Shutter Island Opening Credit Sequence Analysis

The credits of a scene begin with a slow fade into a dimly lit corridor, complimented with a dark , suspenseful and marked non-diegetic score which begins to create tension, this is coupled with the blood red, Gothic stylized font. The text in itself is used to convey the genre to the audience, the mix of the unsettling, stereotypical font colour and the red tinge the letters have immediately imply the film is a thriller/horror movie. The prominence of the text is instantly displayed due the dim lighting the audience's attention is drawn to it immediately drawn to it.

Then there is a quick fade to a 360 degree pan of a spiral staircase, the pan is at a fast speed. This adds an element of illusion and confusion for the audience, whilst also disorientating them as they almost feel as they are being hypnotized. There is also, again the use of small lighting which adds to the enigma that the movie attempts to induce the audience into, not allowing much to be revealed to the audience. The spinning aspect to the camera movement gives the sense of disorientation and further enforces the idea the film will deal with psychological effects.

 A quick fade is used again and fades to a close up shot of a   hand struggling to move a tile. The identity of the person   remains hidden, and the tension that the hand has to the tile alludes some sort of a physical struggle, allowing for a sense of desperation to be created. It is also interesting to note that the credit in this shot, is white rather than red. This may be because they are trying to convey the motifs of "good vs. bad." This is due to the contrast between the connotations of red and white which has connotations of purity and innocence. It is also placed more centrally on the screen, suggesting it has more importance than the

other credits.

The final shot is the title shown in big, bold red letters, it is animated to seem as it is veering toward the audience which adds to the visual tension. The fact that the title zooms to take up the majority of the screen, reinforces the importance of the title and places it's importance above all of the other credits. It is also a convention of most film title sequences for the title to take up the whole/majority of the screen. The use of the colouring of black and red foreshadows the possible violence to come as the connotations of red, mixed with the connotations of the colour black (death and darkness). 

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Preliminary Task

In our groups we were required to create a short film that was under 60 seconds. Our group, of four people, two actors and two cameramen, decided to film a short, slick and fast paced scene to intrigue but also to allow experimentation with cinematography. 

The task requirement were to include examples of:

• Shot-reverse-shot
• Match-on-action

And to make sure we stuck to the 180 degree rule.

Successful aspects:

• All shots that were required in the brief were used to a good standard
• A variety of different camera shots were used
• The editing that was done was done too a really good standard and was continuous 
• The shot-reverse-shot and match-on-action were timed well 

Points for improvement:

• Pay closer to the mise-en-scene
• Be careful with background noise
• Use a higher quality camera