Research into cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography in film 

Within this post I will be writing about cinematography within the thriller genre, cinematography is the art of the camera work and photography within a film, to further explain this to you I have chosen a well known film from the thriller genre to display my points to you. The scene I have selected is from Scream 2 starring 'scream queen' Sarah Michelle Gellar. I have chosen this scene as it is of a typical thriller chase scene between a female protagonist and an antagonist.

There is little dialectic within this scene it is mainly based around the music and what we are shown, hence it is very important that the audience is provided with the best possible camera angles so to give the story justice.

The scene begins on a mid shot, this is a good shot to begin with as it provides the audience with both a good view of Cici as well as the background, this can urge audience member's to be looking out for the antagonist prevalent hiding in the house, it also gives the audience a good idea of where Cici could go further gaining the audiences interest as they are able to work out what their next move would be in said situation hence keeping them more active and involved with the film further obtaining their intrest. The audience can also capture a clear view of her facial expressions displaying her wide range of emotions as she is realizing that she is not alone.

The camera begins to pan as we watch Cici check the house, as she stops as does the panning and the camera goes back to a mid shot this makes the audience feel more engaged with Cici as they feel like they are with her, the stopping of the cameras movement also brings more attention to that section of the scene, it leaves audience members on the edge of their seats as they anticipate what might happen next. The stopping of the camera suggests that something is about to happen or that it shall somewhere along the line. This happens again as Cici stops to check behind the door without the use of different camera shots these pieces of the screenplay wouldn't be able to do there job of making the audience jump or leaving them in suspense.

After this the audience returns to a mid shot view point where they are able to get a good view of the door behind Cici where the antagonist urges the audience to jump by suddenly running out of it, from here the camera goes back to panning and then we receive a high view as we watch Cici attempt to escape up the stairs, we are given the view we would have if we was to be standing at the top of the stair case to the side of it, again this causes the audience to feel as though they are there.

The camera pans throughout their chase scene showing every aspect clearly, including the antagonists fall giving the audience hope for Cici's survival, the camera continues to follow them as they go up the stairs until they're in a room and Cici is at a dead end we see the masked character run up behind her as the camera angle is on a mid shot, this creates further suspense as it shows how close the characters now are. This brings panic to audience members as they await the outcome of this situation in suspense.

As the masked character stabs Cici and throws her off of the balcony the camera is on a aerial camera angle, this shows the audience the great height Cici is being thrown from, it also provides the audience with a clear view of what is happening. After which the camera is on a low angle looking up at the antagonist making them look powerful. The camera angle  then returns to the top of the balcony with the villain with a shallow focus aimed from behind the masked character and their chosen weapon this causes the audience to focus on them but still see the damage they have coursed and consider what they may do next as they are clearly capable of killing more the act of highlighting the knife transfers that they are no where near done yet and out to kill more. This is conventional towards the genre as it foreshadows the later actions of the antagonist this is often done within thrillers as often viewers like to pick up hints and guess so that they feel as though they are working out who the killer is this also keeps them more involved and gains their interest.

Right before Cici is thrown from the balcony the audience is shown a two shot: as shown below.

A two shot is one where two people are featured within the frame. The effect of this displays to the audience just how close the antagonist managed to get to Cici before killing her from that moment the audience is shown to the extent of how fearless this masked character is when coming into contact with their victims. It also makes the audience gain further sympathy with Cici as she was doing so well there were times when audience members may have thought that she'd got away. They'd realise that once the antagonist had hold of Cici there was really no hope for her that was pretty much the end. This is a convention of a thriller as it makes audience members feel even more sorry for Cici as she wasn't some frustrating to watch Damsel in distress making all the stupid moves she was really trying hard to survive and she almost done it but she physically couldn't save herself. Often within the genre characters such as Cici are killed early on like this so that the viewers are able to see from an early stage the strength of the antagonist and just how hard he is to come up against. Almost making him appear unbeatable.

The scene ends on a birds eye view as the audience are shown Cici's dead body on the ground after being stabbed and thrown from the balcony. This shows the cruelty of the act of Cici's death all of the pain and suffering she was facing as she died and then to finish her of the antagonist carelessly throw her off of the balcony without any concern for anything around them. Highlighting Cici's killing in this way is conventional to a thriller as it portrays the antagonists lack of care for anything other than killing his victims making them appear even more unstable. This is done with the genre so that audience members become even more fearful of them as they witness the extremes this person is willing to reach in.

This research has enabled me to embark upon ideas of camera techniques etc which I could be able to use within my own film. For instance such panning I like the concept of the doing a panning shot as someone is walking through my own film I think that it is good for building suspense as shown within the clip above as it was leading up to the chase scene which took Cici's life.