Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is one of the key elements in the thriller genre it plays a massive importance in relating information back to the audience through various camera angles that are used in films. It gives the audience a sense of what the film is about but also information about the characters that the audience can relate through there different feelings and emotions different camera angles can display different camera angles emotions and feelings to the audience. This make as the audience feel they are part of the scene because they are feeling the same emotions as the characters in the scene.

It is incredibly important to plan the cinematography that we will be using in our opening scene for a variety of reasons, if we plan the angle/shot we want to use at particular points in our scene it will be a lot easier for us to understand why we are using these certain techniques, and the emotional impact we want our audience to have at this given time. In addition we will have a better understanding of our opening scene as we know what scene will be used where throughout the scene and also the changing moods of the audience in particular camera angles.       

Panning Shot- The first camera angle that we will be using in our opening sequence will be the panning shot to establish the setting that our scene is set in. It will introduce one of the main characters which will be the blonde child walking along in the distance. The camera angle will mainly focus the setting and only briefly on the character.  This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it is used to establish the setting of the scene and also give the audience details about the story line. This camera angle will create the audiences first relationship with the character in the scene. This will be done will the character being shown in the distance which the audience will have there first response to. In addition it is also used to establish within the audience the setting of which events are going to take place. This camera angle is used because without this the audience will not have a clear understanding of the layout of the setting at the beginning of the scene. This shot will be used to make the audience feel as if they are familiar with the setting even before the start of the plot is even reveled to them.    

Long Shot- This is also one the camera angles that I will also be using. Will will use this multiple times throughout the scene because we want the audience to feel distant from the character too make the link between audience and character stronger. This will used on both of the characters. This shot will show the audience the body language and in more detail the setting of the scene. This will be the second camera angle used after the panning shot. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it is used in thrillers to show the audience the situation the character has been placed in, in more detail which they can relate to further because of the setting. This shot will create a certain reaction within the audience, the shot will make the audience feel as if they are distant from the character, the way in which the character will look smaller will suggest to the audience that she will be a potential victim in this scene.

Close Up- This camera angle will be used to show in detail the facial expressions of the characters throughout the scene. The close up will show the audience various emotions and feelings of the characters. This will help the audience relate to the character because they have been placed in the same position of the characters but they can see their emotions clearly. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it gives the audience an idea of the characters emotions in which they can relate to because the emotions should match the ones of themselves, also this type of shot is used to engage the audience by the use of reflecting all of the characters emotions onto them. This shot will be used to create a certain reaction within the audience as it will be used to try and get the audience to understand the emotions of the characters so then they will be able to empathize with the character therefore creating a stronger bond.

High Angle- This camera angle will be used correctly and to manipulate the audience into thinking that the blonde female is the victim (Although she is not). It will show towards the end that in fact the teenager is in fact the victim. This will be used multiple times to make the audience feel that the characters are vulnerable to then create a strong bond between the two. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre because it shows the characters vulnerability and gives the audience the feeling that something in the near future is going to happen to the character. This is in order to create a very strong relationship between audience and characters. This shot will be used to get the audience feeling towards a character become stronger. We will use this camera angle twice as we feel that it is highly effective in making the characters look vulnerable to the audience making them feel more sympathy for the characters.    

Low Angle- This camera angle will be used to manipulate the audience into thinking that the teenager is the killer and not the victim. It will be used to show the character power/dominants over the blonde female. This camera angle will only be used once to directly get the audiences bond with the character to be very weak so then later on into the film the audience will be shocked when they see the shift of power from him to the blonde female so an even stronger relationship is created. This camera angle is conventional to the thriller genre as show a characters dominants over another particular item in order to create that very weak relationship. This camera angle will be used to get a particular reaction from the audience as we want the male character in our scene to be portrayed as the stronger character, so the reaction we want is for the audience to recognize this from this particular camera angle which will show the male character dominating in height over the female. By this they will be able to sympathize further with the character as they will recognize what this angle has set out to achieve as one character is seen as being more powerful/dominating than the other.  

In summary I think my sequence will be more effective in creating emotions/feeling in my target audience. The different camera angles that we are using, are being used to create the illusion of power, weakness, vulnerability etc. By doing this we are making it easy for the audience to obtain a strong or weak relationship with the characters corresponding to their roles in the narrative at given times. By using camera angles like the close up we will make the audience feel as if they are more involved in the scene. These angles are conventional to the thriller genre because they are designed to get the audience to respond to them via the different emotions that are channeled to them. By doing this cinematography planning I clearly know what I have to achieve and obtain during the course of filming my opening scene. I now know how the audience is going to respond to each camera angle so I can go away now and film knowing what to do.