Storm Boy Opening Scene Analysis

Skillfully using the collaborative multimodal art form, Storm Boy’s director, Shawn Seet, creates an adaptation by including numerous filmmaking techniques such as visual metaphors, mise en scène and soundscapes. By doing so, he is able to manipulate his audience and show the themes of hardship including childhood trauma and grief, as well as the relationships between humanity, family, friends, and the natural world. The scene in which these themes are distinctly displayed are when Storm Boy, Fingerbone Bill, and Tom attend Mr Percival’s funeral. Another scene that shows visual metaphors, symbolism, and proximities (camera and character) is the scene where Tom gets stuck at sea during an unprecedented storm. In this scene, Seet uses these themes

Before the scene begins, Seet pans the camera out to show a storm on the way, as shown in the screenshot above. During this scene, Seet uses wide shots which allows the audience to view the whole scene and close-ups to draw attention to the characters emotions. The dark and ominous sounds produce an eerie atmosphere for the viewers, giving off a mournful and sorrowful aura. Just as the funeral and ritual from Fingerbone Bill commences, it starts to pour. The drenched clothes and wet faces easily help create a grim situation. The rain on their faces is used to depict tears. Seet flawlessly uses symbolism to portray the disheartened

As the scene progresses, it gets darker and more ghastly to indicate that things are taking a turn for the worse. This scene’s symbolism and visual metaphors make the audience contemplate the themes. Throughout the scene, riveting sound effects come into action leaving the audience wondering what will happen next. After the engine of the boat fails, Tom falls into the ocean and the climactic music cuts for a brief moment. Seet does this to heighten the emotional impact and manipulate the viewers. Shawn positions the camera to continuously keep the audience in anticipation. When Tom is finally rescued, the scene becomes bright with the storm replaced with clear skies. Seet uses a medium shot to feature once jarring waves which are instead calm and steady. This scene immaculately depicts and displays the theme of the interconnection between humanity and