Shutter Island - Teaser trailer analysis

    Opening with a quick fade out to a close up of Leonardo DiCaprio lying horizontally with a furrowed brow , accompanied with non diegetic ominous chords suggests that this will not be an easy film to watch; this is designed to confuse, thrill and leave the audience thinking 'that was an epic film!' We then see a wide shot of a building with big iron gates the front , the camera zooms as the gates open and there is a jab of non-diegetic music. This then straight cuts to a mad gruesome old lady holding her finger to her lips as if to say 'shhh' as we hear the diegetic sound of a guard saying 'Welcome to Shutter Island'. The old lady also has hand cuffs on, which gives an idea about what kind of institution 'Shutter Island' is. This then straight cuts to a mid shot of DiCaprio brow furrowed as he walks, clearly thinking about why the old lady did what she did.

    This then straight cuts to a two-shot of a man's black shoes and a woman's (toenails painted red) feet as there is a jab in the non-diegetic music. This jump cuts to a two-shot of the woman smiling with her hands on a gentleman's (assumingly DiCaprio's) back. This then jump cuts to a flash of lightening, which jump cuts again to another mid shot of DiCaprio as he looks up with his brow furrowed, possibly highlighting some confusion as to what is going on. This then jump cuts to a three-shot of 3 men in white in a scuffle, as one (diegetically) calls out. Another jump cut is used, as the sequencing is getting faster and faster to create more tension, to show an extreme close up of a match being lit accompanied with it's eerily loud diegetic sound. This also jump cuts to a close up of someone's tattooed back behind bars with a jump cut to a close up of a little girl lying down on the rocks, ice in her hair indicating that maybe she is dying.

    Yet another jump cut is used to show a mid-shot of DiCaprio as he jumps back from an arm shooting from between the grates in the cell door (so shot-rev-shot). This then straight cuts to along shot of the little girl, dressed dully in brown, walking along staring at the camera (possibly indicating that this is a PoV shot). As she has cropped up for the second time here, the audience are left wondering what her significance is. This then jump cuts to a two shot of DiCaprio (right) throwing his arm across the table towards someone, annoyed, and a man in blue (left) who, when realizing what DiCaprio is doing, grabs DiCaprio by the arm as he tries to stand. A jump cut is used again to show an over-the-shoulder shot of a bald man giving DiCaprio a piece of paper which DiCaprio looks very distraught at. Another jump cut is used to show a close up of a child's hand rising into the shot eerily, which causes a lot of suspense for the audience. This then jump cuts to a tracking shot of a topless haggard man running through a dark damp underground passage with the diegetic sound of bare feet slapped across the floor.

    This then jump cuts to DiCaprio (low angle shot) clinging to a rock face, which jump cuts to a high angle shot of the same thing, revealing that he is dangling above a raging sea. Another jump cut is used to show a wide shot of DiCaprio holding a woman (seemingly a lover given his desperate body language) as the room and her melt away from him. This then jump cuts to the same woman and the little girl holding hands, staring at the camera as a fire rages behind them and they do nothing to run to safety. This suggests that they are DiCaprio's family. Another jump cut is used to show a close up of DiCaprio reaching out his hand as he clings to the rock face, with yet another jump cut to show a close up of legs running up a spiral staircase as the camera tracks the movement.

     The Non-diegetic music creates tension throughout the trailer through its use of loud ominous chords and musical stabs to emphasize an editing technique or occurrence on screen. It increases in pace as the editing sequencing increases in pace. A jump cut is used to show a mid shot of DiCaprio standing in a burning room staring down at his hands which jump cuts to DiCaprio running and diegeetially screaming towards the camera. He is all in white, which implies that maybe he is a patient. Another jump cut is used to show DiCaprio kick open a door in a white shot, followed by a jump cut to shot a close up of DiCaprio shooting upwards from a bed as if from a nightmare with the diegetic sound of his gasp/exhale. A fade to black is used here with a fade out to an island in low key lighting in the middle of the sea. The words 'Shutter Island' appear on the screen as the shot morphs into a paper drawing with the Island looking like an ink blot.