Shutter Island Notes

1. SHUTTER ISLAND NOTES
Take notes under the following headings during the film.
EDITING
Non Linear Editing with the flashback used to show when Leo was with his dead wife.
There are constant flash backs of Leo’s old life with his wife. And of the conversation of
drinking but gives him guidance.
Another flashback of Leo and his wife just before kids drowned.
CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES/MOVEMENT
Stereotypical Birds eye view shot of Leo and police getting driven to shutter island with the
long windy road.
There was a cutaway flashback of people fenced off holding on to the chained fence.
Another cutaway of a wide shot of the office with flying papers. Flashback of the war with
the flying paper and Leo in war.
High angle shot of Leo looking down at the dead german man. Pathetic Fallacy of the
continuous rain in the night for Leo’s inner turmoil.
180 degree rule used during the conversation scene with the criminal maniac.
The moment they realise that they were trapped, the shot of the door breaking opening
conveys the epiphany that they have.
Long shot of the two detectives walking through the dark eerie hallways create suspense
as they don’t know where they are going.
Shallow focus of his wife to show that he isn’t real.
Focus pull is used for when Leo’s partner walks in to give the realisation that he is crazy.
Low angle three shot of Leo, his wife and his daughter.
SOUND
Loud horn noises when shutter island is first seen. Loud pleonastic sound as they arrive
into the games of shutter island. Leo sees a woman telling him to be quiet while at the
same time, there is sound of the quiet seas and crickets.
Subjective sound is used as you can hear something from the characters perspective.
The use of heightening score that is building and getting louder to emphasise the
scene.
Un-soothing soundtrack of the key playing throughout the film.
THEMES & MOTIFS
Religion and spirituality and moral order, humanity in the car old guy cop scene.
SYMBOLIC CODES (including enigma and binary opposites)
The hurricane symbolises Leo’s great migraine that caused the dream sequence. Which is
also pathetic fallacy.
Flashing lights and the darkness in the cells convey mystery.
Internal conflict of
IDEOLOGY
The ticking of the clock in the background during the dream sequence to convey how they
are running out of time.
Moral oder and humanity.

2. LIGHTING
Low key lighting is used throughout the scene inside the mental institution. Very high key
lighting is used on Leo when ever a lighting strikes during his migraine. Gives a sense of
unease.
Chiaroscuro lighting with the contrast of white and black with Leo and the old german
doctor. To convey the good and bad of the two characters.
There is a high key lighting after the truth has been revealed. And natural lighting as well
as the sound of the birds to show that a new order has been restored.
NARRATIVE
Non-linear narrative used with the flashback of leo and his dead wife.
CHARACTERS
REPRESENTATION
Leo is first seen as a type of broken man with him washing his face in the bathroom.
All the police are seen on edge with all the shots of guns.
Leo sees a woman telling him t one quiet while at the same time, there is sound of the
quiet seas and crickets.
Leo has sea sickness.
Kingsley is seen as having a very rich house and nice music.
Rachel is first seen as very scared and nervous with the close up of her feet being tucked.
Leo has hallucinations (affectation) of his wife and child to show that he is questioning
himself. The wife wears colourful while the daughter wears dark drowned clothes. The wife
almost appears to be his happy side.
During the conversation between Leo and Kingsley at the top of the lighthouse. There are
waves crashing in the background during this conversation.
SETTING & MISE-EN-SCENE
A presence of a storm is foreboded. Cutaways of Leo and the lightning and statues of old
figures. Leo uses a match to guide his way through the dark hallway. But that is also what
was the case of the fire that killed his wife. Leo and his partner were forced to wear the
white suits as well to conform to the fact that they are becoming one of the patients as
well.
Use of green filters during the car ride with the old guy cop symbolise positiveness.
Black and white costumes with Leo and the Kingsley. There is a contrast as Leo wears
almost white plain clothes which highlights Leo as his is more beige.
Scorsese uses smoke to show with Kingsley that he is hiding behind walls. Lot’s of walls in
the prison of metaphors for a being stuck in a maze like situation.
The setting is very abandoned which leads to question what is happening and what is
happening behind the walls.
The waves is uncontrollable and unpredictable just like in vertigo.
Common in thriller films of the long spiral stairs that are symbolic of the twisted minds,
challenge. A homage to Vertigo.
Contrast with dark suits and white nurses outfits.
MOOD & TONE
The atmosphere of the film that implied by the director usually through thriller codes. Mood
in the thriller genre can be seen through the low-key lighting of many scenes, as well as
camera angles and editing techniques like parallel editing and jump cuts, which gives the
audience a suspenseful and ominous feeling. This feeling, or mood, is often intensified by
the diegetic ad non-diegetic as well as other sound elements playing throughout the films
in this genre. Films in this genre use tone as an element to convey hidden meaning, and

3. often films within the thriller genre often use the 'unknown' as an underlying theme which
directors convey is the sum of all fears for us as humans. Similarly, lighting and sound is a
primary technique to convey the tone as well as the mise-en-scene of eerie and
unwelcoming places.
Low-key lighting, mid-shots, tracking shots, close-up - all conveys the unknown and adds
to suspense; gives ominous feeling.