The first thing we see is the Pirates Of The Caribbean logo, non-diegetic sound of a deep bass music is added and an establishing shot of a boat appearing out of a misty atmosphere seeming to be in the middle of the ocean alone. We then hear a diegetic voice of a little girl singing a pirate song as well as ambient sound of the sea.
It then cuts to the little girl who appears to be singing looking out on the sea. We do not know who she is as we see her from a POV shot with her back to us. We then get a slight view of the girl as a low angle was used. The boat looks huge compared to the little girl who you wouldn’t expect to find alone on a boat like that.
The little girl’s singing carries on until the POV shot has become close enough for a hand to appear that turns her around swiftly. The child jumps and gets an almost telling off for singing this type of song with a shot / reverse shot between the girl and possibly a sailor on board. The two shot shows their relationship isn’t close as there is no emotion except fright on the girls face. The audience is also invited to question why there’s even a young girl on board?
We then have a shot of ‘Mr Gibbs’ enjoying some alcohol whilst in a group shot, confirms he is one of the crew as a higher authority has just told him to leave. This suggests it’s an informal crew sailing for possibly their own profit as he is drinking alcohol and no uniform looks to be required with the crew.
We get a close up of the girl’s emotion. She seems to be relaxed about being on a male populated ship and feels comfortable questioning and thinking about the beyond. Her dress shows she has higher status and is much wealthier even though she may not know that yet.
The girl spots something in the water as non-diegetic music starts to play and the close up on her face shows she is intrigued with something. This shows her character is explorative as well as inquisitive.
A boy is tied to a piece of wood which is floating In the water, the camera has a bit of a canted angle to show confusion why the boy is there. The dull and misty atmosphere links towards the happening of a young boy possibly dead floating in the water.
The men get the boy on board on the command of the commander, a packed group shot is shown from a POV shot from the girl to show she is interested in what is happening. We then get a close up of the commander as he holds the boy. He is shocked to see that the boy has come from the water which shows nothing like that has been seen by him before.
Some of the crew using a group shot are then are shocked to see a boat which has seemed to be blown up as it is sinking and everything is on fire, their facial expressions show that they are stunned. This raises questions to the audience as well as introducing a problem already into the story.
The final shot is a POV looking at the boat on fire. The crew is shocked which makes the audience apprehensive to see what they do next.
The shooting here is different as each shot is based on the same setting which makes it a more flowing yet quicker cut to scenes.
This is an establishing shot which shows the setting of the first scene. The mist shows the evil there is to come.
POV shot of a little girl from behind, showing someone is watching her.
Low angle of the boat and perspective used to make the girl look small to show the boat is huge, possibly a Governor’s boat or some to a high authority.
POV of the hand reaching to the girl to block the identity of the person who was watching her for now and to build up the tension.
Two shot to show a the dominant man /parent looking after the little girl, warning her.
Group yet close up shot of ‘Mr Gibbs’ drinking and background of the girl being told off by a higher authority to ‘Mr Gibbs’.
Close up to show emotion, the girl is hardly scared she is more intrigued and fascinated with myths and the beyond.
Her close up facial expression shows her eyes have invested in something captivating from the girl’s point of view we as an audience want to know what that something is and we feel the girl will become even more intrigued and get more involved as the story continues.
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POV of umbrella shows her age, she is fascinated by an umbrella. This may be because she doesn’t know what it is or she thinks there are others like her out in the ocean on boats. We cannot tell as her background isn’t yet clear to us.
Slightly canted angle to show confusion on why there is a boy tied to wood floating in the cold sea. This boy may be of significance in the story.
Close up of the commander as he looks concerned about the boy’s health and stability.
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POV of girl of a group shot where the crew has got the boy on board, untying him from the wood. She wants to get closer and is concerned about what’s happening.
Group shot to show the crew have spotted something in the distance, facial expressions show it isn’t good and may concern all of them.
Final shot is POV of the boat on fire, the reaction the audience gives of suspicion yet nervous is what the characters must be feeling as well. The POV shot is used to naturally entice the audience into the film.
I researched this sequence because now we have decided on a thriller / psychological horror genre, I wanted to return to this film which I remembered established a very spooky atmosphere in the opening shots and also uses a child protagonist, as we are. From this sequence, I have learned:
- the important of non-diegetic sound - again the low bass / humming effect works well
- singing can be an effective use of sound - it can be made to give a very spooky impression
- you can misdirect the audience with a 'fake startle' - we think Gibbs is scary but he turns out not to be
- location is important
- POV shots are effective to keep us in a character's head and limit what we see
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