Planning cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography important within a thriller sequence as it helps to portra characters in a certain way and shows the dominace and vulnerability of the killers and victims. It also helps to control the emotions of the audience while watching, therefore they are made to feel a particular way.

Firstly, when creating our opening sequence, my group and I wish to include a high angle. This is when the camera is positioned above an object making it appear smaller, and is conventially used within thriller to make victims appear vulnerable.  We will use this when the victim is tied up in the abandoned house, as this will portray vulnerability. It will also reflect her inncence, as a child who has got caught up in a pyschos trap. It will also help the audience build a relationship with her because they would imagine how they would feel in the that position and therefore feel sympathetic for her. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it exposes vulnerability. Additionally, the focus of her being the next victim engages the audience to see what is going to happen next to her.

Secondly, we are going to use a low angle. This is when the camera is postionned below an object which makes it appear bigger. This is commonly used in thrller when the killers are standing over the victims as it shows them as intimidating. Taking this into considertion we have decided we are going to use this when the antagonist is looking over the victim at the end of the chase scene. This portrays dominance from the antagonist and confidence, which supports that he has done this before. It also shows him as a much stronger charcter then the victim, the builds up the tension within the scene. It also helps the audience to build a relationship with the victim from this angle as they will share emotions, such as fear. They would be able to put themselves in place of the victim, as if the killer was lookig over them.  This is conventional to a thriller and is usually used when the killer has the upper hand, which allows the audience to know they are going to kill her. But there is still suspense as the audience won't no when she is going to be killed.

The next cinematography device that my group have decided to use is a hand held. This is when the camera is held in the hand of the camera person, so that the scene looks unsteady. It is commonly used in case scenes when people are running. Therefore, we have decided to use hand held when the victim is running through the forest in the chase scene (also point of view).  This portrays her fear and her desperateness to escape from the killer. This scene will also be accompanied with a breathing sound, which will show that even though she is tired she tired she's still going. Which emphasise her want to escape. This will help the audience to build a relationship because they will understand her fear and how she would feel. This is conventional to a thriller as it builds tension as the audience do not no whether she will escape or not. The jerky movements and unsteady image that is created when using a hand held increases the sense of urgency and chaos in the scene, which in turn shows that the escape was not expected by the killer. This suggests that no other of his victims had the strength to try to escape before, this makes audience want the victim to get away even more as she has shown great  bravery.


The next one is a steadicam, this is when the camera remains perfrectly still and level as it moves. We are going to use this when showing around the inside of the killers abandoned house. This will give the audience an idea of the killer living conditions and roughness of the house and the killers background, which will allow them to feel like they know him more personally. As a result of this the audience will feel sorry for the victim as they know that the killer would have psychotic characteristics due to his childhood. It would also make the audience feel sympathetic for the killer as it was not his fault he had a terrible up bringing as he was just a child himself, therefore was unable to fully protect himself. This helps the audience to build a relationship with the victims because the conditions they are being kept in, which the scene and eery feel. This is a conventional shot in a thriller because its shows objects in the room, therefore lets the audience feel like they know the killer more personally. This creates tension as it would show that he wants to reflect what happened to him as a child onto other children.

An extreme close up in the next cinematography device that we would want to use, this is where an image fills the screen so that no background is seen. We are going to use this when the victim has fallen over in the forest after being chased and the antagonist drgs her backwards towards the house. We have decied to use this here as it portrays her fear and anxiety of what is going to happen next. The focus on the victims face will inrease the realisation to the audeince that the girl is going to be killed, which will build up tension as they would want her to get away but know that her chances are slim. This helps to build up a relationship between the victim and audience because they will be able to see the fear on her face, which will make them feel helpless in the situation. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it shows her expressions so we feel sympathetic, which builds up suspense as you are unaware of what is going to happen next but the audience would want her to escape.

The final cinematagraphy device that my group and I have planned to use in a shallow focus. This is used to show the main subject of the scene in full focus, whilst the rest of the shot is out of focus and blurry. We are going to use this when the camera shows the polaroid photos on the wall at the start of the scene. His current vicitms photo (that is captured in the next room) will be in full focus and the past vicitms photos willbe blurred. This will show how unimporatant they are to him and how they are just a blur in his mind, therefore he is not effected by killer young girls. It will also increase the tension as it will show that he is planning to do exactly the same to his current victim as he did the others. This will help to build a relationship because the audience know who the victim is before they realsie themselves. The is conventional to a thriller because it is used to show what the antagonist is thinking and focusing on. The audience have an idea of what the narrative will be about. However, there is still a sense of enigma as the audience don't no why he is doing it, this would lead to them wanting to carry on watching the film.

I believe that my groups thriller opening sequence will be very effective in creating tension, suspense, surprise and shock. The different cinematography devices tht my group have decide to use will masively help us to do this. The device that i believe will mostly help us to create tension and suspense is the hand held as this will show the scene and people within the scene as unsteady which will make the audience feel uneasy while watching. The device that i believe suprise and shock is the steadicam as this will show that the killer is quite a trouble person, who had a rough up bringing, this would make the audience want to feel symapthetic towards the killer but they know what he is doing is very wrong. All of the cinematography my group and I will use in our opening sequence is conventional to a thriller as it creates an uncertainty through the sequence which then creates a sense of enigma and they are never knowing what is going to happen next. This builds up the tension throughout the sequence.