Chicago. A time when life was hard and corruption ruled. The film follows the story of Elliot Ness, a Treasury officer put in charge of enforcing the prohibition law, and ridding the city of the Mafia boss, Al Capone. The scene I will be focusing on is the Station Scene. The Station Scene is where Ness and Stone are awaiting the arrival of the Bookkeeper, to intercept him and have him serve as a witness against Al Capone.

        There are two main character elements in this scene that create suspense, the mother with pram and the bookkeeper. The mother is struggling with her bags at the bottom of the steps, almost to show how Ness is torn between what to do (namely his job to protect the bookkeeper or to help the mother). The bookkeeper is vital, and Ness's place in this station is to make sure he is kept alive and taken to testify. Ness and Stone contrast to the others as the people who are just overlooking the entire scenario, they could be seen as the mediators for the rest of the happenings.

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        The use of camera effects in the scene greatly attributes to the amount of suspense that is created. There are many forms of camera effect that are used for different events. For example, a Long Shot (LS) would be used to show the way a character was behaving in the surroundings. Whereas the director would choose to use an Extreme close-up (ECU) to show just face or eyes of the actor, to enable the audience to see the characters facial reactions. The types of shots used are mainly still shots from either a high-angle (around 66 shots) or a low-angle ...

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