Shutter Island Key Frames

I did this selection of key frames from Shutter Island to continue on from the spoiler review that I had done previously. It shows main points in the film too give you an idea of characters, locations and themes.

Thriller Spoiler Review, Shutter Island.

          

I chose to do a spoiler review of the film Shutter Island. The film revolves around a secluded island institute for the criminally insane. The film starts with two Marshalls arriving on the island, one called Teddy and one called  Chuck. Teddy is immediately outlined as the main character right at the start of the film. Now to the story, when the two marshalls arrive on the island we are informed that they are looking for an escaped prisoner called Rachel who drowned her 3 children and then sat them around the table, making her a very dangerous "patient". The film immediately starts too fall into its Thriller Genre as when Teddy asks too see the records of staff and patients the doctors refuse him access, making him and us the viewers think that there is something they do not want us too see and that we cannot trust them. Whilst interviewing patients a woman writes "RUN" on a piece of paper to Teddy sending out the message that the viewers and Teddys suspicions of something bad going on under the surface are true. The film goes on and we discover that Teddy beleives experiments are carried out on patients at the facility, he starts to search for evidence and during the search realises that there has not been one shred of evidence that the apparent escaped prisoner even existed, planting the idea in our minds that he may have been tricked by the government to get him to go to the facility in the first place. Teddy starts to have dreams at night and a few days later there is a huge storm which disrupts all of the elctric fences and doors allowing Teddy and Chuck to enter the forbidden block C. Shortly after entering they are separated and Teddy is on his own, he is attacked by an inmate but he gains control and almost beats the inmate to death.The film continues on with no real significant events until he finds a woman who claims to be the REAL Rachel hiding in a cave on the cliff, she tells him how she was never a patient rather a doctor at the facility and how when she tried to question about the expirements she uncovered they turned on her and she had too flee.
She tells him of the drugs they will have been putting into his bloodstream through cigarettes, food, pills etc and how they will try too make him out too be crazy so he will be committed and can never leave the island. The fears are confirmed when he returns too the main centre and asks about the wherabouts of his partner and is told by the doctor that he never had a partner and came too the island alone, showing that they are trying too make him out oo be crazy. He breaks into the lighthouse where he has been told that all of the experimentstake place, he finds no equipment but rather the doctor at a desk. This is a very important scene but i am having too leave out many of the details and summarise the main points. The doctor tells him that he has been a patient at the institute for 2 years, the doctor tells him he has been the 67th patient he has been searching for all this time. We are told by the doctor that the whole Marshall idea was a fantasy created by Teddy whos real name is apparently Andrew Leaddis. this leaves us confused as we dont know who too believe, the doctor or "Teddy". the film then cuts too a scene of a lakehouse and teddy is returning home from work too find his wife soaking wet and his children floating face dwon in the lake. He shoots his wife and then the scene returns back to that of the lighthouse.
He then admits too being a patient, and that he was admitted for murdering his wife. The scene then uts too "andrew" outside, he is talking to "Chuck" and it appears he has reverted back too beleiving that he is the Marshall, the doctors then give each other the nod and "andrew" is marched off for what can only be predicted too be a lobotomy. The film ends with a shot of the lighthouse which makes you doubt what is true, because putting the lighthouse as the final shot would imply that was where he was taken by the doctors for the lobotomy however according to the story the doctors told (the story that involves teddy not being a Marshall and actually being andrew) no experiments or procedures take place in the lighthouse, this means that by placing th elighthouse as the final shot it must be implying that Teddy was in fact Teddy and a Marshall all along and that the doctors just messed with his brain to make him believe he was an inmate. It is a very confusing ending as it leaves you wondering what is the truth, but i felt it was also powerfully sad as you start too realise that an innocent mans mind has been messed around with so much by others that he does not know who he is and what is the truth.

The whole film created mystery and suspense because you never know what is the turth and what isn't, you start off seeing everything from Teddys point of view and you start too dislike the doctors but closer too the end when they tell Teddy who they believe him too be you do not know if they are telling the truth or if they are trying too trick him, the film would be very hard too follow if you do not play complete attention because missing any single conversation in the film can cause you too miss something that would let you know what is the truth and what isn't. The film fits its genre by not having one plot twist but instead multiple, maing it worthy of being classed as a psychological thriller.

I feel the film would successfully meet the expectations of any viewers and in the majority of cases surpass them. It has a powerful storyline that keeps you involved in the film throughout. Anybody who was looking for a thriller would not be disappointed with this film as it fits all expectations that they could have. This is the end of my summary and review of Shutter Island.

