1. How Micro Elements Are Used
Shutter Island

2. Extreme Long Shot
In an Extreme long shot you are able to see the whole background, it
can be to help set the background story. In this picture it shows the
sea and a medium sized boat telling us that only a few people are
travelling, there is also no land around the boat suggest they are
sailing to the middle of nowhere. This can create mystery for the
audience.

3. Close Up
Close ups are used to show detail or a persons physical state, in this screen it
has capture the facial expression of madness with a bit of anger. This close up
can also identify him as the main character. The camera shot produces
different emotions which helps the audience relate back to the main
character.

4. Medium Shot
This is print screen of a medium shot, its consists of a little
background and half of the character’s body, we can tell from the
picture that the actor is wearing a police badge on this trousers, and
that he is stressed by his body language. The background looks like he
is in a cabin’s medical room or bathroom. This could mean that the
actor is unwell or sick. This will create a start of a storyline for the
audience, as well as show the emotions the of illness or stress.

5. Long Shot
The print screen is showing an extreme long shot, this helps the
audience to understand what the person is doing and where the
scene is, this shot is normally used too show full body language or
to show crowds in different scenes. This shot is showing the back
of a person looking in to the open space of the sea, which is never
ending. The emotions let off in this scene is desire and loneliness
as the actor is looking out in the sea, with his hands in his pockets.

6. PAN
The camera is placed on a tripod, where is can scan the scene
horizontally. This movement is often used when following an
actor, so that they are kept in the middle of the frame, or so
scan the scene. This helps the audience acknowledge where
the scene is set, what the actors body language is doing for
example if they are running, are they running away from
someone, or are they simply just running to keep fit. During
the opening sequence of shutter island, a pan movement was
used to show the main character leave the the
bathroom/medical room to the main deck. The characters
body language was shown here as well as his facial
expression, which sternness but a hint of scariness.

7. TILT
This is very similar to a pan movement, it is when the camera
scans the scene vertically. This movement is used for scanning a
building in a frame, or even scanning a person for head to toe.
For the audience it helps to either show the description of a
building or character, or even to build up suspense in a thriller or
horror. This should could be used in a psychological thriller to
slowly tilt up and show the audience who the killer, or victim is.
Whilst doing this slowly there is a build up of suspense, which is
a typical convention in a psychological thriller.

8. ZOOM
Is literally when you zoom into or out of the scene/frame. It can
be used to zoom from an extreme long shot to an extreme close-
up. The zoom pace however can vary it from a ‘smash zoom’ to a
‘slow zoom’ where the camera zooms in inch by inch but the
camera remains stationary. The reason for this is to tell the
audience to focus on a specific, object, item, or part of the body.
In a psychological thriller this would be a very conventional shot
as it also creates a sense of mystery, and can also create a eerie
mood.

9. CUT AND PACE
CUT is when the frame changes from one shot to another. For
example from a ‘close up’ to a ‘medium shot’ as shown below.
PACE is how fast this cut happens. Cut and pace are main keys
elements in a psychological thriller opening, it reveals an
effect of speed and confusion for the audience. In Shutter
Island there aren’t a lot of Cuts because the director is
creating a slow pace to signify that the boat journey is very
long.

10. PERFORMANCE
The performance is all about the vocal delivery and the emotions
actors/actresses show, to try and make their performance as
realistic as possible. During the opening sequence of Shutter
Island Leonardo Di’Caprio who is the main character is very sea
sick, so he must convict his audience he is sick by how he talks
and acts, for example he walks with a dizzy notion and is sick sea
when we first see him, this tells the audience that he is on an
important task as he does not like boats.

11. NON-DIEGECTIC
This is when the actors cannot hear the sound but the audience
can. For example in a psychological thriller the eerie music
played to emphasis the scene is non-diegetic, because it has
been added in after, so the actors do not here this only the
audience does. The background music in Shutter Island is very
mysterious and eerie, which foreshadows mystery in the film.

12. DIEGETIC
This is when the source of the sound is visible to the actors for
example, the voices of characters (dialogue), sound made by
objects in the story for example if a car is passing by in the
background we and the actors can hear it, or if music
instruments are playing. The diegetic sounds in Shutter Island is
mainly the crashing waves upon the boat, this justifies that the
scene is set out in the sea/ocean. This also helps the audience to
understand the opening much more as they know where they
are without having to be told by an actor in the film.

13. MISE-EN-SCENE
This is the first scene of the opening sequence, it is showing a small
boat coming out of the fog. The fog represents mystery which is a
typically convention in a psychological thriller, the small boat as well
shows mystery, because we why would you have a small boat in the
middle of nowhere. The audience can then straight away starts to
question the film about where it might be heading.

14. How Will This Help Me?
The different shots used in Shutter Island tells me what I need to
make my film more realistic and thrilling. For example, closes up
are very popular in a psychological thriller as it tells the audience
what to focus, which could lead into something very big later on
in the movie.
The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds as well help to create the
atmosphere of a psychological thriller and it links together the
film and the genre. If there was no sound only dialogue during
the film, it be uninteresting, therefore the audience would not
watch. I think a slow eerie piece of music for the background
would emphasis the psychological thriller genre I am creating.