Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Deconstruction of 'Shutter Island' Poster

Shutter Island is a 2003 thriller written by Dennis Lehane. It is a film adaptation of the novel by the director Martin Scorsese. Staring Leonardo DiCaprio; who plays Marshall Teddy Daniels along with his partner Chuck Aule who have come to Sutter Island (a mental Institution for the criminally insane) to investigate the disappearence of a patient.

Leonardo DiCaprio is the face for the more famous of Martin Scorsese films, as shown by the 'Shutter Island' poster. There are many themes on this front cover which represent the genre of the film; including the Image of Leonardo DiCaprio's facial expression, the island itself and the logo title of the film which all adds to the thriller genre.

The image of DiCaprio is impared in colour with its saturated dim backdrop, to DiCaprio's grey facial expression. His bright white eyes expose this instant sense of fear which ultimately highlights the thriller genre, as they seem to emerge from the poster. This creates an impressive contrast with the blurred red title and the white starring actors name. The flame which he is holding up to his face is taken directly from the film. This thriller represents darkness and abomination. The way the actor is not looking directly towards the camera makes him seem more hostile, he is looking on a something suspicious which we are not able to see. DiCaprio appears strong and masculine with his strong jaw and stubbled chin, which ultimately entails a degree of heroism about the film.

The dark-lighting effect of the island is surrounded by this glow of surreal almost spiritual light, which empowers the salient cliffs. Almost how the character 'Teddy' sees the island. The island looks almost like Alcatraz, whereby nobody leaves due to the surrounding sea level. This gives the poster an eery feel and looks extremely isolated making the film appear even more creepy.

The tagline of 'someone is missing' creates a sense of intrigue which encourages the audience to want to find out more? The red font of 'Shutter Island' suggests a theme of blood following the connotations of the thriller theme. It appears smeared as though water has splashed over it - most likely to imply the solitude of the island which is surrounded by an abundance of water.

No comments:

Post a Comment