How does the director of Peaky Blinders use camera angles and mise en scene to establish expectation and character?

In this shot the director has positioned the characters at the top of the shot. This connotes a godliness of the characters and suggests an empowerment of strength and position. It also shows their authority in the social hierarchy in their society.

The distortion of normal visual conventions also accentuates a sense that these characters don't conform with regular rules and are characters that oppose everyday laws and reforms.

The characters are also dressed all very similarly, signifying a unity in the group. By showing this, the director is then able to reinforce senses of intimidation and fear by showing their strength in a group rather than individually, seeing as a group is far more intimidating than one character alone.

This following shot breaks up the slow paced movement and the tranquillity of the first shot. This reinforces the sense that these men are threatening and thuggish. They break up the picture that is made in the first shot by stepping in the puddle. This shows that they are merciless and gives across a sense of arrogance and ignorance to life around them. They break up the peacefulness of the first shot, connoting a further sense of danger that they behold.

The unity of the group is still prominent in this shot. The character's coherent costume reinstates the pack-like instincts and their intimidation as one whole group.

This cut is shot in front of a burst of fire. With the fire and bright orange and yellow behind them, it accentuates their evilness. The idea of cynicism prevails with the background having links with hell and negative thoughts of dark, supernatural doings. Also to some extent reinforcing the idea that these men are godlike or some what supernaturally superior.

The rule of thirds is also used. All three main characters' eye lines are on the line which signifies an importance of the characters and shows us as the audience that these characters are main figures in the story line and that they hold the power in this certain scene.

The geometric composition of the main three characters symbolises that the character in the middle, slightly ahead of the other two, is our most significant character. By positioning the characters in a triangle, not only does it, once again, reinforce the unity of the group, but it metaphorically places the characters into a hierarchy with the most significant character being ahead of the rest.


The final shot holds a fairly enigmatic atmosphere. The back of the characters' heads constructs connotations of blankness and deceit. The fog in the background also emphasises these ideas.The characters are faced away from the camera; this also shows again their arrogance and ignorance to those around them. And once again we get this idea that this group are as one and are close to one another- shown through the use of costume and positioning of characters.