Thriller Genre Iconography Collage

The images in the above photo are a mix of characters from various thrillers, various thriller movie posters and also clips and locations from thrillers. I chose the cityscapes as many thrillers are set in busy cities, this is because it shows that it is an adult complex world and they also allow for many different types of scenes. the business of the streets are also used to create a sense of danger as it makes it hard to see any significant distance in front of yourself building suspense during any chases etc in the film as you don't know where the characters may be. The posters for Shutter Island and Inception show the complex sides of thrillers. The twisted buildings and many layers of the Inception poster make it obvous straight away that it will be a film that makes you think, it also immediatly creates a sense of mystery. This sense of mystery is also created in the Shutter Island poster as it tells you nothing about the film but the creepiness and darkness of the tone of the picture make you expect something bad too happen. the poster makes it immediately obvious that the film will have a very dark tone. i feel this was an effective activity too undertake as it allowed me too show what i had learned over previous weeks by putting in images that i think represent thrillers well.

What Makes a Thriller?

Panic Room- Title Sequence Time Line

by Martin, Grace and Danny

00:22

00:27

00:30

00:34

00:40

00:42

00:46

00:50

00:57

1:00

1:04

1:08

1:14

1:17

1:21

1:25

1:29

1:33

1:38

1:42

I felt that this was a good task for me us undertake as it allowed us too study the title sequence of another film. It gave us an idea of how we could present the slates in our own title sequence and also of the number of slates that we should include in our own sequences. The number of slates is a key point so this gave us a good grasp of it.

Doing this activity has allowed me to look deeper into the reasons behind title sequences, rather than just the slates and other presentation features of them as I had previously been studying. The title sequences are included for copyright reasons but also for other legal reasons. They are included to give the people who contributed to the making of the film the appropriate credit that they deserve. Actors and Actresses take where they appear in the title sequences of movies they appear in very seriously, legal battles often take place to determine in what order they will appear but also who will share slates and who will have their own single ones. In conclusion now I have finished this activity I know much more about title sequences than I did before. Previously I thought they were only included to credit those who contributed to the film but now I realise that they are a legal requirement and are much more more important to the film than I thought.

This is the timeline for the 'Panic Room' title sequence that I created in class. On the top half of the page it shows what appears on each of the separate slates, only the role of the person/people included on the slates not the names of the actors or production company's etc. The line in the centre shows the time the sequence goes on for, the boxes are placed at the appropriate time on the line to show at which time they appear in the sequence. The bottom half of the page then shows what happens to the music throughout the sequence. Descriptions of its changes in tempo, volume etc are placed appropriately along the timeline at the times they occur in the title sequence. I felt this was an effective activity as it allowed me too study the music as well as just the visual aspects of the title sequence.

SPLICE, Art of the Title. 9 Frame Analysis.

The predominant colours in the title sequence are dark murky greens, this is put into the title sequence to foreshadow the dark nature of the film. It creates a dark mood, which creates suspense.

The title sequence gives away the theme of the film, that straight away it is shown too be underwater and too have a scientific theme.

X-Rays feature predominantly throughout the title sequence, this continues the biological, scientific aspect of the film .

The title sequence is clearly supposed to be underwater. The bubbles featured are put their either to show that something is breathing,or to foreshadow to the audience that the film features a creature in the water.

The fonts used continue the dark theme of the title sequence, they fade in and out to show an aspect of horror or ghostliness, the words are sharp and distinguished but the colours are dull and go with the dark themes of the title sequence . 

The Actors names are shown as scales or mutations, this give the audience the idea that the film may feature a creature of some sort.

An actresses name is written in veins, this gives a clear definition of the genre of the film, it immediately shows that the film is a horror.  

The Films name, Splice, is written in veins on some kind of body part, this gives the aspect of horror and again gives the impression that there may be a creature of some sort in the film.

During the beginning of the title sequence many x-rays are shown, this x-ray features a creature who looks like it may be mutated, giving the idea that the film will contain scientific experiments of some sort.

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Napoleon Dynamite Title Sequence, by Martin Stewart

I had to undertake the creation of this title sequence as an introduction to Media Studies, before i started to create it i watched the original sequence multiple times for inspiration and so i knew what kind of themes my own version of it should contain. I decided to undertake this project on my own as most of the class had already done it over the summer, i felt this was good as it allowed me too use my own ideas and not have to compromise with others. Although i do beleive that if i had undertaken this task with other people my title sequence could have been more varied and entertaining.

Thriller Film Comparison, by Martin Stewart

I have chosen to compare only the opening scenes of thriller films as that is what I will eventually be making for myself. This was a slight variation on the original task but I feel it is still effective and makes a better use of my time only watching the very start of the movies rather than spending two hours on each. It also allows me to study the scenes in a greater depth as I am focusing on a shorter space of time.  The three films that i have chosen are ‘The Bourne Identity’ ‘Limitless’ and ‘Phonebooth’. I chose these three films because they are different to each other and i thought it would be interesting to see how thrillers with completely different storylines approach their opening scenes.

