Case study Shutter Island

Case study Shutter Island

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Body of Lies

            Body of lies is directed by Ridley Scott, and based on a novel of the same name, written by David Ignatius. It is produced by Warner Bros Pictures, Scott Free Productions and De Line Pictures.  Body of Lies was released in the US on 10^th October and in the UK on 21^st November 2008. Although the film is set in the Middle East, it was filmed mainly in Maryland, USA and Morocco. The film only made $12.9 million in its first week, and $115,097,286 in worldwide box office returns. Body of lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

 Semiology/Location

As the film opens, there is a Middle Eastern character speaking and pointing his finger. We get the impression he is the leader, because the way he speaks and body language is quite authoritative, and  from what he is saying in the subtitles he seems to know a lot, and has influence over a great deal, and also is speaking in a manner of inspiration and encouragement. Because he is speaking in a foreign language, we as an audience feel excluded as if we are intruding on a secrecy act. We can connotate that because he is an unknown figure and language, he is a bad character, and the way he is pointing his finger he is almost dictating. After this, there is a shot of a train rushing past the screen. It's fast, rattly movement creates a slight built up of tension as it quickens the film pace, to make it seem as if there is something going to happen soon, and time is running out. This tension is added to with the bomb squad running around secretly. Although they are dressed in black, we know they are good people because they are country officials, we know them as defenders of us. This means, due to the vast amount of them spread out all seeming to focus on one house, that whatever they are defending us from is important as they must be quite dangerous. There is also a milkman character who seems to be the innocent, unaware peace character. The houses in the area of focus are run down, and poor which are usually used in film to portray dodgy dealings and mysterious activities in that kind of area.

Sound/Special Effects

The film opens with the traditional Warner Brothers sound, which gives the audience some familiarity, and a feeling of safety. The man speaking is talking in Arabic, although we know it is set in Manchester, there is also Arabic music playing in the background. This makes the whole intro more sinister. As there is more action going on, there is more going on in the scene, with loud cars, and faster paced music. The radio in the background is relaying the voice of the same man at the beginning, implying that the man was an authority figure. The overall noise of goings on intensifies the film, by increasing tension. The opening uses mainly diegetic sound of city life noises and people speaking etc, except the Arabic music that is plying in the background which does not seem to have an origin point. The big explosion at the end is heightened by the complete silence just before it, making it more intense.

Mise-en-scene

The dark room at the beginning has many shadows, implying that they are concealing something. The foreign man talking and pointing his finger indicates power and that he is possibly a dictator. There is also smoke, which means there must be fire, signifying danger. In the next bit, the characters' faces are shadowed, also showing that they are hiding something and are not what they seem. The police are dressed in black, and are running around suspiciously and secretly. The intro contains themes of religion, suicide, explosion and mass destruction. The swat teams' entrance breaking is concealed by the sounds of the milkman, signifying that they are using the innocent character of the milkman as cover.

Camera shots, angles & Lighting

The scene opens with a mid shot of the Arabic dictator's face, and the camera slowly zooms out as he talks. The room in which he is in is dark and shadowy, and also slightly musty, as if he did not want to be in full view and is therefore hiding. There is light peeking through the windows, and as we see slightly later on with the swat team it quite light outside, indicating that it could be early morning.  The house which the three men are in also seems dark and musky. judging by the sweat they are producing, quite hot too, unless that is merely the tension of whatever they are doing, which is later revealed as building a bomb. This part is filmed as if it was the point of view of someone walking into the house. There are several shots of the Swat team as the camera follow them as they make their way to the house. At this point, the camera shots are very choppy changey as they switch between different views of the swat team and the milkman. There are several mid shots of the characters' faces inside the house, as they realise they are being broken into. When the bomb goes off, there are several different views of the explosion from different angles, and some with a kind of shaking effect to make it seem like the whole floor is rocking, and everything is in chaos. 

Research into similar products

To support our thriller planning, as a group we did some research into films that are similar to ours. This is posted on Holly's blog:
http://rhs-hollyf-media.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-into-similar-products-we-are.html#comments


These films, as well as all the others that we have looked at over the past few weeks while doing audience research have influenced our thriller majorly. For example the large rabbit in Donnie Darko as the idea of being followed by something that is not actually there, an idea which we developed when we first started planning. We came up with the idea of being followed through the woods, but we decided to make it so it is being haunted by the sub conscious mind as this was much less cliche, and created a more interesting storyline and character dynamic. This is a similar thing, that influenced us after looking at the Machinist, although we developed our idea further for the whole film, with the development that the main character is slowly deteriorating into madness as the tormention of the conscious gets worse.

No Country For Old Men; Coin Toss Scene

Sound

The 'coin toss' scene opens with a long shot of the gas station. There is diegetic sound in the background of gentle wind blowing, although we cannot see it, we know it's there because the 'Texaco' sign is squeaking rustily, indicating it is moving because of the wind. This faint wind blowing sound can be heard throughout the rest of the scene, whilst the characters are talking. The is also a distant helicopter sound at the beginning that disappears quickly.  All these sounds combined with a background of silence throughout the scene create a very distant, isolated and desolate setting for the scene, therefore indicating that the victim will be helpless at the hands of the villain.

