The Proof is in the Pudding: Media Med #3

There has been a lot of talk on and offline about the movie Shutter Island and I wanted to check out the trailer to see what it is all about. It is about an institution for the criminally insane. A couple of US marshals are sent to check out the institution after a patient goes missing. There is no sign of her escape it is as if she just disappeared. While investigating the case the two marshals find themselves trapped in the institute like a patient with no way out.

The intro music appeals to my limbic brain and makes me feel like something bad is going to happen. I know from listening to the music for 5 seconds that the movie is going to be a thriller or drama and not a comedy. It has the feel of mystery and suspense. The colors in the movie are dark and gloomy giving it a dismal feel. The trailer was exciting and it kept me on the edge of my seat.

Epistemological Shift
When I started looking into more info about Shutter Island I found myself only looking at video sources rather than a written description. For me a least, I get a lot more out of video than I do with text. If I can put a picture with the description I get a better understanding of the mood or feeling in the story. This case Shutter Island has a dismal thrilling feeling to it. All though I did get a good idea of the type of movie that Shutter Island is but I did not get a solid grasp of what the movie is about. While going through the trailer it was easy to see what was happening but when it came for me to put that into words I had a hard time. I had to go to a written source for the description info. Is it a bad thing that the younger generations reach for the visual media before traditional text? Yes and no. Yes because it is the new form of media. We are embracing technology and using it to the fullest advantage. No because some people, Neil Postman, could say that we are losing out on the critical reading and thinking skills that are gained through reading. For me, as time goes on and technology gets better, I want to stay on top of it. It is like a dish washer, maybe cleaning every dish by hand carefully will make for cleaner dishes, but using a dish washer will achieve almost the same results with less time and effort. If the world keeps moving the way that it is then it will not be long before we have these resources a part of regular life. It is like Feed, people could choose not to run their feed and when they did they were almost “out of the loop.” Today it is all about how fast you can access information rather than how much information you can remember.



Production Techniques

The production techniques were great in the trailer. The colors were very dull and gray giving the movie a dark, thrilling, mysterious feel. The camera angles are key because it enhances the film’s mystery. They utilize the dark lighting in the institution to maintain the thrilling feeling. They show a couple close ups of Leonardo DiCaprio’s face in the trailer that adds to the mystery of the movie. He looks worried and fearful which makes you wonder what he either saw or is thinking about. The only text that is on the trailer is credit text. This tells me that they people who made the movie want to only stimulate the limbic part of the brain and even the reptilian part of the brain with this trailer. They do not want to lose the emotion by engaging the neo-cortex to read some text. They don’t want us thinking about the movie they want us to feel the movie.



Big Lie

In the movie the guards and officials of the institution tell the US marshals a story about what happened to their patient. They do not tell the marshals the truth which leads them deeper into the institution and closer to the truth. This also keeps the audience’s attention as the audience wants to find out the real story as well.





Testimonial
Right in the beginning one of them gives a little testimonial about out Shutter Island, “All I know is that it’s a metal hospital.” This gives the audience a little insight on where the movie will be set and what type of people/thing you expect to see at a mental hospital. We take the statement as a fact and don’t really think if it is true or not because that is what is told to us, we assume.

Shutter Island looks like a great flick and everyone that I talk too that as seen says the same thing. It is out now and it looks like it will be one of those movies that is way better on the big screen. So pile everyone in the car and head down to the theater to catch this thriller.