2 Genre film case study

                              Two Genre Film Case Study

I will be analysing two title sequences from two thriller films. I will be analysing 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', and the second one is 'Shutter Island.'

The first title sequence I will analyse is 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' which is about a journalist who is searching for a woman who has been missing, or dead for forty years.

 The title sequence starts off with a blank screen and just the soundtrack playing and then it kicks in with drums to where it comes up saying 'COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS...' Immediately we can recognise that the sound track and the fast pace of the cuts are completely in sink with each other which can build up suspense and draw the audiences attention in and it also expresses the genre of the film in the sense that it is going to be action packed and exciting. With this we also get an insight to the mood of the film with the dark coloured objects and low key lighting.

We can also notice that there is ink that's moving, traveling across tires, the ground etc. and then it all goes into one and wraps around the title, 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.' This is a good relation of the close up of the ink moving because it can infer that the ink on the girls body has an important meaning and people may be after her hence why it is moving. The connotations of death link to the fact that the film has elements of horror in them but it also represents the genre of thriller which is very unique in its simplicity.

A couple of shots into the sequence we see that someone's head is on fire, which links to the fact of thriller and it can also infer that there will be danger. We then later on get to see the dragon which is also in flames. This already tells us that the dragon is an important part of the film and it has a meaning and that its dangerous.

The next film I will now analyse is called 'Shutter Island' which was made in 2010 which tells the story of a man named Teddy Daniels, a US marshal who is investigating the disappearance of a patient from a mental institution off of Shutter Island.

The sequence starts off in a corridor with low-key lighting and a suspenseful soundtrack. It also has credits in the corner which are the colour red which can be associated with danger or fear.
It then cuts to a spiral which can be associated with illusion and how the mind works which links to the films plot.


A few shots later there is a close up of a hand which can resemble identity and this links to the narrative of the film as 'Teddy' is trying to find someone who escaped from 'Shutter Island.' After this a build up and drop of music can be heard and it switches to a long wide shot of a big wall with gates. At first still but then begins to move forward which creates tension for the viewers. Throughout the sequence we can also notice that there is faint white lines and scribbles that appear vividly which can link to the fact that something is broken hence why it is twitching. This can link to the fact of the main character being broken in his mind. I don't want to give away spoilers but for the people who have watched it they know what I mean.

After this we see a shot of a gun and someone stepping on it gently and sliding it away, this cannotes danger which draws the audiences attention in but it can also link to the plot of the film that someone may be trying hide something bad. A dark lit room with lights coming through the door and window is shown, this tells us that there is some sort of prison theme with the metal bars and gate earlier in the sequence.