MARTIN SCORSESE – ICONIC DIRECTOR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS

By Tatum Evans

NARRATIVES OF MARTIN SCORSESE

SHUTTER ISLAND Martin Scorsese directed a psychological thriller called ‘Shutter Island’. Shutter Island is about an island which holds a prison-like building on it for people with psychological problem (mentally ill). These people are dangerous people who are violent and are locked up at night so that they are not putting anyone else in any harm sine their has been crimes committed. These people can hurt people if they come across any weapons as they have experience and the constitute consists of weapons in case one of the patient becomes out of control, for example, this psychological thriller contains violent behaviour and the use of guns to protect them from harm or the complete opposite (if you’re mentally ill). There is a lot of dramatic make-up used to show wounds across the patient’s body; this demonstrating that these people are on the island for a particular reason and can be capable of serious damage to another person.

https://youtu.be/5iaYLCiq5RM

THE DEPARTED • Another psychological thriller which Martin Scorsese directed is called “The Departed”.

The narrative is a South Boston cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes under cover to infiltrate the organization of gangland chief Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). As Billy gains the mobster's trust, a career criminal named Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) infiltrates the police department and reports on its activities to his syndicate bosses. When both organizations learn they have a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin must figure out each other's identities to save their own lives.

CHARACTERS OF MARTIN SCORSESE

LEONARDO DICAPRIO Leonardo DiCaprio is the most well-known actor being used in Martin Scorsese’s films. He is the main character in Shutter Island because he is now one of the biggest movie starts in this century and will bring a lot of popularity to the films he is in. His experience of acting can allow him to play most any part given, from a detective to a working class man. Martin helped Leonardo with his first big hit movies and from then on they have worked together in more and more films. In shutter Island, Leonardo plays Teddy Daniels, a steely second world war veteran who arrives at a fortress-like island housing a hospital for the criminally insane. He was mainly seen wearing a dark hat and a brown jacket over a shirt and tie, which is a typical convention of the psychological sub-genre to thrillers.

MATT DAMONAnother well known face in which Martin Scorsese uses is Matt Damon. Just like Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damson is a movie star and can gain a lot of publicity for the film. In the departed Matt Damon plays Collin Sullivan in charge of the case as he is part of the Special investigations unit. Matt’s character Sullivan ends up killing another man as well as being killed himself. This suggests that Collin Sullivan isn’t someone you want to mess with as he can use a weapon and is capable of killing someone.

SETTINGS OF MARTIN SCORSESE

SHUTTER ISLAND

Shutter island was shown on just one abandoned island, with a prison-like building on it. The island is in the middle of nowhere, nobody can get out without the use of helicopter or boat, otherwise they would drown. The island is full of greenery around the centre but has a wall-like outside demonstrating that the criminally insane are locked in. The greenery is untouched because there are roads which the cars go on and paths to walk on. The perfect scenery outside the institute contrasts with the criminally insane inside the building, showing that the people are psychological dangerous. The rooms in the building are all very small, dark and empty (only a bed).

CINEMATOGRAPHY OF MARTIN SCORSESE

SHUTTER ISLANDIn ‘Shutter Island’ there is a use of an overhead shot where it looks over the island so that the viewers all get a understanding of the isolation of the patients who live there. There are a range of medium close ups, for example, when the detectives first arrive to the island we get a medium close up demonstrating their facial expressions showing shock about how many people are held here. Martins camerawork also consists on very long shots because he wants us to see how many people are on the island and out in the garden, this including patients and guards. There is a long shot from ‘Teddys’ point of view in the car going through the gates. As the gates open the camera follows through as if the camera itself was on the car.

THE DEPARTED • The use of close ups are mainly on the characters when they are using weapons, such as

guns and knifes. This shows that the film is related to crime and that the weapons are an important part to mise-en-scene. There are high angle views on Leonardo at a point which is made to be seen vulnerable but at other times the use of low angle is made to show him look bigger and powerful.