Ghost Ship Analysis

During the opening sequence of Ghost Ship, it immediatly grasps your attention by devising a scene that
seems all very calm and very 1960's. The scene starts with a pan of the ship from the outside and the inside and we can see people dancing to really slow music and having a wonderful time. When the camera is outside, it focuses on a little girl sitting by herself playing with some blocks to create the sentance "i am so bored" to which a sailor over looks this. The singer of the evening then asks everyone to stand up and dance. When the little girl gets asked to dance, everything is moving in slow motion and the camera changes its perspective by looking at a lever in which we only see a hand move it up.You realise something isn't quite right when the camera zooms in to a wire rig and the music has suddenly started to fade out and echo itself and then the wire becomes the focus. The camera follows the wire around the ship and then you see a line come in to focus realising it is the wire and that it is at everyones head height. You see the wire being wound in very very quickly to which it ends up shooting across the ship and then there is a sudden silence. No one is saying anything or moving but the camera has now focused on the wire as soon as it reaches the otherside of the boat and is completely covered in blood. Then very very slowly everyone falls to pieces on to the floor. The little girl who is hugging her dance partener appears to be very frightened and looks around at everyone who is laying dead. She turns around to look at the face of the man she is dancing with and it splits in to two. She screams and then the films starts.

The opening sequence covers all four sub-genres:

Mise-en-scene: We are able understand that this event was held in the eveing so the lighting is natural asnd very dark. This could fit in with being a mystery thriller because the darkness makes the watcher think that something bad could happen as everything seems so dark, slow and creepy when everyone is happy and having a wonderful time. This makes the watcher feel very anxious and tense as they are waiting for the moment when things start to go wrong.

Camera Work: In the opening sequence, there is a crane shot that is used to explain more of that setting to the audience. It is also used to set the scene that nothing bad could possibly happen. When it comes to the singer, there is an eyeline match and an over the shoulder shot. During the course of her singing, there is a zoom where it comes all the way back to the other end of the room where we see people dancing across the camera view. There are close ups of people dancing which becomes the main focus for now to the audience as everyone looks so happy. There is a two person shot with the little girl and the sailor which could represent that he is taking care of her, then there is an eye line match from there point of view to the blocks that she is playing with. These shots repeat themselves throughout the rest of the sequence until it comes to a zoom in of a lever and all we see is a hand come in the shot and pull it. From here there is a high angle shot on the wire rigging that is rapidly being reeled in, then a close up in to the wire that is about to snap. Before it breaks there is a slow motion shot of everyone dancing and singing and not being aware of what is about to happen. This brings suspense to the audience as it a predictable scenario. Once the wire has snapped there is a tracking shot where it follows the wire whilst it cuts through everyone with a close up on the other side with the wire all covered in blood. There is then a tracking shot going the opposite way where everyone is looking around startled and confused to which point the audience is in complete shock. There is then a slow motion shot where everyone falls apart and falls to the floor. This gives the audience the fear factor rating of what the rest of the film will be like. This is then followed by a crane shot, where the audience can see what has happened and that everyone is dead except the little girl and the man she is dancing with. Using the eyeline match and the low angle shot from the little girl looking at her dance partener, this is used to show fear to the audience as the dancers face splits in two and falls to the floor and to sympathise with what she has just seen.

Sound: With the opening sequence starting off as a singer singing a really romantic song, which becomes a sound bridge throughout 75% of the scene, gives the audience the impression that nothing could go wrong and that the horror isn't going to start until half way through. But once the lever is pulled, the music starts to fade out and play really slowly. Then once the wire has been released, the music stops and everything is silent except from very light slow motion music to help add effect to the fear factor.

Editing: This film mainly uses close ups, cuts and eyeline matches. This can be used to give more of an impact on the viewer as from their point of view, many close ups and change in sound can recreate a different atmosphere bringing on a more eery outcome. It can be used as a fear factor to help maintain that chilling effect.