Analysing opening scene-Ghost ship

Analysing opening scene-Ghost ship

The opening scene to ghost ship uses a lot of different shot types to get across a sense of normality in what's supposed to be a horror movie. We get a lot of different angled shots of the singer, this is because the director is trying to get it across as a normal scenario if there weren't so many different views of a set weapon. The main focus of the scene is on a complex wire system which runs out throughout the entire ship, this makes us think because this is a horror movie,that wire must have massive significance in the opening scene. It uses many tracking shots and different angles to suggest to us that the wire is not just for show but is a complex anomaly waiting to happen and affect all those on board the doomed vessel. We get lots of different shots of the young girl as well, this makes the audience believe that she is the main character of the film as it doesn't show anyone else very close up and it also looks very closely at her because she is a child and therefore innocent in the eyes of many and so to be in such a horrible scenario would shock the audience into thinking this is a horror film.

It uses music which is both diegetic and non-diegetic, diegetic in the fact that there is a woman singing the song so the people can hear it and it could also be non diegetic because the song seems louder to the audience and it is the only thing we can actually hear in the whole scene. The reason the music is quite slow and calm is so it makes us think that everything is normal. Apart from that the only noise we can hear is the slight ambience when the camera focuses on the set weapon,the creaky movement of the wire after it has killed everyone, the sound of bodies falling and slurred dialogue from the affected people.When we see the girl as the last survivor there is an eerie music in the background and then the diegetic sound of her screaming ends the scene. The reason the director only involves certain diegetic sound like the girl screaming and the wire cutting through human flesh is because it brings about more of an unsuspecting atmosphere tot he people in the audience who would be more focused on the music as it is displayed as louder. The music does abruptly end however when everyone has been chopped in half to give that shocked atmosphere to the viewer.

An enigma code is used at the end when only the little girl is left, this makes the audience think about what's going to happen to her seeing everyone else who was introduced in the opening scene died apart from her, this question lingers in our minds because she is only a child and therefore is innocent and for a child to see this much death would be traumatizing to her and so it makes the audience worry about her because from what we can see there is no-one left on the boat.

The costumes the cast are wearing are all very posh and old fashioned, maybe around the 1940's on a posh cruise liner. This shows that these people are all upper class businessman, this is typical of the genre because predominantly it is the middle class who watches horror films, especially the younger generation and to see rich people on screen would mean that the audience won't be able to relate as much to the character as the director would like and so by killing them it leads to way to introduce more middle class characters which the audience can relate with more and therefore imagine what it would be like to be in their position.