Shutter Island - Trailer Analysis

Shutter Island (2010)
Director-Martin Scorsese
Main Characters-Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley

·         Trailer starts with a fade into the producer logo of ‘Paramount’

·         Cross fade into clip of wide shot of a boat in fog.

·         Short clips with fade to black transitions, fit into every beat of the music creating a pulse like sound.

·         Cuts to directors name.

·         Pans forward towards the mental hospital.

·         Slow motion clip of the two detectives and a security guard walking towards the gate.

·         Cut transitions run throughout the trailer.

·         Shot reverse shot between the two detectives and the security guard.

·         Slow motion of a patient at Ashecliffe looking at Detective Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio).

·         POV shot.

·         Flash black to emphasize the restricted area light.

·         Fade up to a dark room – low key lighting.

·          Fade up and tilt up to a nurse.

·         Tilt down to and injection. Flash white, zoom to portray that there could possibly be a reason behind it o something wrong with it; this is emphasized by diegetic sound of a woman screaming.

·         Voice over

·         Close up of hand reaching for a gun and then cuts to a close up of a foot dragging it away.

·         Fade to black.

·         Over shoulder shot of Doctor Cawley (Ben Kingsley)

·         Over shoulder shot of Detective Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio)

·         Wide shot of Ashecliffe Hospital

·         Flash and then a brief pause at a photograph of the escaped patient.

·         Pans left looking down the corridor.

·         Flash black of the escaped patient’s room.

·         Fade to black then a low angled shot of Detective Daniels and Detective Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) walking around the room.

·         Quick flash mid-shot of the escaped patient covered in blood.

·         Non-diegetic music starts to become more intense and dramatic.

·         Short clips with fade to black transitions.

·         Voice over of Detective Daniels. As he states, “it’s like they’re scared of something,” there is a white flash transition, music intensifies and then we see a low key lit scene of the hospital, giving it an evil atmosphere.

·         Cut transitions of power down and Detective Daniels walking out into the rain.

·         Daniels looks out of the back of the car, POV shot of Doctor Cawley, jump cut and flash, again the music intensifies for a few seconds which emphasizes the flash making the audience questioning the character of the character Doctor Cawley.

·         Fade up of Detective Daniels interviewing a patient, shot reverse shot between the two characters, then a two shot of them both, then a close up of his notebook with the word ‘run’ written on it, cuts closer and there is a still image of the word.

·         Cross dissolve to a low-key lit room with the two detectives slowly walking into it, the lights flicker the fade to black.

·         Voice over of Detective Daniels taking about fear and insanity, as this goes on, fade up to low lit corridor, jump to a high-key lit apartment corridor, then it cuts to a backwards track following Detective Daniels in the hospital. Then cuts to a close up of his face in one of his ‘dream sequences’, cuts to paper falling, then being stained with blood.

·         Cuts to a patient in his cell writing ‘stop me before I kill more’ over and over on his cell wall, jump cut then a flash to a close up of his hand highlighting that he is writing with his own blood.

·         Close up of Detective Daniels hand lighting a match, there is a flash when a prisoner tries to attack the Detective from inside his cell. Fades to black then a voice over saying “This is a game”.

·         Birds eye shot of Detective Daniels, rotates the flashes, cuts to an over shoulder shot of Detective Aule.

·         Cuts to Detective Daniels in a hospital workers uniform walking down one of the hospitals corridors, high-key lighting, he is then stopped by Doctor Naehring (Max von Sydow), the music intensity increases as there is an over shoulder shot of Doctor Naehring portraying that he plays an important role in this film.

·         Cuts to Leonardo DiCaprio’s name

·         Close up then rotate around Detective Daniels face.

·         Cuts to security guards around the hospital, voice over of Doctor Cawley.

·         Track towards the two detectives.

·         Fade to black transition then an over shoulder shot of Doctor Cawley.

·         Cuts to a mid-shot of Detective Daniels.

·         Cut transition to a long of the detective kicking down a door.

·         Fade up transition of him then running up a spiral staircase with a close up of his feet emphasizing the drama.

·         Voice over of Detective Aule, fade up to a long shot of Detective Daniels looking over some rats, fade to black transition to what seems to be the head of security, this is emphasized by the light being positioned in a high position that blurs out most of his facial features giving him a questionable and sinister appearance.

·         Fade to black transition to a close up of Detective Daniels hiding behind a door frame, then fade to black to the main hospital gate closing, conveying that there is no escape, fade to black transition to an over shoulder shot of Detective Aule.

·         Cut transition to a door being blown open then flashes back to the detectives shielding their eyes.  

·         Fade to black transition to an arc around a mysterious man with a cut down most of his face, a very scary look suggest that he is a villain in this film, then cuts to a close up of Detective Daniels talking to someone.

·         Close up of the mysterious man smiling and holding a match.

·          Quick shot of a tilt up of Detective Daniels holding a gun and shouting at a couple of men.

·         Cuts to a woman and a little girl, there is an explosion in the background,  the little girl’s costume suggests that she has passed away and could further imply that this is one of Detective Daniel’s ‘dream sequences’.

·         Series of short clips of someone in the ocean, a man running down a low-key lit corridor, Detective Daniels chasing this man, Detective Daniels walking through a room that looks to be on fire, and then some clips form Daniel’s dream sequences, these clips convey what is happening to Detective Daniels mind and how it is slowly starting to break down.

·         The title of the film ‘Shutter Island’ fades in and the music slowly stops, the title fades out.

·         Fades up to Detective Daniels walking towards an empty door frame, voice over of Doctor Naehring, then Detective Daniels gets attacked and high pitched music plays making this scene seem terrifying.

·         Birds eye shot of the attacking Detective Daniels and pulling him down the stairs. Cut to black.

·         Fade up to the film’s release date