Shutter Island

Shutter Island

 

The introduction to the film is not the normal paramount music, this is suggesting an eerie feel to the film. it starts off as what we see to be a white screen, which we then realize is thick fog, with a ship beggining to emerge.

In the opening scene to shutter island we notice that the man whom will play the main character is facing down. at this point we don't know who he is. as he is throwing up into a sink, he then looks up int a mirror and begins talking to himself. He is trying to boost his confidence, as we notice he is on a boat and is feeling a little sea sick.There is a plaster on his head and we dont yet know why, but this could suggest that he has been in some kind of fight.

as the scene changes we move to the deck of the boat where he is accompanied by another man. The other man says: "alright boss". This tells us that the first character is higher up than the one that has just been introduced to us.

the second character makes a comment about the boss' wife, which leads to a flashback of him with his wife. he is wearing the same tie that he is wearing on the boat, and it is not until a few seconds later that we realize why. it is told that his wife died in a fire, which may be the reason for having the same tie on- a memory of his wife perhaps?

They begin to approach the island. It is very dark, and grey so you can't see much detail. They are told there is only one way on and one way off. At this point a very threatening tone of music comes on and makes the atmosphere tense, here is a slow zoom into the island which makes it look extremely un-inviting.

As they step off onto shore they are greeted by a court marshall, and to show us the importance of him they show us a close up of his badge. all the shots of the court marshall are from a low angle, there are never any straight on close ups. there are a lot of mid-shots of the other two guards as the court marshal is talking to the two characters we were first introduced to.

as they are in the car on the way to their destination the court marshall says to our first character: "you seem a little on edge", that is then replied to by our first character by saying: "right now, we all are".
As they approach the building there is intreging music playing. The music makes you think something is about to happen, but nothing does. As they get closer they can see that it has electric fencing around it, there are lots of guards around and as they are at the gates and get out the car they are made to surrender their firearms, as this happens there is a close up of one of the men fumbling around with his gun whilst taking it out of his pocket. There are three buildings, one for males, one for females, and one for the insane.
There is a shot taken through the barbed wire, which gives the impression that they are the ones being watched. The music playing suggests that something is about to happen, and then stops. This is drawing you in to make you watch more of the film.