Final Destination 3 Analysis

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 10^th February 2006 and was written and directed by James Wong and Glen Morgan.

The two main characters, Kevin and Wendy,
board the rollercoaster before the crash.

  The scene opens with a point of view shot as the rollercoaster starts its journey on a 200 foot incline. In these moments, the audience is introduced to the characters on each carriage; the shots used to establish each pair of passengers are side shots and mid-shots. I think the side shots have been used to reflect our own emotions towards roller coasters. For example, in one frame, the shot highlights two high school students; the person in shot looks excited whilst the other student looks terrified. This is suggesting that, even though some people love rollercoasters, they’re still worried that something bad is going to happen. The audience is then shown the overall track which looks like a toddlers scribble. This scene was shot at night which makes the blood red track look dark and haunting. I think the shot used to display the track is an establishing shot because it’s showing the location of the scene.
 

  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.

  The leaking of the lubricant oil causes the wheels to loosen and scrape against the tracks, creating sparks from the front of the rollercoaster. It also keeps the handlebars in the carriages secured while the ride is moving so, because of the malfunction, these safety features are unlocked to the horror of the passengers on the train. The shots used to portray this are a high angle and panning shot. These shots were chosen so the audience could see that the incident was affecting the whole train and not just one or two carriages. A close-up is then used to show the wheels breaking off and a low angle shot is chosen to display the front carriage and its two passengers being thrown off the tracks. The lack of music only serves to heighten the dramatic impetus. The non-diegetic music then returns after this shot; it’s quite dramatic and fast-paced, which shows the audience that the accident is happening quickly.

   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.