   The next sound presented in this scene are the footsteps of the character Anton Chigurh as he is walking across the floor towards the gas station counter. This is also diegetic sound because although we cannot actually see his feet, we can see him moving. His heavy footsteps indicate he is wearing big boots, signifying he is possibly a bad character, strong, and as would be common in that area of America, a labourer of some sort.

   Chigurh open the conversation between him and the gas station attendant by saying 'How much?' His short, blunt, to the point and slightly rude question is spoken in a very deep voice, coarse and rough in strong American accent, although the dialect is unspecified. This hints that he is a villain because that is the type of voice we associate with bad characters. In contrast, the gas station attendant's voice is a lot weaker, slightly feeble, and accented with a strong southern American accent. when placed with Chigurh's harsh voice, we know instantly who is the villain and who is the victim. It also indicates that this scene, if not the whole film is set in southern America

   There is no other sound occurring while the characters are talking, which focuses all of the audience's attention on what they are saying. Chigurh flips the coin, which makes a significantly loud ringing noise. This is to draw attention to the significance of the coin, as it is the most important icon in this scene, as the gas station attendant's life depends on it. Because the noise is so defined, it makes us wounder what would have happened if the coin landed the other way up. It also brings a lot of tension to the scene as so much is dependant on it.

   Just when the gas station attendant is about to call the coin, there is extremely faint, suspenseful music played, the only non-diegetic sound in the scene. This is added to create suspense when the attendant can 'stand to win everything', the tensest time of the scene, and as there is bare minimum other sounds during the scene, it is very effective.

The Village

The village

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Thriller Research

Yesterday we looked at the opening 3 minutes of three thriller films.

The Book of Eli

2009
Directed by the Hughes brothers
Starring Denzel Washington
Sub-Genre: Post-apocalyptic action


This opening was set in dark forest. There were lots of shadows, a classic feature of Thriller films, and the trees surround the action in this scene to make them look like bars, symbolising being trapped and isolated. The colours used in this scene were mainly blues, greys and black. There was a heavy wind sound in the background, which actually began before the film had started, signifying a feeling of isolation. The are what seems to be falling leaves, or ash, from the sky throughout this scene. This could symbolise falling society. The camera runs along at ground level, giving us a view of a gun, and a dead body, which overall gives us the idea of the the theme of death. I think the camera films at this angle to give us an idea of being a forest animal, watching the following events, but also to give us an impression on how the main character lives, which as we see later on in this scene, is quite primal, and creature-like.
A cat comes into the scene, which could possibly signify innocence; a victim which is also a typical thriller character. This scene seems to move at a slow pace, which builds up suspense.
Then the character is introduced. He is breathing heavily, indicating anticipation, as if something is about to happen. You do not see this figure's face, and so you are unable to determine whether he is a good or bad character. The whole scene gives the impression of watching, and being watched, another typical Thriller theme.

Brick

2006
Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt




This opening begins with the sound of some kind of simple percussion instrument that has a slightly tinny sound, and guitar. This creates a really eerie sound, and the impression of mystery, and things not being all that they seem. There is running water, a typical thriller them. There is a dead girl, which means death, and also she is a victim, a venerable woman. The sewer tunnel which is where we see first symbolises trappment, darkness, and isolation. The main character seems very isolated and also, unlike classic thriller themes, he also seems like a victim in some ways.
There are several camera angles in which we see the boy's feet. This could be the point of view of the dead girl, lying on the ground and watching everything he does from ground level. The next scene we see is set a few days earlier, as the boy as he receives a letter from the dead girl. A public telephone rings, which seems odd as we don't expect to get calls to phone booths. This adds mystery to the scene. The girl on the other end of the phone sounds scared, hurt, either emotionally or physically, which again makes her seem like the victim. We do not know what she is talking about, which adds suspense as we want to find out why she is so upset. Then a fast, black car drives past. This is obviously the bad guy, as the driver also flicks a cigarette out the window, which we associate with baddies. The cigarette is filmed on the floor as it still burns away, symbolising a life burning away.

Gothika

2003

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

Starring Halle Berry

Sub-Genre: Supernatural/ Horror

The opening scene begins with slow, cello music, before the film actually begins. This creates a very spooky, creepy impression on the audience, so they know that the rest of the film is likely to be quite scary. This music also creates anticipation, wanting to know what will happen that will make the audience so scared. The opening credits are white/ blue on black; typical horror film colours. They fade/ disappear backwards, to signify real life separating from supernatural, also something running away, trying to escape. The girl talking appears to be the victim of this film, but she also seems quite crazy and phycho. The woman interviewing her by contrast seems quite controlled, and organised, portraying her as the heroine of this film. The are a lot of dark shadows, creating a mysterious atmosphere, like the is something that is being hidden. These two women are in a cage. This is a typical thriller theme, the idea that they are being trapped, or possibly either protected from the outside, or to protect us from what is inside. The scene is shot to make us feel like we are watching from outside the bars, as innocent onlookers being protected from what is being kept inside.