Ghost ship analysis

The opening sequence will be analysing is from "Ghost Ship". From the initial scenes the viewer unable to determine the genre of the film as the happy peaceful scene gives off the wrong impression.

The clip starts with the film title being shown as the camera zooms into the ship in the ocean. As the camera establishes the whole ship. The next shot is of the on-ship entertainment, a female singer whose voice plays throughout most of the clip. As the song is sung members of the cast appear in the titles. These probably the big stars of the film. Whilst passengers on the cruise dance away to the music inside the scene also show the fact that the music is also being played to the top deck via speakers.

The costume of the clip emphasises the time frame of which the film is set. All crew staff were cream jackets, with higher ranked staff (e.g. the captains) in badged uniforms. As the scene continues, the little girl dancing with one of the captains is shown predominantly throughout the rest of the clip projecting her importance for later scenes/ the rest of the film.

After another establishing shot of the whole boat, the enigma of the hidden character who releases the wire then occurs. As the wire starts retracting, it is clear that something treacherous it about to ensue. Firstly all the scenery and props on the deck get cut in half before the cut shots show the people suffering the same fate.

The camera then dolly’s to people who have all been murdered, as the special effects are used to show the bodies falling in halves where the wire has cut straight through them. As a close-up zooms into the face of the surposed captain of the ship, his face slowly drops off. The only  surviving character on the top deck is the little girl left standing by herself as she looks at the dead victims. Here the non diagetic music still plays as she lets out as piercing scream. This part of the clip is in slowmotion.