13th August 1899 – 29th 1980
Born on the 27th March 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.1. What does the set up reveal to the audience about setting? Where is this place? What gives you this information?
The set up reveals that the 2 Marshalls are being taken to “Shutter Island” via boat, which insinuates that Shutter Island is out of the way because it is dangerous. When they arrive, this becomes clear when the guard explains that the wards are A, B and C, arranged in order of high risk, from this we discover it is a mental hospital.
2. What does the set up reveal to the audience about characters? Choose one character and explain HOW the set up reveals this information.
The set up reveals that the 2 men are Marshalls, going to Shutter Island on a job. The character Teddy is seen as more important than his colleague because the attention is more on him e.g. he gets sea sick on the boat. This seems pretty normal during the set up but later on we discover this is actually a result of the death of his 3 children who were drowned in a lake by his wife.
3. What does the set up reveal about interrelationships between characters?
The body language of the people and the things they say to Teddy are subtlety strange, e.g. the guard says with a smirk “I’ve never seen a Marshall’s badge before”. We don’t discover why until later on in the film when it becomes known that Teddy is a patient there and everyone is acting. Even the patients seem to recognise Teddy, one of them waves at him, another puts her finger to her lips and smiles like she knows him.
4. What is this world like? Safe? Happy? Dangerous?
In Teddy’s view, the place in dangerous and gives him unhappy experiences. But in reality, the place is safe other than the fact that they have the potential to cause him harm for his own good.
5. What possible conflicts or strains are there that will become part of the story later on?
There is a bit of tension from the start between Teddy and the deputy warden, (Teddy doesn’t want to hand his gun over).
6. How does the film opening fit with the codes and conventions of thriller films?
At the very start, the ship enters the shot through a mist, that way we don’t know what has happened before which makes the story more realistic when it concludes at the end, and we find out the meaning. Zoom is used when the ‘Marshalls’ are driven to the gates of the hospital; this makes the viewer feel like they are the character and therefore, involved. Eerie, tense music is used throughout the introduction to keep the audience on edge, and wondering what will happen. Foghorn and chain rattling at start – hint at what’s coming. Close up to show expression, washed out and cold colours, in contrast to the bright colours used in the flashbacks. Close up of badge, red herring. Low angle looking up at prison shows he is small in comparison. Use of tracking. Music gets very loud and then suddenly stops. Many POV shots used. Term “most dangerous” used. Teddy finds it easy to remove his gun, Chuck struggles. Woman with finger on lips used as red herring. When walking in, dialogue sounds disappear, natural sounds go up massively.
Phone Booth – 2003
Starring Colin Farrell, ‘Phone Booth’ is a psychological thriller about a Manhattan Publicist with a rude and aggressive temperament and a guilty secret of lying to everyone he knows and cares about. Getting on with his everyday face-paced life, the phone booth starts ringing and he makes the worst call of his life. On the other end of the phone is a sniper with knowledge about the finite details of Stu’s life (Farrell).
The film starts with a narrator sharing facts about how many people use telephones and the unimaginably large population of the area. He says “there are an estimated 8 million people in the bureaus of New York”. This emphasises the situation Stu is in because it puts in context how unlikely it is that anyone will know who the sniper is, “there are hundreds of windows out there”.
The introduction to ‘Phone Booth’ is quick, with heavy use of tracking and added sound, which is upbeat music. The intro shows Stu’s true colours, as he openly lies to many people as he just passes them by. We soon realise he has been lying to his wife and his girlfriend about his infidelity to both of them, something he is later forced to confess to the gathering crowd.
To highlight emotion and give two sided conversations, the shot is often divided into grids or split into two parts which is interesting and unconventional.
We meet a key character within the first ten minutes, a pizza guy, also used as a red herring as we are led to believe he is the killer towards the end of the movie, when in fact he is just a random person who was victimised not only by Stu’s cruel words but also by the sniper who slits his throat. This leads the police into thinking it was him that was on the phone to Stu all the time.
The fast paced start takes a standstill as Stu answers the phone and hears the voice of the sniper for the first time. The music also stops and is replaced with eerie, tense music displaying the danger Stu is in. The sniper plays a mysterious character whose identity is not revealed until right at the end; he has a deep unnerving voice that frequently threatens Stu and his future. At the start of the conversation Stu is his usual self, aggressive and threatening. However, he soon realises his place and shrinks down to a defenceless man with deep regret, amusing the sniper greatly as Stu’s life falls apart.
Flashbacks are used at appropriate times, for example when Stu is asked to remember other people the Sniper has shot before, featuring on the news. The previously murdered men and Stu have all got something in common; they have done something wrong; however the quite wimpy reason for Stu’s hostage is as simple as his deception to the people around him. The sniper says “Stewart, you’re in this position because you’re not telling the truth”.
Ironically, the reason Stu is victimised, he is forced to continue when the sniper tells him to say hurtful things to his wife and the understanding policeman who are trying to help him get out of the situation he is trapped in. If he doesn’t, he is told they will be shot.
The sniper is inescapable; he has bugged the booth to find out all about Stu’s life since he has been making secret phone calls to his girlfriend behind his wife’s back. He has also rigged the booth with a gun, which he tricks Stu into touching leaving his fingerprints all over it, evidence for the shooting of a man the sniper killed, not Stu.
Many dramatic shot angles are used, such as looking down on the booth from the snipers point of view to enhance Stu’s defencelessness and show how small he is in the situation.
There is a twist to the tale right at the end, and it finishes off nicely with more facts from the narrator, who is in fact a key character in ‘phone booth’.
That’s why Thurston should watch it. :)
