research into cinematoghraphy-miss miller

The art or technique of movie photography, including both the shooting and development of the film is known as cinematography, it consists of several different angles such as: close up, mid shot, deep focus and canted angle and so on. i will be analyzing a clip from the thriller genre discussing the cinematography through. i will be analyzing a clip from the thriller silent hill.

close up:

firstly as the clip starts the the three characters are running across the street to ensure safety, as they sprint for survival the camera uses the zoom out effect which creates an emotional distance from the characters to the audience. this reinforces the thriller genre as by creating an emotional distance we see that they are frightened and relying solely on running. also a similar effect is created when the three characterers reach their destination and they come across a large church the camera than turn to low angle, where the camera is positioned below the object to make the  object look bigger, this is significant to the thriller genre as by making the church larger it shows the major importance the church has. also the church is their final destination so by making it larger it is considered a final stop which also creates an emotional distance such as the previous effect of the zooming out. these effects will help me to make my own thriller as well, where i will need to make an emotional distance and a striking effect for my audience.

when they go into the church, finally reassuring their safety they come across a massive pyramid head of a character with a lethal weapon, as this character is introduced there is a major close up, which shows a small part of a scene to emphasis on something, this is done to this character to show that this character is extremely dangerous and potentially violent if provoked. this once again promotes the thriller genre as by making this character seem potentially dangerous, it shows that something may happen. moreover the weapon by the pyramid headed character foreshadows more danger later on in the scene, which once again relate to the thriller genre.

Long Shot:

A long shot is used when the girl has found the church and as runs to escape. We get an image of the large church and the surroundings around it also it shows that they are desperate to go tinto safety from the antagonists. In this shot we get an overview of the scene and how the girls are feeling and how fast they are trying to escape.. As well as this by showing all of the actor and the background it gives a sense of the characters surroundings and therefore shows how vulnerable or in control they are of the scene. The smaller a character looks in comparison to the set shows how weak they are suggesting a possible victim. The more in control a character is of the scene suggests how intimidating they are. By showing the background it gives the audience a better understanding of the situation and the film as later in the film, if the characters are moving around the audience will understanding where they are therefore engaging them more. This will create more suspense in scene which involves hunting round a room as the audience will expect what’s coming which creates the feelings needed in thriller. However in a long shot although the background is important the character is usually still more important and therefore are usually located in the centre of the shot to show there importance. The setting used in this shot is just a landing with lots of rooms branching off from it. This is very ordinary as a setting and will relate to all audience members as it is a typical feature of everyone's house and so can relate to the audience by making the scene more realistic so the audience can imagine themselves in the scene as the boy is which help build a bond between the individual audience members and the boy.

Handheld: 

This shot is used when the girls are running away towards the church. This camera movement creates a jerky unclear image which helps shows how desperate the girls was to get away as well as portraying that the scene was a chase scene. Handheld movements are very popular in thrillers as they seem less professional and so add a realistic touch to the clip as it seems more spontaneous.  The realistic touch can relate then to the audience as they can imagine getting chase and what that must feel like. As well as this the jerky images created as a result of only someone’s hand being used to support the camera adds to the urgency of the scene. Through the camera being jerky this then appears to be how shaken up the actor or actress is as if they were to be holding the camera the shots would be both unclear and shaky which adds to the sense of fear shown by the character.