L.A. Confidential Film Analysis

Confidential clip analysis

The first shot within L.A. Confidential is a wide, tracking shot, which establishes a dark and rainy scene with the protagonist (played by Russell Crowe) running quickly inside a house. The shot makes you think that the protagonist wants to get inside quickly because of the rain or that he really wants to get inside quickly as it may be urgent.

The second shot is a tracking camera shows the protagonist entering the house; which has three men inside it. Two are stood up with one sat down handcuffed. This is a medium shot as it gives a clear view of the three characters but it can be seen as also an over the shoulder shot as one man has his back turned to the camera.  This can be seen as intimidating to the man hand-cuffed as he looks a lot more vulnerable due to him sitting down and the man standing up.

The third shot is a 180 degree turn of the previous shot which is now debatably a wide shot as it now shows all four characters looming over the hand-cuffed man which makes him look vulnerable and in a bad situation. However you do not feel sorry at any point for the handcuffed man as he is portrayed as a stereotypical gangster in the clip and he is not on the side of the protagonist in the clip so you do not feel any sense of worry for the character.  

The fourth shot is a close up of the handcuffed man’s face. This is to show what he is feeling in this current situation. He looks nervous, scared and arguably lying to the men. This makes you feel that the character is not to be trusted and is lying to the what appears to be policeman up to this point due to the interrogation on him and his characterization as well as a gangster makes you believe he is being interrogated for information by policemen.

The seventh shot is a low angle shot of the handcuffed man being punched in the face by one of the men. This makes the man stood up look intimidating and strong in comparison to the man handcuffed. At this point you feel that the policeman are ruthless and need whatever the gangster is hiding so much that they need to physically harm him to try and get it. It also presents the idea that the gangster is hiding very important information if the police are involved.

The tenth shot is a close up of the handcuffed man’s feet moving in a jerk reaction after getting punched again. This shows the pain he is in if he is reacting with a sharp reaction like the one seen in the shot. It makes you feel that the punches that the gangster is receiving are full force aggressive punches that are definitely trying to make him talk about the information that the police need.

The eighteenth shot shows another low angle shot of the handcuffed man being punched in the stomach by the protagonist. This is again to show the superiority of the men standing up to the man who is handcuffed on the chair. This makes you feel that the protagonist is angry and may have a personal tie to the information that they are trying to get out o the gangster.

The twenty-eighth shot is the shot of the chair being ripped from the ground by the protagonist after taking a disliking to something the handcuffed man said. This shot is meant to show how angry he is with the situation as he is able to rip the flooring of a house off in rage. This confirms that he has a personal tie to the information, as he gets very angry when the gangster mentions a girl that could possibly mean he has an association with the girl.

The thirty-ninth shot is a high angle, close up shot that shows the protagonist throwing some photographs onto the floor. This scene shows that the protagonist is shocked by what he is seeing and does not want to see them any further. It also adds to the fact that it is raining during this scene making the situation seem a lot more grim.

The 50^th shot is a close up shot of the handcuffed man’s face with a black leather glove over his face. The shot shows the terror and fear in the man’s face as he is visibly struggling and dying because of it. It confirms the feeling that the police were ruthless but not to extent that is seen in this shot. You feel scared by their actions and feel they are dangerous.   


In this task I was told to evaluate a clip of a thriller of my choice and analyse 10 shots of my choice that were used in this film. It is important to know how to analyse and review shots as they may come into use in my own experience when producing a film. This is one to benefit me in the long time.