The Third Man essay: Examining 4 images

How does the sewer scene from The Third Man use framing and composition techniques, mise en scene and cinematography to create meanings, metaphors and effects?

Figure 1

This shot from The Third Man uses a very irregular location for the camera being located at a angle yet seemingly being close to the centre of the shot, this creates a distinct feeling of disorientation as everything seems out of place.
The set itself doesn't make any sense at all, the angles of the walls do not fit into the surrounding area, by doing this it makes the entire shot seem claustrophobic as the walls are not where we would expect them to be.
Vanishing points are in this shot, each one meeting off screen giving the set a very enclosed sense, there is seemingly no escape from these Sewers.
If this scene is split into quadrants each section contains a different object moving, be it "Harry" or water flowing something in every section is moving, this portrays a feeling of urgency and panic everything is happening at once. "Harry's" deep shadow portrays a dark mind, it stands out from the rest of the set. Each segment also connotates a different meaning for example the water running connotates panic and the people at the top left connotates anger and determination.

This shot is extremely disorientating the circled areas are the most confusing ones, the water is falling at the location of the larger circle at a weird angle but then as it flows down it seems to flow another way, in total there is 4 different movements of the water going up, down, left, right. This gives a very confused atmosphere to the shot as we are never quite sure how it is meant to be flowing. This scene has two halves to it (Drawn through the archway at the top) each half has something enclosed about it, such as a waterfall or a solid wall. I beleive that this shot is to portray that there is no way out its meant to mean that these sewers are a maze.
This shot is located in the same area as the one pictured above, although it now makes no sense whatsoever as the wall at the back seems to have extended somewhat as well as the waterfall which shows that we are not really sure where we actually are. The rushing water is a metaphor for panic, "Harry" is being hunted down and the water symbolises his panic.

"Harry" is pictured here (The man running Below) and he is one matt colour he is almost like a walking shadow which could symbolise an evil within or his determination to hide. The vanishing point pictured here makes little sense for the viewer the area in which is occurs is getting smaller possibly giving the metaphor for futileness as Harry cannot escape and the walls are closing around him as more and more people are trying to find him. There is a angled wall to the left side of this shot which makes the room these people are in feel a lot smaller than it actually is.
By placing these characters where they are show that these sewers are a maze there is almost a feeling of there being no way out.
Bright light is being emitted from the back of the alleyway which could mean hope, if he keeps running this way he will be able to escape, however it could mean the opposite, meaning that he is running towards a false hope because the ally is closing in around him.

There isnt much room in this shot at all giving it a enclosed and trapped feel to it, this could be taken as a metaphor for hope that has run out. There is nowhere that he can go except up in this shot as the area leading up is incredibly enclosed.
The stairs and back wall are confusing for the viewer, they don't seem to make any sense. The circular hole makes everything look like its falling which could potentially be to make it look like Harry is never going to escape and that he is trapped down in the sewers.
Harry's face is centre frame and because of this our attention is on his facial expressions, he still looks determined to escape but the background and the stairs around him symbolise that that cannot be.
The stairs themselves slowly get smaller and smaller until and the top quadrant of the shot there is no more stairs pictured which portrays entrapment and a false hope. His false hope is that these stairs lead outside to freedom but the surroundings are slowly trapping him in.
Nose/Head room is being used purposely to show that although the is almost reaching the top of the stairway there is still a  long way to go before he surfaces his freedom is always too far away.