Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is important when creating a thriller film as it creates tension for the audience. It portrays who is the antagonist and who is the victim and this is shown with the different angles. Cinematography is also important to a thriller film as it makes the audience focus on the important things in the film which could foreshadow later events that take place. It also makes the film seem more dramatic as it creates a dark and mysterious atmosphere which leads the audience into the unknown and creates tension for them as they don't know what to expect. It uses different shots which engage the audience and make them feel surprise when the unexpected happens. Planning is required to produce good thriller sequences as it saves time but not wondering what shot to use next. Also with different situations our group will know what to use straight away. For instance to make the  victim look vulnerable, I would use a high angle and to make the antagonist look powerful and determined to kill the victim, I would use a low angle. Planning also means that our group will know what shot to use straight away whenever we say what is going to happen next in the sequence and this helps us to be organised and to not waste time.


In my opening sequence I plan to use high angle and this is going to be shown when the victim is held hostage and there is someone dead next to her. This is going to make my victim seem vulnerable and weak and also shows how she is helpless and no one can help her. This gives the killer more of a chance of murdering her and so keeps the audience on edge as to when the killer is going to strike. The victim is shown to be naive and helpless and shows that the victim is going to die because the antagonist is overpowering and always kills the victim. Using the high angle in my opening sequence will show the naivety of the victim and make my victim seem like she has no escape. The high angle sets the scene of the film and show a dangerous situation. The high angle is going to be one of the first shots in my opening sequence and this will automatically create a sinister atmosphere as the audience can see that the victim is held hostage while the other person is dead on the floor, covered in blood. This makes the audience think that the victim is a target and something bad is going to happen to her next. It straight away grabs the audience's attention and makes them wonder why someone is dead and why the other person is tied up and this leads the into suspense as it foreshadows events that are later going to take place. It creates a relationship within the audience as the audience start to feel sympathy for the victim as they know there is a killer about. Using high angle is conventional to thriller films as it is always used to show the vulnerability of the victim and also to portray to the audience straight away who the victim is. The high angle makes the victim look small compared to the house which shows that the house is dangerous and that the victim isn't safe. Typically in thriller films, high angle is used to make the scene seem dangerous and sinister and foreshadows that the killer is going to strike the victim.

I also would use point of view from the victims side of it and this will be used when she looks down to see that she has been held hostage. This instantly creates an enigma  and makes the audience wonder why she is held hostage and who put her there. This creates tension for the audience as they don't know what has happened but they want to watch the rest of the sequence to find out what is going to happen next and the audience question whether the victim is actually alone or not. It creates a relationship with the audience as the audience feel like they are the victim and so they instantly become included in the opening sequence and they can relate to how the victim is feeling. The audience become worried for the victim as they know that something bad is going to happen but they also feel the victims pain because they are watching the sequence from her point of view. Using point of view from the victims eyes makes the opening sequence seem a lot more scarier as the audience don't know if there is a killer about or not and they are watching from the victims eyes and so when the killer does come into view, it scares the audience as they didn't expect it. This creates an element of shock and surprise for the audience. Using point of view from the victims angle is conventional to thriller films because it is typically used to create tension within the audience and it is used to make the audience jump as the killer is shown when the audience least expect it. It also creates a much darker atmosphere and makes the situation seem more dangerous for the victim.

I would also include establishing shot to how the isolated location of the house. I want to include this in my post as it makes the victims once again seem helpless and makes the house seem abandoned. This straight away creates a dark atmosphere and foreshadows events that will take place later on in the sequence. This makes the audience think already that a death is going to happen and shows how the victim has no where to go and nobody will hear her scream. The establishing shot makes the victim straight away seem trapped and implies that she is going to die to the audience. This builds a relationship with the audience as they feel sympathy for her and they want her to escape. The victim is naive and weak which makes the victim seem like an easier target for the killer. This is conventional to thriller films as an isolated location is always used to create an enigma for the audience and make them wonder what is going to happen next. This is also conventional as it straight away keeps the audience in tension and on edge as to if the victim is actually alone. An isolated location means that the victim is never just alone and so this engages to the audience as to when the killer is going to appear. This is also conventional as an establishing shot reveals the killer when they audience least expect it.

