Opening Sequence Analysis – Shutter Island Shutter Island is a psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese it was released in 2010 and the film is set in 1954. The film stars with Leonardo DiCaprio as the main protagonist who plays Edward "Teddy" Daniels, a US Marshal travelling to a remote island which inhabits Ashecliffe Hospital for the insane and he is investigating the disappearance of a patient. Firstly, non-diegetic music instantly sets the genre for the film and clearly shows that it is a thriller. The sound echoes and plays through the opening scene, which makes the audience feel disturbed as it isn't necessarily pleasant and is very eerie. The opening sequence starts with a ship coming out from a cloud of fog, it’s all very unclear and mysterious, which makes the audience become confused to what the movie is about and what’s actually going on. As the ship is emerging, it seems very daunting and mysterious as there is just the ship and no one else is around which may seem that not a lot of people travel to the island this is because the fog hides everything in the background of the ship. This scene suggests to me that whoever travels to the island doesn’t go back which has a sense of thrill and horror. The non-diegetic sounds and the fog are both conventions of a thriller movie. Another convention of a thriller is that darkness of this scene as it creates a sense of loneliness on the island and with the fog it creates the feeling of isolation. The audiences aren’t given an initial sense of location because of the fog. The non-diegetic music increases the tension and creates an unsetting mood that alters the mood of the audience. The next shot of the opening sequence is of Teddy looking in a mirror showing his reflection that shows connotations of his split personality that is shown all throughout the film. The over the shoulder shot shows a dark part of Teddy looking back at his disturbed face. The next shot is of Teddy and his partner