I will start off with the film ‘Phonebooth’. The main plot of the story is that the main character “stu” picks up a ringing reiver in a phonebooth, he is then told by the caller that he is in the sights of a sniper and if he hangs up he will die. The sniper proves this by aiming the laser sight on Stu. The caller knows everything about Stu including his relationships and other dealings. He insists stu confesses to his wife. The caller reveals throughout the film that he has killed many targets, only the corrupt. The caller is corrupt himself and uses it to fight other corruption.  The film is a thriller because it keeps you on edge throughout the whole watch, when i first started watching it i thought that it would be dull. How could a whole film be based around a man in a phonebooth? But as i continued to watch I realised that it was very clever and much more sinister than i had previously expected. As the plot goes on it becomes cleverer and entices you more into the film, making you try to guess the ending. 

Back to the opening scene, the film starts off in the clouds with a song playing, of which the opening lyrics are “operator give me information”  immediately linking to the title and the basis of the film. It then lowers down through the skies down into the streets of New York where the camera pans around, showing just how many of the average people in the world use mobile phones. When the music stops a voice over starts, giving statistics and numbers of mobile phone users and also payphone users. Before the voicemail starts to go into detail about a single phonebooth, it is the last of its kind and the only private payphone that still remains in that side of the city. This is the phonebooth in which Stu speaks to the hidden gunman. The voiceover then speaks “now less than two blocks away meet the man who will be the last resident of this booth” drawing you into the story, and presenting Stu as the main character. This is where i ended my evaluation of the opening scenes of Phonebooth.

Next i will be reviewing the opening scene from the film “limitless”. The film revolves around a failing writer who has an accidental run in with his ex-wifes brother in the street. The brother tries to help him and gives him a special pill that allows him to use 100% of his brain rather than the regular 20%. He becomes hooked to the pill immediately as in the first day he manages to write the vast majority of his novel which he had been struggling to write at all for months. However when he visits he finds his friend dead, but realises that the killers have destroyed his flat and must have been looking for the pills, he finds them in the oven after searching. He then starts to take one of the pills a day becoming a genius writer and also amazing on the stock markets. As the film goes on though he begins to run out of pills and you find out that anybody who has taken them and run out becomes seriously ill and dies, it becomes a desperate race for him too create more or find a way to preserve himself. The film has much other stuff going on at the same time, such as his various relationships and his involvements with gangsters but i was just outlining the main plot linked to the pills.

Now, at the start of the film you see the main character standing on the edge of a balcony at the top of a skyscraper, you hear a banging on his door and it shows straight away that he is running away from somebody. The next thing you see is the neighbour next door getting shot and he states “that’s my neighbour, he must have come out to complain about the noise” next you see him step one foot off the balcony and the film goes all the way back to the beginning. I feel this is a very effective start scene because it gets you immediately interested in the film and makes you want to watch the rest to find out how it happened. This start sequence makes viewers expect the film to be full of action and excitement which i feel it does live up too very well.

The third and final thriller i watched was “The Bourne Identity” the plot revolves around a man who awakens with two bullets in his back but no memory of who he is  or his previous life. He soon discovers that he has the skills of a very dangerous man, yet has no idea how he came to possess them. As the film goes on he discovers that he is “Jason Bourne” and that he is a secret government agent that they commissioned as part of a 30 million dollar project, he is in a way one of their ultimate weapons. However the government no longer trust him and want him dead, they attempt to hunt him down throughout the film. I feel that it is very effective as a thriller because you know as little about the main character Jason as he does and you only discover about his past when he does so you feel that you are part of the film. The film is also constant action, with high speed chases and fight scenes throughout. I feel out of the three thrillers that i watched this one was most effective at fitting the genre, as it was continuous action and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The film opens onto a stormy sea at nightime, we see a group of sailors playing cards on their boat before the camera goes back to the ocean and we see the outline of a body floating on the water. As one of the sailors goes outside he sees the body, then the screen goes black and when it comes back on they are winching the body out of the water onto the ship. The body is left in the care of an elderly gentleman who finds two bullet holes in the mans back, he proceeds to take the bullets out but on examining one realises it has a red light that shines out the message “Gemeinschaft Bank Zurich” onto the wall. When the old man returns to where the he had been operating on the body it has gone and he is then attacked by “Jason” (the man they found in the sea). Thais where is topped my viewing of the opening scenes as i feel that is effective enough and gives a general feel of the film. Straight away a sense of deceit and suspense is created and it gives an incentive to watch the rest of the film too find out what happens.

In conclusion i feel that all three of them have excellent opening sequences as they drag you straight into the story however “Phonebooth” is slower to start so those who judge a film by the first 5 minutes will not appreciate it as much as “limitless” and “The Bourne Identity”. The Bourne Identity has a more classic approach to a thriller film than the other two being a complete action film all the way through whereas Phonebooth is more psychological as it makes you think and limitless being a thriller but less action based and more based around a way the mans life changes throughout, it still has a sufficient amount of excitement in it though to keep the viewers interested. Based entirely on the opening scenes i feel that “The Bourne Identity” is more effective as a thriller film with “limitless” second and “Phonebooth” third.