Shutter Island- Opening Sequence

1. THRILLER OPENING- SHUTTER ISLAND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF95pJaGasE

2. -SHUTTER ISLAND- • Shutter Island is an American thriller from 2020. • It tells the story of Teddy Daniels, a US Marshal, who has been put on the case of investigating a disappearance of a patient at a mental facility at Shutter Island. • In the end Teddy wakes up to the reality that he himself, is the missing patient and the entire investigation has been a set up. • MAIN CAST MEMBERS

3. WHAT NARRATIVE IS GIVEN TO US, AND FROM THIS WHAT DO WE EXPECT THE REST OF THE FILMS NARRATIVE WILL BE FROM THE LITTLE INFORMATION WE HAVE SEEN? • The opening sequence presents the first encounter between Teddy and his partner Chuck while they head towards Shutter Island. • Our two primary areas of focus concerning the first scene of this movie will be the distinction between reality and flashbacks and how the use of camera turns us, as spectators into believing the reality that Teddy Daniels creates. -The narrative is interjected with brief and sudden flashbacks of miscellaneous scenes, characters and objects. The main narration and action being interrupted by these erratic flashbacks foreshadows the twisted and non- chronological order of narration that the film ends with.

4. WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE FOR THIS FILM, HOW DO WE KNOW THIS FROM THE OPENING? • TARGET AUDIENCE • 17/18- 45 years. • The opening sequence doesn’t include violence, death or 18+ rated content. However, there are hints and elements that suggest that the film would be more suited to an older audience including handcuffs, mental trauma/ psychotic criminals.

5. THRILLER GENRE Shutter Island- PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER. The thriller is a broad genre of film. It includes, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized by fast paced and frequent action. The Opening scene is set in an EXTREME SETTING. On a large boat emerging from misty fog on the sea.

6. HOW IS THE GENRE OF THE FILM SET UP IN THE OPENING SCENE? WHAT KEY CONVENTIONS HAVE BEEN USED? Tense Music, is used in the background of the opening scene. Before any picture is seen by the audience a non-diegetic, loud and low and ominous trumpet sound is played. eerie music used as a tension builder. Shadows- the use of shadows is very important in thrillers as it sets the mood of the scene and can build up tension, a key convention. In the opening scene, an over the shoulder close up shot denotes ‘Teddy’ looking at himself in the mirror. We see a silhouette/ shadow of the back of his head as well as his face. The use of mirrors in thrillers also create a sense of illusion and disorientation. Low-key lighting. Throughout use of misty and dim natural light in the opening sequence. Diegetic sound of breathing The use of confined spaces, also a key convention of thrillers make the character ‘Teddy’ look/ feel isolated and claustrophobic. Quick changes of camera angles, and quick jump cuts. Editing in thriller movies is important as it sharply cuts between scenes of high tension and low tension leaving the viewer unsettled and convinced that something bad is going to happen.

7. SOUND A low orchestral music, combined with ambient and a steamship horn creates a mysterious and tensioned feeling from the opening shot and continues throughout the entire scene. This music continues into the flashback scene, but it complimented with another soundtrack, that could resemble a woeful woman’s voice. Just before the flashback is interrupted by the water, the sound of waves dominate, this being the first time we hear the water. IN THE FLASHBACK SCENE, THERE IS A CLOSE UP OF A VINYL PLAYING. ALTHOUGH WE CANNOT HEAR IT WE CAN ONLY SEE IT. It is ‘Odean’ by Ernesto Nazareth. Ernesto was institutionalized because of a mental instablility dye to the death of his wife and daughter. He too tried to escape the facility. Huge hidden clue as to how the story will unfold. In the last shot of the opening sequence denoting ‘Shutter Island’ there are three extremely loud steamship horns that resonate in your body. They highlight the dark and scary connotations that Shutter Island has and foreshadows that terrible/horrible things happen to the patients on Shutter Island.

8. LIGHTING One of the big distinctions between reality and the flashbacks are the colour hues. We start of with an establishing shot of a large boat on the misty sea, in which Teddy Daniels and his companion Chuck Aule are traveling on, heading towards Shutter Island. The grading throughout the boat sequence is low-key lighting. In the lavatory, where we are first introduced to Teddy, high key lighting is ejected through the left window, casting a shine of the left side of his face whereas the right side stays shadowed. As Teddy walks through the room between the lavatory and deck, he crosses the two med-yellow lamps disturbing the otherwise melancholy grading. Out on the deck, the colours are monochrome with a blurry background creating flat space. In contrast to the cold blue and green hue in the scene. The flashback scene is made up of bright colours. Teddy and his wife, the deceased Dolores, are the only two subjects in the room lit from directional backlight. Creating a surrealistic look compared to the grading of the reality look throughout the movie.

9. CAMERA WORK The camera angle plays a significant role in convincing the spectator in Teddy’s reality from the start. He’s the first character we are introduced to, but the camera takes a distance from him initially as we only see the bottom half of him in the medium shot. The camera tilts and moves with the waves, provoking is feeling if seasickness. Connecting us to his characters physical state. As Teddy looks into the mirror, the camera has been deliberately positioned to show this shot of himself with his shadow, creating two men in one shot, suggesting a personality split. Shortly after, he breaks the fourth wall by looking the spectator straight in the eye, in a close up shot. By breaking the fourth wall a character acknowledges their fictionality either indirectly or directly. ‘Come on” In this case, it is done indirectly, but with a hidden purpose of telling us that what we are about to witness through Teddy is mere fiction composed in his mind. Through camera work the connection between him and the spectators have now been established and we follow his point of view.