Weekly film analysis- The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones.

Weekly film analysis

The Lovely Bones is a  supernatural drama film directed by Peter Jackson, the film is based on a bestselling novel and  it tells the story of a girl who is murdered and watches over her family from the in-between, and is split between seeking vengeance on her killer and allowing her family to move on.

The Lovely Bones is set in Pennsylvania ,in the opening scene uses a close up of a  penguin snow globe which empties the main character Susies vulnerability and youth, the close-up is then followed by a panning  shot ,which shows us her house and her family. Within the audio codes a voice over is used to emphasise her vulnerability ,we find out she “couldn't see over the table”,it then cuts back to the snow globe and a mid-shot is used to link to the voice over as she is seen next to the  table to highlight her youth. A cut is used again to jump to the future , this is mainly done for practically reasons, in order for the story line to make sense. Eventually, an establishing shot is used so we get an understanding of their background, we find out that Susie's family is middle class .The cinematography in the begging scene is used to look like it is the photographs she is taking, this allows us to get to know her as she will be the main character that we follow throughout the rest of the film. This allows us to gain sympathy for her.

Towards what we feel is the climax a shot reverse shot is used to contrast what Susie and her family know and what they don't know, by doing this we are no longer following Susie as we know more than her so far ,however we are clueless to what the person looks like who's planning her murder. This means that in some ways we are like Susie because we are unsure of the identity. The sound effect of ringing increases tension ,the sound goes off following a tracking shot of the mystery character,at this is the point we feel we that the identity is going to be revealed ,instead it cuts to Susie and her father, to build anticipation. To add onto this ,Susie's murderer happens off screen, this add tension and leaves them clueless just like her family ,this passes are focus from her to her family as we nearly know as much as they do. This helps for later on as we go onto following her families emotional ride to finding the killer of their daughter. The film uses symbolism as we see a dead rose in the garden of the murderer ,although the audience are the only ones who know that this, the dead flower symbolises Susie and how she died in his hands just like the flower died in his garden .

Coming towards the end we feel there is another climax as her sister who is followed by a tracking shot, ditches her cross country training to investigate a neighbors house , at this point the audience's emotions have risen and we feel we will finally seek revengeance on Susie's killer. A close-up ,shot reverse shot is used to show Lindsey's reaction to the evidence and then to each page she turns to .Occasionally, it cuts to the murderer downstairs as he begins to hear her, the cutting builds tension and makes us feel fearful for her, it also emphasizes the noise of the paper, which is about to get her caught out.The use of shot reverse shot is repeated as we see the murderer running upstairs and Lindseys get away,during this moment music starts playing ,which mirrors a heartbeat then stops when she falls off of the roof ,this implies that the chase is over and makes the audience desperate for her recovery.However, we are tricked and a tracking shot is used to show the chase, which is neck and neck, the music then stops again as Lindsey escasps. It emphasises that Susie can let her family move on and she can pass over.