Planning cinematography

Planning cinematography

The cinematography of a scene is the camera shots which are used to create the film. The director uses different shots in order to create a story which can be watched and understood by the audience. 

Different camera shots can be used to connote and denote things to the audience about the film, and the hidden meanings behind the characters actions.

When creating a thriller film, camera shots are a useful device to create tension and a sinister atmosphere.
Close up shots clearly convey the feelings of the character to the audience, highlighting their intense fear or maybe happiness, before they know that anything is wrong.
A low angle shot can be used to convey the power of a certain character within a scene, as they appear dominant and threatening, in comparison to the weak and vulnerable victim, who may be filmed with a high angle shot.

In our group thriller film, we decided to include an over the shoulder shot from the point of view of the attacker, in order to highlight to the audience how close they were in relation to the victim, standing only meters behind her. This will create a sense of sinister foreboding for the audience as they know that her fate is inevitable now he is slow close to her and she remains unaware of his presence.
It isn't conventional to show the scene from the point of view of an attacker, however by using this type of shot, the face of the attacker will remain a mystery as you will only be able to see the side, or back, of his head. This effectively creates an enigma within the opening scene, an element which is conventional to thriller films.

We also decided to use close up shots of the face of the victim. This will enable us to clearly convey her feelings to the audience, allowing them to empathise with her.
When she finally sees the face of the attacker we plan to use a close up shot which will display the fear that is radiating through her as she sets her sights on the mystery male.
The use of a close up shot is a common convention of thriller films, as directors like to create feelings of empathy for the character, in order to draw the audience's attention into the film completely, compelling them to watch it for the duration, in order to discover the fate of the character they have built these empathetic feelings towards.

A panning shot is another type of camera shot which we plan to include in our film in order to follow the steps of the girls as they walk down the street. This will make the film appear more realistic to the audience, as they feel as though they could be in the scene with the characters too. Realism is a common convention of thriller films, as the director aims to create a situation which scares the audience through the idea that the images taking place on screen, could easily happen to them in real life.

Rather than deciding to use an establishing shot as our first shot, we instead decided on using a long shot which focuses on the group of girls walking home from school. This will act as an establishing shot, as the target audience (who are in the same age range of the girls) will recognise the walk home from school from their own personal experience, and understand straight away the context of the opening sequence.
It is conventional for thriller films to leave out the use of an establishing shot within the first scenes, as it creates a much for enigmatic opening if the audience has no idea when or where these events are taking place.

I believe that our target audience will be able to form a relationship with the characters in our thriller through our choice of camera shots.
The close up shots will clearly convey the feelings of the character, for example her pain or fear, to the audience, enabling them to feel empathy for her and the situation she is in, therefore forming a relationship between the audience and the female protagonist.
The panning shot will enable to the audience to feel as if the film is real, and they too could be there with the characters, and making the scarier scenes appear more sinister.