I have chosen to study the cinematography and sound from the
rollercoaster premonition in the beginning of Final Destination 3. This film
was released on 10th February 2006 and was written and directed by
James Wong and Glen Morgan.
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| The two main characters, Kevin and Wendy, board the rollercoaster before the crash. |
The slow and tense music
accompanying the diegetic sound of excited people shouting and cheering makes
the audience unsure of the situation; this uncertainty increases as we’re shown
a low angle shot of the apparently flimsy and delicate construction of the
incline. As the music grows louder, the audience are shown a mid-shot of the
back of the rollercoaster. This is telling the audience that the people on the
ride can’t get off; it could also be telling us that the passengers’ fate has
been sealed, in dramatic terms.
At the top of the
incline, just as the train is about to descend, the camera shoots a 180 degree
pan to show the audience how high the ride has travelled. This ends in a
mid-shot, displaying the people at the front of the train. We are then shown an
oil leakage from underneath the train; this oil lubricates the rollercoaster
wheels for the track. Just as the rollercoaster descends, the music and sounds
suddenly stop to a deadly silence. This is to create a moment of suspense and
drama to increase the audiences’ tension as they wait for something bad to
happen.
As the rollercoaster
travels across the tracks, point of view shots are used to place the audience
in the situation. I think this would make the audience feel tense as they’re
familiarized with the speed of the ride; I think this particular shot can be
described as a stable shot because the audience can see the action clearly. The
only sounds we can hear are the delighted screams from the passengers on the
train. Parallel editing is used to display the passengers’ reactions on the
ride and to show the leakage that’s still occurring underneath the tracks.
Panning shots are normally used to follow specific character
in a straight line. For example, if someone was walking down a corridor, the
camera would film this person from the side and follow him/her down this
location. This type of shot is used in Final Destination; however, the
difference between the typical shot and the way this was filmed for the scene
is that the character the camera’s following, in this case the rollercoaster,
is out of shot as it has run up another incline. I think this technique is used
so the audience can hear how weakened the construction has become; its weakness
is portrayed by its loud whining. A tracking shot is also used as the
rollercoaster travels around its first loop in the track: One of the passengers
is holding a video camera and, as the train goes around the loop, the device
slips out of his hand. The shot is filmed to follow the object as it falls and
a close-up is used as it wraps itself around part of the track. A low angle
shot is then filmed to show the train running over the machine which causes the
mechanism connecting the wheels to the track to break. This would create
suspense with the audience.
The difference in the
point of view shots become clear as the rollercoaster falls apart. At the
beginning of the premonition, the point of view shot is filmed from the front
of the train and is fixed onto the ride, meaning the audience can clearly see
what is happening as they become part of the action. However, once the train
starts to malfunction, the point of view shots become distorted as if they’re
being filmed from a hand held camera which makes the ride seem uncontrollable.
The sounds the audience can hear are howling and scraping of the wheels heating
up, causing friction, on the track; this is due to the lubricant oil emptying. The
audience can also hear the terrified screams from the people on the ride. This
whole situation would make the audience feel terrified yet sympathetic towards
the characters because they’re forced into the incident due to the shots used. I
also think the absence of the diagenic music makes the situation frightening
for the audience because it suggests that they’re suddenly involved in the
movie.
As the rollercoaster is about to travel around
two loops, one person on the train falls out and tries to hold onto the side of
his carriage as the ride continues its journey. Tracking shot are used to
follow the train round this part of the track and point of view shots are used
to show the audience the section of the track the ride is travelling through. I
think these shots are used to create a kind of tension because the audience
want to know if this person is going to be able to hold on to the train while
it’s going around a double loop. Just before the loop ends, another carriage
breaks off the train and smacks into him. A close-up is used to show the look
of horror on this person’s face before he dies. At this point, the lack of
music creates a tension as the audience hold their breath, the music enabling
the audience in the next scene to breath again. The broken carriage smashes into
a section of the track and supports, splitting them both in two. The
rollercoaster then starts hurtling towards a giant loop and slows to a halt at
the top, leaving the passengers upside down. Low angle and high angle shots are
used to portray how high the loop is. These shots are also used to display the
‘victims’ of the accident that has just taken place. The last two survivors on
the train decide to sway the ride backwards to get it moving again. Close-ups
are used to show the wheels of the rollercoaster moving slowly. I think this
could be a moment of suspense because the audience don’t know if the
rollercoaster is going to move or if the survivors are going to let go of the
carriage before it starts moving. This section of the scene could also be tense
because the music is absent, creating a deadly silence. The same dramatic
sounds return once the ride starts moving again. This could suggest that the
deaths are not yet over.
A tracking shot
follows the rollercoaster as it travels backwards along the tracks. The camera
then zooms out to focus on a part of the construction that had split due to one
of the carriage previously crashing into it. The tracking shot is filmed at the
side of the carriage as one of the last passengers get cut in half by this
piece of mechanism. A close-up is then used to focus on the victim’s torn and
bloody upper body. I think this shot is shown so people watching this film can
see how gory it’s going to be. The rollercoaster then continues to travel
across the track until it’s thrown off by the split track. A low angle shot is
shown to display the last passenger falling to her death. The last shot we see
is a travelling point of view shot towards the ground below before we’re hurtled
back two minutes before the rollercoaster starts, and before the camera hits
the ground, which would imply the death of the cameraman.
I think, because this film has an exciting and
memorable beginning, this keeps the audience interested. There are a number of
reasons for this; the first reason is that the film writers chose a catastrophe
that is possible, and has indeed occurred a number of times in the past. I
chose this scene because of its cinematography; this is an action-packed scene
and uses a lot of shots to imply that it’s also fast-paced. This way of filming
creates a sense of fear in the audience because the cinematography is suggesting
that the incident is happening quickly. This scene also uses a lot of point of
view shots to illustrate the event from the eyes of the people on the ride and
how the accident looks to them. I also think the lack of non-diegetic music is
important to the scene because it tells the audience when something is about to
go wrong, e.g.: the beginning of the scene has no non-diegetic music but when
the rollercoaster starts to break, the music comes into the scene; this music
then disappears when the ride has reached the top of the loop but returns again
just before the penultimate passenger dies. The use of music and its absence
through this important section of the film both increases and relieves the
tension in the audience.
Unfortunetly, I am unable to find a video link to this scene.
