The first film I decided to analyse was Shutter Island, mainly because it is a great psychological thriller film which we will possibly base our opening of our thriller film on. As I have already seen the film numerous times its helped to perceive the opening in different ways: the first time I watched it, I found it rather slow and unexplanatory however after watching it again I have realised how, very cleverly, the director has incorporated many features which would not stand out if viewing it the first time but make sense after watching it retrospectively.
The opening of Shutter Island establishes a context of deception for all that is to follow. This is done by when, at the initial start of the film, Teddy (Leonardo DeCaprio) wakes up sick on a ferry, but what exactly does he wake up from? This straight away bringing in mysterious feelings to the film. Then Teddy goes up on deck where he meets “Chuck,” his new partner on the case to which they’ve both been assigned. They are U.S. Marshals sent to the Shutter Island hospital to investigate the whereabouts of the missing Rachael Solondo, a psychopathic patient who murdered her own children (which is explained). By introducing this idea to the audience early on that they are dealing with a psychopathic patient, makes the audience feel on-edge as they immeadiatly associate psychopathic with danger and violence. The opening scene also has a long shot which shows the ruined boat coming through the mist. This can be interpreted as Teddy is going into a place of uncertainty and questioning. Then the establishing shot of Shutter Island reveals to the audience where exactly Teddy is going to.
Then there are a sequence of medium paced cuts showing Teddy and Chuck arriving at Shutter Island. Straight away the viewer notices the amount of armed guards which are there when they arrive (if the viewer did not notice this then Teddy himself comments on how many armed men there are). By there being so many armed guards 'greeting' Teddy can be interpreted in two different ways. Firstly that possibly Teddy himself is dangerous and is having to be watched closely (which later the audience find out is true) or that Shutter Island itself is very dangerous which further makes the audience anticipate danger once Teddy gets to the main body of Shutter Island. All this is followed by a great exchange at the gates of the hospital, where Teddy is asked to surrender his weapon. By Teddy having to surrender his weapon when the audience know it's a dangerous place, creates a sense that Teddy is vulnerable on a dangerous Island and making the audience continue to be on-edge. Then as as they pass through the gates onto the grounds of the hospital, we learn about the dark and imposing Ward C building, where the real crazed people are kept. There’s a moment here in which one of the patients looks up from her gardening chores and puts a finger to her lips in a “shhhhh!” gesture. By the camera doing a close up on the deformed woman saying "shhhhh!" could portray that there is a secret on the island which she knows but cannot say, therefore building on the mysterious aspect of the film. Or that the women herself along with the other patients know something about Teddy, then take that combined with the fact that Teddy is weaponless helps to demonstrate how vulnerable Teddy really is. I was unable to find an opening clip but the trailer, from YouTube, contains features and scenes from the opening of the film:
The soundtrack at the opening of the film called Symphony No.3 Passacaglia - Allegro Moderato really helps to bring out the suspension of the film and the ery stringed music really brings alive this sinister feeling about what is going to happen in the film. Below is the sound track taken from YouTube:
The second film I decided to analyse was Inception as this had been rated especially high on numerous websites and is a great example of a psychological thriller. The film itself is rather confusing dealing with the idea of being able to enter peoples dreams and place a thought inside: therefore this makes a classic psychological thriller.
The opening sequence see's Leonardo DeCaprio (the lead actor) with a close up on his face waking up on a beach being covered by water. Straight this applies confusion onto the audience as they are unsure into why he is there and how he indeed got there. The then low level shot of two kids, who we don't see the faces off, shows them playing in the sand and laughing. The quick cut back to the close up of Leonardo implies that the kids are a memory which he i experiencing but it is not explained, therefore leaving the audience anticipating the reason behind it. Then the close up of the Chinese guard revealing Leonardo's gun wedged between his trousers at the back, implies that he is hiding it from sight of others, which gives off the impression that he may be dangerous or is in a rather hostile environment which would explain why there are other armed guards around.
The then sudden switch to an inside environment, which seems at first rather royal as it has multiple lights, expensive and well crafted table and chairs, has a over the shoulder camera shot and shows two possible associates of the man sitting down who's back is turned towards the camera creating a mysterious aura around the man. After that, one of the associates tells the man sitting down that Leonardo "was carrying this.... and this" and places a gun and then a spinning top on the table. The extreme contrast between both the gun and the spinning top initially impertuates confusion onto the audience as it hasn't been explained as of present why Leonardo is carrying the items. Also, how there is is a close up of the spinning top and the gun is out of focus implies that the spinning top is more significant which furthermore adds to the confusion and mystery surrounding it. Then Leonardo is thrown down on the opposite side of the table to the man sitting down, who then is revealed to be very old, and giving a bowl of food which, along with how Leonardo hastily eats out of it, that he hasn't been fed in a long time and gives off animal characteristics.
However, there is a sudden quick change cut rat into a different scene where now Leonardo is wearing formal attire. The contrast between how he was a couple of seconds ago and is now, furthermore presents this confusion and explanatory story of what's going on. Also, how Leonardo is talking about a "dream" and "implanting an idea" subtly illustrates the story line to the audience. That the film will be about dreams and ideas being put into someone's head. Suddenly as one of the characters leave, the table and lights in the room start to shake. In this scene the use of heightened intra- diegetic sound is used either when convey a mini earthquake the lights and table are being rocked as well as when there is a close up of Leonardo's watch, the second hand's ticking is emphasized. This could either be interpreted as time is running out for Leonardo or that time itself is actually slowing down. All this is adding to the audience's initial confusion into what exactly is going on. This is all followed by long shot camera showing a explosion which takes place in a different setting. This unexplained switch of scene builds up the tension and makes the audience desperately try to figure out what exactly is going on, leaving them on the edge of their seats.
I was unable to embed the video but click on this link to view the opening scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXkUzf1et4
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