I would also want to use shallow focus in my opening sequence and this would be used to focus on the girl in the image. Shallow focus would help to blur out the background image so that the audience focus on the victim. Using shallow focus would also help to hide the killer when the audience aren't supposed to see the killer. For instance if the killer was creeping up on the victim, the killer would be blurred out and the focus would only be on the girl so that the audience can't see the killer in the background. The killer would then be revealed when he is next to the victim and this would make the audience jump as they didn't expect the killer to be there. Using shallow focus also makes the audience focus on the victims facial expressions to show her naivety and to show that the victim is scared and this builds a relationship with the audience as the audience also feel scared because they know the victim is alone and they know her life is coming to an end. Shallow focus is conventional to a thriller film as creates suspense for the audience and keeps them on edge as to when the killer is going to strike. It also creates frequent jumpy scenes which is conventional as the audience would expect to see jumpy scenes. Shallow focus also creates mystery and this is shown as conventional as an enigma is always in a thriller film to keep the audience engaged to what happens next.

 In my opening sequence, close up would be used when it shows the girls facial expressions as she sees the killer in the window. This will create an element of surprise and shock for the audience as they didn't expect it. Using close up will also show that the victim didn't know that the killer was going to be there and it makes the killer seem naive as it shows that she doesn't know what is going on. This creates a relationship with the audience because the audience can relate to the victim as they don't know what is going on either and this creates an enigma which leaves the audience into suspense as to what is going to happen to the victim. Using close up also sets a dark atmosphere as it shows a serious situation and the girl is in trouble. Using close up portrays how scared the victim is and she knows she is going to die. The close up of her scared face makes the audience unsure of what is going to happen next and it also makes the victim seem like an even bigger target as she is shown to be scared and weak instead of strong. This also builds a relationship with the audience as they are just as shocked as her that the killer was outside and they can relate to how the character is feeling but also feel scared for the victim because now they know that she is seen as a target and she is going to get killed by the killer. This is conventional to a thriller film as close ups are always used to show the facial expressions of the victim to show how scared they are and how they are confused on what is going on. Close ups are seen in thriller films to portray how scared the victims are and to make them an easy target for the killer. 

My opening sequence is more effective by using cinematography as it creates emotions and reactions. Cinematography helps to create emotions and reactions as it makes the audience aware of what is happening but also shows the audience how the victim is reacting. It creates emotions as camera shots such as establishing shot and high angle make the victim seem vulnerable and weak which imply that the victim can't escape and that she is a target for the killer. This creates emotions as the audience automatically feel sorry for the victim and they want the victim to survive. The audience also are left in suspense because they know that something sudden is going to happen to the victim and so they begin to worry when the killer is going to strike. Cinematography also creates emotion and reaction as the shots show a sense of instability and isolation which make the victim seem like she is panicking and creates a sense of chaos. This also shows emotion as the audience can see how the victim is feeling and they can relate to her as they feel a sense of urgency as well because they don't want the victim to die and so they are left on edge. Reaction is also shown as the victim is scared and she doesn't know what is happening. Cinematography allows the audience to see what the reaction of the victim is and this also creates reaction for the audience because they are surprised at the events taking place. Cinematography creates more of an effective thriller film as it creates a sinister effect and shows the reaction and emotion of both the characters and the audience. The emotions and reactions shown and felt by the victims are also the same emotions and reactions for the audience as a relationship is built between the victim and the audience. This is conventional to a thriller film as cinematography's purpose is to create a relationship and make the audience feel sorry for the victims and this is done through the camera shots which make the victim seem helpless. 

To conclude in my opening sequence I want to include certain camera shots to create emotion and reaction which will make my opening sequence more effective. These camera shots will imply who the victim is and who the killer is straight away and this will be shown through the angles. Cinematography is important when creating my opening sequence as it creates tension for the audience and builds up suspense as it makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next and it makes them intrigued to find out what happens during the film. Camera shots also foreshadow events that are going to take place, establishing shot and close up are examples of foreshadowing shots which engage the audience. Camera shots are also important as they make my opening sequence more effecitive as they create elements of surprise, shock and suspense for the audience. This is shown through the camera shots, point of view and shallow focus which created unexpected jumpy scenes and scare the audience. Point of view also shows an element of reaction and emotion as the audience see everything from the victims eyes and this makes the scene seem more tense as the audience feel the same way as the victim does and this creates a relationship. Cinematography is conventional to the thriller genre and is needed when creating an opening sequence to a thriller film as it sets the location of an isolated house and sets the theme, plot and narrative. These are all shown with the different shots and create reaction and emotion through the shots.