The Emotions of Suzie Salmon
The Lovely Bones is a narrative movie played from the viewpoint of the main character, Suzie Salmon. An evil man rapes and murders 14-year-old Suzie. The movie encompasses her journey to heaven and peace, but her anger and obsession for revenge entangles her journey. This movie brings suspense to the audience with the camera movement and lighting.
During the movie, the camera moves slowly to set the moments of the movie, where everyone is loving or sad. During moments of panic and anger, the camera moves sporadically and fast. This makes the audience believe that something dangerous is around the corner. When Suzie’s sister begins to uncover her murderer the camera begins crosscutting and moves quickly to get the audience’s heart beating and produce terror.
The lighting in this movie also plays to the suspense of this movie. In the beginning when Suzie is still alive, the lighting in the movie is bright, cheerful, and colorful. When Suzie is murdered, the lighting is dark and depressing. The clouds would cover the sun and as night began, the light posts around the neighborhood would light up and then dim.
In The Lovely Bones, the camera movement and the lighting help to build suspense by creating different emotions throughout the movie.
