Research into Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGT87k_CVJ0

In this essay I will be discussing the cinematography in a short thriller clip chosen by myself. Cinematography is the art of photography and camerawork in film-making. The clip above is my chosen clip and it is a scene from the 2010 American thriller Insidious. I am choosing this clip because it has clear conventional camera shots which can be easily analysed to why they make a film appear scary and jumpy. It also is a popular thriller film with lots of frightening moments throughout.

  The first choice of cinematography I have used in this clip is "Gradual zooming in" angle. This technique shows a slow gradual zooming in motion on the women's face while she is telling the parents about what she saw in their sons bedroom late last night. As she tells the story the tension builds as the camera slowly focuses on her and the camera zooms into her face. As she gets further into the story the camera gets closer. This is effective as it makes it easy for the audience to capture her different facial expressions. It helps to create a scary atmosphere as we can anticipate when the camera is getting closer to her that something unexpected will happen. This type of shot enables the audience to relate to her as a character. The audience can build a relationship with the character because they can understand the way she is feeling and how she is trying to communicate with the parents in such an upsetting situation for them.

My second choice of cinematography I have used in this clip is a "Tracking Shot". This is showing a tracking movement through the hallway in a flashback of the night a mysterious figure was found in the house. The movement goes through the hallway to the bedroom where the door slowly opens and reveals a tall dark figure beside the sons bed. This is effective as it is a slow movement process and this builds tension, which is conventional to the thriller genre as it makes the audience anticipate that something bad is going to happen and furthermore makes us jump when it finally happens. This type of shot gives the audience a sense of being as it makes them feel as though they are almost there in the scene walking through. This is because this type of shot can also be perceived as a "Point of view shot". This means the shot looks as though we are looking at it from an audience point of view as if we was somehow part of the scene. This helps the audience to relate to what is happening and help them to understand more complex part of the scenes as they can see things at the best point of view.

My next choice of cinematography in this clip is an "Eye level" angle. This is an eye level angle shot of when the scary face pops up behind the man the lady is speaking to and scares her. Having this type of shot at eye level makes it definite to scare the audience as it is guaranteed to be seen immediately by the audience to scare them. If this type of shot was perhaps at a low angle shot and the face was to appear higher up then there may be a chance that the audience may miss this or not immediately catch on to what's happening and therefore the film would lack an opportunity to scare the audience. This type of angle technique creates a shock as it is fast and very clear at eye level. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the character's as they can almost feel as scared as the women describing what she saw. They can relate as they are feeling the same emotions as her as she tells the story, it is convenient that the face pops up near the end of the story and at the most serious part. The audience can also relate because they feel like they have gone along with the story and then also witnessed the main cause of the story as it pops up at eye level.

Another technique used in the cinematography of this film is a "Long shot". This is a shot of a creepy dark figure in the corner of the little boys bedroom. This shows a strong focus on the figure but also shows the background of the room and the situation. This is effective because we as an audience can imply the bedroom is of a little boys with toys and young decorations, we can also see a young boy laying in the bed which makes the audience feel more sympathetic. The use of children in the thriller genre is common and conventional because an audience usually expects and hopes for the children in the movie to be safe, we usually think this because the children are put across as cute and innocent. Therefor this builds a relationship with the audience as they start to become aware that something bad may happen to the child and they will feel scared and sorry for him. The movement before this shot is "panning" the camera moves from one side of the room to the other showing all aspects of the room before lastly revealing the figure in the corner. This slow movement of the room creates a sense of tension as we expect there to be something behind the door.

The shots and angle movements used in this sequence are all conventional to the thriller genre due to the shock, suspense, tension and surprise that they create. These techniques are used to create the thriller genre as without them the audience wouldn't feel emotionally scared or sympathetic for the character's involved. For example the eye level shot of the face popping up behind the characters face really built suspense as it was unexpected and a shock which made it scary for the audience. This sequence has inspired me for my own opening to a thriller sequence because I like the theme and idea of another threatening being being in the house with full control, I also liked the panning shot through the dark house as I felt that this part of the sequence made me the most scared as I was anticipating what was about to happen and I felt that this really built up tension.