Use of Cinematography

We have considered the cinematography for our short film very carefully. Through it we want to reflect the normal life of the girl but also be able to use the cinematography to infer that unfortunate events are about to follow. Secondly, the cinematography should reflect the genre that we have selected that is a Thriller/Psychological. It should create a dark ambience which will create the desired mood that we want to portray.

We will use Mid shots to show the young girl, this is an average shot that just portrays the girl as normal as she goes about her normal day routine. However to create that isolation that we want and a sense of danger we will use long shots or her walking the dog. This will enable the audience psychologically note that she is venerable. There will also be a range of over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots as she interacts with different parts of the story line, for example: the dog; putting the lead on the dog; making tea. This makes the filming more interesting and keeps the viewer interested and keeps to the pace of the film.

Our aim is to be as creative as possible with our filming. We want every shot to be considered carefully to give the desired effect. Although when we come to filming various shots may be added or changed we have initial ideas.

When we see the main protagonist outside her house we want to use a point of view shot using a hand hold camera, this will show that she is being watched. The jiggered movements of the camera will infer the danger and hopefully the audience will then feel for the character wanting her too look directly at the bushes. Whilst we shoot the bathroom scene where she notices the man in the mirror we will use rapid editing. This will show the danger and set the mood, creating suspense. We will also use a variety of close ups and extreme close ups when we want the audience to feel like they are ‘in the film’ and try to build a connection with the characters. This will be mostly used around the protagonist as we don’t want to show his face straight up at first just what he is up to, and then in the opening credits. They will then be used to show the emotion on the girls face.

Using a Tri-pod will allow us create a variety of movements. We will tilt the camera up and down, tilting the camera up will create intimidation, power, triumph and determination. Shots such as Francesca walking into the house with the antagonist inside will show her intimidation. Tiling the camera down will create a High angle shot. This will be used to show vulnerability and danger.

We will pan the camera, which means to go from left to right. This avoids cutting shows the location and follows the route of a character in action.

We will use a cantered angle when Francesca the protagonist has been drugged and falls to the floor. This angles shows that she is drugged or hurt. It will show her confusion and leave her looking venerable which is what we want to create.

We are slightly limited in our choice of camera movements. We do not have access to a track or dolly if we wanted to follow a character down the street, instead we have to try and use hand held as steady as possible. A crane would also be useful in creating Arial shots so that we could establish isolation of the protagonist. One that can be used depending is the zoom/reverse zoom. On the cameras that we have zooming in whilst filming looks tacky and cheap but zooming in before filming has started can be used to show emotion on characters faces and iconography.