Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Chloe Eustace

Planning Cinematography 

Introduction:

In our group we have decided on some of the camera shots and angles that we are going to use within our opening sequence of our thriller film. Cinematography is really important within a film, and our opening sequence because if there was no different variety of shots then the film would not be interesting and it would not attract an audience for the film or the sequence. Planning these shots and angles are important in order to create a good opening sequence because if they are planned then you know exactly what shots you want to use and what effect they will have on the audience. In our group we have chosen a variety of different camera angles and shots knowing how we would want the audience to react to the opening sequence.

Mid Shot: 

One of the camera shots and angles that we have decided will benefit our opening sequence is a mid shot. A mid who to shot captures and frames the main character from the waist up, and it shows most of the character and allows the audience to see the character and take in there appearance. This will be used in our sequence when the two girls who are the two main victims are in the car. This gives the audience a feel for who the characters are and realise that they are probably going to be killed or that something bad is going to happen. This makes the audience question and wonder whats going to happen to these two characters and makes the audience suspicious. The audience will be able to build a relationship with these characters because they can see clearly from a mid shot the two characters in the car, as they are on there way to a party so the audience see them in an ordinary and normal situation so this tricks the audience into thinking that everything is fine except that something bad is going to happen and so this will shock the audience. This is conventional to a thriller because you are getting a feel for the characters and them they are killed so the shock is conventional to the thriller genre as this is what you want to do to the audience in order to keep them wanting to watch the film from the opening sequence. 

Point of View

We also decided that we are going to use a Point of View shot. This shot is used to show the audience the same image as the character and makes the audience wonder why we are seeing what he is seeing and not him. With a Point of View shot the audience feel like they are the character as they are seeing what they are seeing and makes them tense about what is going to happen. This will be used as the antagonist is watching the girls from behind there car and whenever it is the antagonists perspective, also when her follows one of the victims into the forest and kills her, again the camera will still be front the antagonists Point of View. The antagonist is never revealed throughout the opening sequence he is always hidden behind the camera. This is conventional of a thriller film because the identity of the antagonist is hidden and makes the audience question who he/it is and what they want to do and what there motives are. For the audience it generates enigma and makes the audience wonder what his motives are. The fact that the identity of the antagonist is hidden makes this conventional to a thriller because it creates tension for the audience and makes them feel nervous for the characters as the hidden identity makes the audience wonder what the antagonist has to do with the girls and why he wants to harm them. 

Panning

We will use the camera shot Panning in our opening sequence when the car breaks down on the road and the camera will pan and follow the car. Panning is when the camera pans and moves from side to side to follow a specific object except the camera itself isn't hand held, this brings out the other elements in the frame however due to the nature of the opening sequence the audience will only have full focus on the car because it is a thriller film and they are edge to see what else is going to happen.. We thought that it would create the most effect in our opening sequence if the camera follows the car as it slows down and comes to a stop. This to the audience will create a tension and a state of panic for the audience as to what might happen next. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the panning of the camera creates tension for the audience and allows the audience to build a relationship with the characters. This is because as the car comes to a stop the audience wonder why this has happened and whats going to happen next for these characters. When the car comes to a stop the audience will know that the antagonist is following them and so again the audience may feel nervous after the dramatic stop as they want to know whats going to happen to them.

Long Shot

Another shot that we deiced on as a group to use within our thriller opening sequence is a long shot. A long shot shows all of a large object for example the actor and a large amount of the background. In our thriller opening sequence we have decided that we will use a long shot when the main antagonist walks away from the murder/ where he has killed the victim in  the forest and the camera will watch him walk away, meaning that the audience will get a full shot from behind and some of the background that surrounds him however we will not see him from the front as the whole idea is that the antagonist is hidden and has a hidden identity, which is conventional to the thriller genre because the antagonist has a hidden identity of which we don't know anything about him. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the character because they want to know all about the mystery and why he is hiding his identity as well as connecting with the antagonist because for the entire rest of the sequence up to this point it has been from his point of view so when the audience actually get to see him from behind they may be shocked at what he looks like, why hes done this and what the purpose of this is.

Hand Held
Because we have decided that the main shots in our opening sequence would be from the antagonists Point of View we have decided that there will be mainly hand held use of the camera because this is the best way to portray it. This is conventional of a thriller in a way because sometimes in thriller films you may see things from the antagonists or any characters point of view and so the use of handheld is the best way to portray this well. By there being the use of the handheld camera it means that the audience can really develop a relationship with the character(s) because the use of handheld shows it from there point of view more so if the character is running it makes the audience feel like they need to relate to the character and the audience can sometimes show the panic or state that a character is in to the audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion within our group we decided to use these camera angles and shots because of the effect that they create for the audience, and how they portray the characters to the audience. This research and preparation has helped me and my group with the planning on what shots and camera positions we are going to use. This planning will be really good for our group because we found when we did our preliminary task that getting the right camera angles for the right moment was a challenge and now that we have a list of shots that we are definitely going to use it means that we will be able to be ready for filming and to portray the effects to the audience that we want. The camera shots and angles that we have chosen are conventional to the thriller genre as these angles will create the tension that we are wanting to portray to the audience and give the effect of enigma  to the audience.