Genre:
·
Shutter Island (Martin Scorses, 2010) is part of the sub-genre
psychological-horror.
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The montage shows various images of a mental asylum, a conventional
location in this genre. The use of low-key lighting is common in this form of
genre, which is kept up with in this clip. Few people are shown; the asylum is
made up of barbed wired brick walls guarded by police officers on a remote
island far away from civilization. The audience expects the protagonist to have
little or no help from other characters because it is more frightful from the
perspective of the main character.
·
A gun is show in the clip, which is the only unconventional use of
techniques in the opening. Physical weapons are uncommon because the idea is to
torment and cause pain through the use of the mind.
Form and Style of opening:
·
The style of the clip is a montage of multiple clips to present the
audience with a broader understanding of the story before the narrative begins.
·
Few people are shown in the scene to give a sense of hopelessness and no
escape, instilling the idea of terror from the very beginning of the film.
Parts of scenes from the film are used in the opening scene to foreshadow the
confusion that will follow.
·
The titles flicker and blur to match the music and atmosphere the film is
trying to create. The undecided formality of the words connotes the definitive
narrative of the film.
·
The Directors, Producer, the author of the book that the film is based on,
the main actors, the Editor and the Musician are credited in the titles.
Film Language – telling the story:
·
Mise-en-scene:
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Low-key lighting is used to connote the sincerity and gloominess
atmosphere.
-
The dripping water and rain creates the feeling of coldness and
uncomfortable situtaions.
·
Sound:
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There is humming created by a string instrument and drums to keep the
audience tense with the uneasy nature of the clip.
-
The music often gains volume, building up to a climax and then stays quiet
again. This keeps the tension sustainably throughout the clip.
·
Editing:
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Drips of water are put as an effect over the clips of the mental asylum to
create a sense of disrepair and neglect.
-
There are lines of white that faintly flash onto the screen over the
images to distort them. They strengthen the confusion and distrust.
·
Camera:
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The camera rotates, imitating the importance of the spiral staircase and creating a dizziness and distortion of what is being shown.
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The close up of the hand prying up the floorboard prevents the audience
gaining a broad understanding. It keeps the mystery of the film and creates ambiguity
and unpredictability.
Narrative:
·
The fact that the narrative has no structure and the audience is given
multiple seemingly unrelated clips is in fact the essence of the film. The
style begins to give the sense that not everything is as it seems or appears at
first sight. The audience is expected to know very little about the narrative
so that they can discover for themselves the action and be in greater confusion
and unease if something abnormal occurs.
·
The character is greatly alienated because the audience has only a string
of dark images to link with the protagonist. There is a difficulty for the
audience to immediately relate to the protagonist from the very beginning,
ultimately unsure who is the person they should be putting their trust into.
This is a major theme throughout the clip and the continuity of darkness
instills the idea that there is no one to trust.
·
The music is vital in creating tension. There are multiple builds of
tension and climaxes that keep the audience at unease. The lack of clarity also
help to maintain the tension because they leave the audience with many
questions they are unable to ask and become intrigued to find out.
Representation and Ideology:
·
The main ideological representation that is evident in the clip is that of
mental illness. The clip is ideologically loaded with techniques that reinforce the residual ideology that the people with disabilities are portrayed as criminals or
monsters that need to be locked away for the safety of the general population and cannot function without supervision in a 'normal' society.
·
A residual ideological discourse is portrayed by the lack of ethnic
minorities. The only ethnicity shown in the clip is a white American. This does
not fully represent the population and gives the impression that only a white
American has a story or narrative that is important to tell, or that any other
race is unimportant and unnecessary.
·
Incredibly stereotypical of this genre is that there are no women present
in the entire clip. The clip demonstrates the dominant ideology that women are
immaterial or inconsequential and that they are not necessary for the
progression of a story.
Media Audiences:
·
The target audience is stereotypical of the horror genre – 15-29 year old
male.
·
The preferred reading of the text would be that everything is bleak and
uncertain. The eerie music contributes tension and disturbing associations with
the montage.
·
The oppositional reading would be that the protagonist isn’t someone
visiting the asylum, but the person living inside it. The antagonist or
sinister being would be the visitor.
Institutional content:
·
The film contains many a-lister stars such as: Ben Kingsley, Leonardo
DiCaprio and Mark Buffalo.
·
The film is an industrial film, with a large budget of $80 million.
Paramount Pictures produced the film.
The film had to postpone release in October 2009 due the DiCaprio’s
unavailability meaning he would not be able to promote the film
internationally. Instead it premiered in February 2010 at the Berlin
International Film Festival. A website was created dedicated to the film so
that audiencs to find out more information about the film, find trailers and
download wallpapers. http://www.shutterisland.com/#/home
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