SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. Waters, 2008, US

Georgia Duncombe.

We are introduced to this opening picture, it seems to be a model of a butterfly, the medium close up and dim lighting and magical non diegetic music gives the film a magical and Disney feel to it. At this point the audience are being introduced to the scene and at this point the audience are not sure what is going on.

Here we see a close up of a wing, the blue lighting shining through sets the time of day for the audience by seeing the moonlight shine through the wing. The audience are now asking why all of this is relevant to the film and what it is all meant to mean? They mysterious magical music carry's on.

The audience are finally introduced to the company's that made the movie, unlike many thrillers the righting is in a gold serif font, this contrasts with the background and stands out . The gold titles are often associated with Disney movies, and with the magical music the audience will immediately associate this.

There is then an extreme close up of a muddy foot, the artificial lighting, shining on the wood, that looks dirty, old and uncared for shows that this person may not spend a lot of time in this space. At this point the audience are asking who this man is, if all the weird bugs, insects and animals are his and what are they doing there. At this point the audience feel that information is being withheld from them and that we are not meant to see who’s shoe it is yet. The non diegeticmusic is nowspeeding up at thispoint and could possibly be leading up to a big event.

The next shot is a close up of a key this must mean some significance to the film as they spend a while on it, the decretive S the audience will assume that this stands for Spiderwick.

Here the audience is still being hidden from the man, who we are still not sure what he does, who he is and what he is doing. Like in thrillers the use of short snappy cuts are used to keep the audience attached to the screen so that they are being fed so much information at once. The fact that the mans face is still being obscured from us is fascinating as the audience wants to know more. With the mystical music starting to speed up, foreshadowing that something big is going to happen.

Finally once the seal has been placed on the book that hold drawings of mystical beasts and stones ect, a flash of light flashes across the book, this could connote that the book is never meant to be found or opened again as it holds many secrets. The book looks like old leather and is filled and wrapped up to keep it safe. The music is speeding up again as if the book has something to do with it. The audience are asking why has he got this book, why is it sealed and what importance does this book have to the film. After we finally see the Man’s face after seeing the what is inside the book, we finally feel like more information is being given to us and that we are no longer in the dark with the film.