Thriller opening - Shutters Island - Claire

Shutters Island -

The first shot is of a boat coming out from the fog. The lighting is dull and dark, the colouring is just whites and greys, there is a soft sound of the waves and boat horn, along with all other ambient sound, it's an ELS shot, this all creates enigma because you want to know who's on the boat, where the boat is going, where it is coming from, and most of all, why.

Then it cuts to a man throwing up in the toilet, the colours are basic white, greys and black. Lighting is still quite dark, you can see there is light coming from some sort of window, from what you can see he's in a suit, and you can hear him throwing up and the chains rattling at the side, it's also an ELS of him, at this point you start to question who he is and why he's throwing up, and if he's on the boat. These dark colouring create a very negative atmospheric mood. This could have been done to build up tension.

The next shot is of him looking at him self in the mirror and talking to himself, from his facial expressions, the dark colouring, lack of light and close up shot, you can see he looks ill/ nervous about something.

After this, it's a series of jumpy cuts from CU to MS, breaking the continuity. I think this is done to show his disorientation from being sea sick.

 

 




 Also between these two shots, there's a graphic/sound match.

As he turns to throw up again, the water comes on and he splashes his face with it.

With his throwing up it creates enigma, why is he throwing up? Is it just sea sickness? Is he nervous? How long has he been on the boat? Where is he going? Has he done something wrong? Ect.

In the next shot, it's a LS and he's walking through a room and picks up a jacket, this helps us to identify that this was set a good dew decades ago roughly in the 1950's due to the costume. The lighting seems to be slightly brighter in this shot as well, the colours are plain and dull, there are chains with handcuffs hanging from the ceiling. This creates enigma because people will question why there are chains and handcuffs coming from the ceiling.

Teddy walks out of the room and onto the deck, where he finds his new partner and they're just generally chit chatting. The lighting is bright, the colours seem more faded in the background, you can see the sea waves. You can see from their hats and their coats again that this was set a long time ago. It doesnt do a shot reverse shot sequence its just a facefront 2 shot of them both.

During this conversation they pull out cigarette props, while they are smoking the cigarettes there’s a cut to them face front instead of side on. I’m unsure if it’s a mistake they made or it’s supposed to be bad continuity.