Flynn's Film Blog

“28 Years Later” 2025 Danny Boyle.

In this shot from “28 Years Later” by director Danny Boyle, there are three main subjects that we as the spectator get our attention divided between. Firstly, there is Alfie Williams’ character ‘Spike’ on the left being handed a human skull (his mother) as the second main subject, by Ralph Fiennes’ character ‘Dr. Kelson’ on the right. This division of the subjects show the relationship between the characters and the human skull. The shot type is a medium shot and perhaps a master shot, as it’s showing all the subjects in the scene and encompasses the environment. With two of the subjects on either side of the screen it balances the shot well and creates an open environment/area for both their emotions, creating a dramatically and emotionally intense scene. There is a vast amount of both horizontal and vertical framing in this shot, for example, both characters are vertical features, as well as the pillars in the background, with vertical framing usually representing claustrophobia, confinement, and closure. Boyle may be taking specific advantage of this as ‘spike’ is now getting emotional closure from his mother’s death, after suffering with cancer, while the horizontal framing, such as the character’s arms, and the grass meeting the sky in the background, usually represent space, openness, and freedom. And once again Boyle is using these as a way to show spike’s newfound freedom, which he then tries to grasp after this scene where he leaves his village and home life permanently. Overall, this shot from “28 Years Later” is rich with different framing and composition techniques, making it a good shot to analyse.