Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is a very important part to consider when planning any film, the positions, movements and angle are the tree different elements in camera work.

Angles

One of the angles we are going to use is a low angle. We are going to be using this on a shot of the antagonist when he is watching the young girl walking through the forest. We are using this angle so that the antagonist looks powerful and dominant over his victim, he should always come across as the stronger character so that the audience are aware he is dangerous and needs to be watched closely. This means they will become worried for any characters in his path and they will feel be wary of him thought the film creating tension. This is conventional because the antagonist if being portrayed in a stereotypical way, making the male looking threating towards a female is what the audience expect they automatically see him as the villain because he is stronger then the other character. This also means the audience can build a relationship with both the characters in the shot because they can understand bother their situations. They become worried and sympathetic for the young girl and acknowledge her as the victim and they see the male as the antagonist creating worried emotions.



We are also going to using a canted angle on our victim, this is going to be used as she is walking through the forest and begins to see a dark figure causing her starts to panic, sharply turn around and twisting her head. The canted angle will show her becoming anxious and paranoid, as she knows she is not alone. Having this angle will allow the audience to see her as the victim and understand her emotions. They can build a relationship with the character from this angle because it emphasises her instability and vulnerability. As this is shown the audience begin to feel worried about her future as they understand someone unknown it with her who could be a possible danger. This angle is conventional to a thriller film due to the way it portrays the young girl, it shows her as a weak easy target.



The other angle we are going to be using is a high angle, this is going to be used in a shot of the girl once she has left her friends and is alone on her way home. This angle will show her as weak and fragile, let the audience know she is the victim and a clear target for the antagonist. From this they feel worried for the character as they know she is isolated from any help. They can also build a relationship from this as it becomes clear the girl is in danger especially because has left her friend and is now alone. The high angle is a conventional shot to use because of the way it looks down the character to show their status in the film, in this case it is used to portray weakness.



Movements

A point of view (P.O.V) of the antagonist is going to be used in our opening sequence. It is going to be of our antagonist watching the young girl leave her friends and go of on her own. It will follow her for a couple of seconds and then go back to normal camera. We are using this to create a mysterious feeling for the audience and to create an enigma. The enigma with make the audience feeling unsure about the girls future. This will then make them build a relationship with character because they will be worried for her safety. A point of view is conventional because it shows the audience what they characters is seeing which again creates enigma.



The next movement is a hand held camera. This will be used as the victim is being captured and dragged away by the antagonist, the camera will be unsteady and jerky to show the harsh movements of the characters. We are using this in our opening sequence to portray the panic and instability of the victim, this makes the audience feel sympathetic for her and worry about the outcome of her kidnapping. Hand held is a conventional movement to have in a thriller film because it emphasises the characters situations allowing the audience understand more and feeling more involved with he action. Having hand held lets the audience relate to the smaller assets of the film like the movement of the characters, which then allows them to build a relationship because they can also see more of what the characters are feeling.


Positions

One of the positions we are going to use it a long shot, this is going to be a shot of the groups of girls as they are coming down the pathway before they separate. Their whole bodies will be in the shot so that the audience can see they are just normal teenagers one their home who are possibly vulnerable and an easy target. The audience can understand their situation from this camera position and might see the macro meaning of the distance between where the victim is going to be and her friends not being their. This shot is like most of the other it is used create emotions for the audience such as worry. It makes them foreshadow the victims outcome. The audience build a rapport with characters in the sot by understand their relationship, they can see that they girl are all friends this means the audience can relate to the friendship.





Conclusion

The different camera angles, positons and movements all present different emotions and feelings for the audence. They are used to create different effects in order to make the film most effective, The dont just make feelings they can aslo foreshadow the actions in the rest of the film. We have used these cinematography assets in ways so that it is conventional to our thriller opening sequence, and so they build surprise, suspense and shock. This planning cinematography has help my group and I to get the best outcome on what shots to use. It helped us discuss how the make our opening sequence the most conventional and how to allow the audience to build emotions and relationships with characters.