Essex Boys and Metaphorical spaces

How does the director of Essex Boys use metaphorical spaces?

(Photo of guy driving car in tunnel with lights on windscreen)

This photo is a great example of metaphorical spaces, because it foreshadows that maybe this character is trapped within the car by bars, similar to a prison. This is meant to tell the audience that this character could potentially end up in jail if he continues to do what he carries on with his life in the same way. Furthermore, the fact that half of his face is blocked out behind these ‘bars’ helps reflect his emotions that he might be feeling to the audience. In addition to this, the fact that there is another person in the shot but is completely blurred out suggests they have a strained relationship and the guy in the front doesn’t care about him. All of this adds to the tension of the scene.

(Tunnel with emptiness and lights)

The use of vanishing points in this shot help reflect the chaos that is going on in film and how it is a world of crime. This is seen through the fact that it is a very dark shot and everything seems to heading towards the centre but is broken up by the different lights perhaps representing that things in the film are always going wrong and being delayed. Furthermore, that fact that non of the light is natural helps add to the feeling of things going wrong because it is sating that there is no hope for these people heading down the tunnel into the darkness. In addition to this, the fact that there is only the one car going in could symbolise that once you are in there is no coming back which reflects the severity of the potential consequences they could face for their crimes.

(Guy stumbling on the empty shot)

However, in this shot we see a man stumbling over into the wide-open abyss, which can be seen as a metaphor for him being all on his own and not knowing where or what he is going to do. In addition to this, the use of vanishing points in this shot reinforces that idea because everything is leading to once place, normally the centre, but in this case it is off to left showing everything is disoriented for the character also. The use of a quite grimy and murky grey colour palette also helps connote the emotions of the scene across to the audience, we are meant to be thinking about what a dull boring place this is.