Ghost Ship Semiotics

From the opening scene you can see that it's set in the mid 1900s because of the outfits and the music. You can also tell that they are upper class, because of their outfits and the way they look. Initially, because of the typography and the use of pink, we assume that it will be light hearted and the total opposite of what a horror is. The music contributes to this assumption, as it is calming and uplifting. The singer is wearing a red dress which indicates a warning of something that will go wrong. However, the little girl's white dress indicates innocence and tranquillity but she does look quite pale.

You are then taken outside from the bright dance floor to the dark, formidable switch and reel shows us that something bad is going to happen as the music quietens as well. Lots of sounds of the wire take over from the calm music. The pink roses are cut first by the wire which links back to the pink typography at the start of the light hearted, happy film that we all expected. The horrible sound of the vibrating saw make it even more horrific as it makes it feel like we are standing right next to the saw. As the saw cut through everyone the lighting darkens to a dim grey, representing the change in mood and time; now everything will be different for the little girl. The Sea Captain comforted her and protected her despite that fact that he was about to die showing that everything that will help her will get hurt or die.

The film is also set on a boat in the middle of nowhere so you know that something is bound to go wrong as there’s no one to help them. It’s also set a night and as in every horror film that’s when everything bad happens. The start and the end shows you coming out of the water to watch and then returning to the water afterwards. This shows that the horror that did this may live in the water and the area the boat was in was haunted as it lurks in the darkness below