Shutter Island -Opening Analysis

Shutter Island is a physcological thriller staring Leonardo Di Caprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. marshal who is assigned to investigate a missing patient from the mental institution on shutter island. As a hurricane brews it is unsafe to return to the mainland therefore cutting them off from the rest of civilisation. As more patients continue to escape, Teddy begins to doubt everything, his partner, his memory and even his own sanity.

The opening shot is a blank screen, and slowly a boat emerges from the mist. By very first thing we see being nothing, the audience will be disorientated and question what’s happening, where they are, what time period it is, etc etc. when the boat does appear through the mist, the music kicks in. The weather, along with the low toned orchestral music, sets the scene as a dark, ominous, miserable day. This furthermore could also be a forecast for the future events that happen in the film.

When Teddy and his partner Chuck arrive at the island they are greeted by Deputy Warden McPherson, who runs through all the rules, regs and occurrences at the mental institute, he then also jokes amongst it all that in such a serious matter that “you would think the insanity is catchy” then laughing about it. To audience this alone would see seem out of the ordinary and strange to even be able to joke about insanity amongst the insane.

We are then shown inside the grounds of the mental institute. The camera pans for an establishing shot to give a sense of setting, whilst doing so we are introduced to the patients, they are shown wearing shackles which to anyone suggests that they are prisoner, and perhaps highly dangerous. As the camera continues to pan around and show us what Teddy is seeing, we come to a woman, who we can instantly get an impression of some sort of importance as the diegetic and non-diegetic sound beings to fade.

The shot itself displays her ‘craziness’ firstly, by the composition, she is shot off centre, which is unusual unless there is a focal point behind her, which, there is not. It also shown through her appearance, she, like the others, has shackles around her hands and legs, her hair is very sparse, with clumps missing, this will make audiences wonder how she’s lost it. She also looks very old and fragile with ghost like pale skin and deep set wide eyes, furthermore her eyes are also looking straight into the camera, this is an unusual shot in movies, but it is a point of view shot from Teddy’s perception. As an audience, this will be uncomforting as it feels she’s looking at you.

As Teddy walks into the first building of the institute camera shots go to close ups of the locks and alarms, this adds a sense of claustrophobia, and could moreover add to the forecasting of future events like earlier that there is no way out.

 

Low and high angles are also commonly used throughout the opening scenes to make us as the audience feel belittled by what or who ever is on screen, this shows where the authority lies in the film. Finally non-diegetic music is used frequently, this helps to build tension and add to scenes, the tempo of the music is increased with the climax which emphasis things for the audience to give ‘an on the edge of your seat’ moment.