Shutter Island Film Still Analysis

Shutter Island Film Still Analysis

Narrative

This film still shows us a man in a suit reaching out to touch or stroke a beautiful young lady in a summery dress. His facial expression makes him seem confused, almost in disbelief, and together with his slow-approaching hand makes us think that there is something strange about the woman and he is reluctant to believe her existence. This film still looks like it would be in the middle or towards the beginning of a film.

Genre

I believe that the psychological thriller aspect of the film's genre is not reflected by this film still but the drama aspect is connoted through the powerful facial expressions on both characters' faces. The woman's flowery dress, golden curls and surrounding bathroom make the film seem fairly old fashioned.

Audience

This film still portrays the key theme fear of the unknown. It intrigues the audience into thinking about what makes the woman such a big phenomenon to the man. Some other themes reflected in this film still are paranormal activity, haunting and relationship problems. The fact that the man is in a suit makes the audience think about whether he has just come back from work, could possibly be a detective or is just sophisticated enough to wear a suit everyday.

My Film Still Analysis

My Chosen Film Still

This shot signifies the action genre in many ways such as the generic pose of the Spiderman, illustrated by the model. The picture is taken from below, making the model seem heroic, but the light from behind her makes her seem slightly silhouetted. This, in contrast, makes her seem mysterious too which is often a convention of the action genre.

We used a staircase to allow us to get below the model and take an angled shot. We used small pag lights to make sure the model wasn't fully silhouetted.

We were attempting to show the audience that this is a hero by making the model dramatically look into the distance and have the camera looking up at her. We were also attempting to make it look as if she was constantly looking out for danger, due to her "perched" nature.

This shot is successful because the angle is almost perfect, making her seem superior but still allowing us to see her face. The pose is especially good as it connotes the genre clearly. The contrast between the model and the background is also effective as it shows a clear difference in lighting but still allows us to see the model's face.

In hindsight, I would think more carefully about the background to make it suit the genre more (skyscrapers, dark cities etc.) and change the framing as there is a lot of space above the model's head.