Ghost Ship Analysis

Ghost ship

At the start of the opening scene the film is at the stage of equilibrium. The diegetic sound is calm contrasting with the event about to come. A medium shot is shown of a well-dressed young girl this is shown to show she has importance throughout the film. Due to her look of innocence it may imply she will be a damsel in distress when looking at Propps Character Function. An establishing shot is shown at 0.15 to show the audience the setting of a large ship. This shows these people are wealthy and part of a prestige group. 

 At 0.18 the audience are positioned to see a change in mood in this scene, as the lighting is dark implying something negative is about happen. The contrast in colour between these scenes is a use of Binary Opposites showing a negative and positive mood. Also the sound becomes less calming with the screech of the machine. Editing is used to hint that the different scenes are linked together and that it will be a negative factor to the plot due to the large contrast in mood.

 The music then changes at 0.23 showing something negative is about to happen this keeps the audiences asking questions as they do not know what is about to happen. At 0.37 a wide shot is shown of the background of the passengers is blurred out highlighting the importance of the steal wire. Through out the beginning the wire has been an enigma code teasing the audience. The scenes leading up to the passenger’s death are straight cut to create a seamless montage of images to built up tension before the main action. This was done to keep the audience engaged and impatient for the disruption within the plot. The begging of the film follows the order of Todorovs Narrative Theory.

At 0.49 they is a close up of flowers being cut in half these represent innocence and beauty being torn by evil. The flowers are a metaphor for the dancing passengers foreshadowing that they will be killed. This scene is slowed down to enhance its impact to the audience as this reveals the importance of the steal wire within the scene. A sound effect has been added to intensify the power of the wire. At 0.50 a close up is shown of the caption, his emotion is shocked and scared showing the audience the peoples deadly fate.

A close up tracking shot is shown as the wire slices through the people this shows little detail, only the diegetic sound tells the audience the pain the characters are going through. The close up of the bloody wire gives a gory image to shock the audience. This is shown for 4 seconds to let the audience processes what as just happened. Medium shots are shown of the characters to position the audience to look at their features. It is still unclear what has happen to them, as they are still and calm.

At 1.19 they is a close up of the glass behind it shows blood coming from the mans chest, the glass shows the audience what has happened to the people. All at once the people fall ending the climax of the scene. Graphic images are shown to highlight the horror the wire has caused. At 1.48 we see a high angle long shot of the dead showing the devastation. The girl is positioned in the middle to highlight her importance and how she is still standing. At 2 her reaction was filmed as a close up so the audience can see her true fear. The audience will feel sorry for the girl and question her fate.

 In conclusion questions are still left unanswered after the opening this gives the audience an incentive to watch the film. Within my work I want to leave questions to add mystery to my film and to keep the audience motivated to watch.