Cinematography planning - Miss Miller

Cinematography is the art of movie photography, this includes both the shooting and development of film. Cinematography consists of many different camera shots and angles. In this blog I am going to be planning and discussing the cinematography that I will be using in my opening sequence. Cinematography is an important element within films as it connects the audience to the characters and it allows them to relate with them. Planning my cinematography is important in order to create an excellent opening sequence as it will allow me to evaluate which camera shots and angles are most relevant to use in order to create the effect I want.

The first use of cinematography I will be using in my opening sequence is a panning shot, this will be at the beginning and it will pan from a large tower with a dark night background into a young girl saying goodbye to her friends. This piece of cinematography has been chosen here as it sets the scene and allows the audience to know where the setting is and that it is at night time. I am hoping that the panning of this large tower will create an eerie effect. 

I will also be using a close up shot of the victim in my opening sequence, this cinematography has been used here as it allows the audience to visualise the victims face close up, this therefore portrays the emotions that she is feeling very scared. This means that the audience will be able to relate to the victim more easily, as they can see the genuine fear in her face. The impact of this shot is that it fills the screen and the audience therefore have no choice but to focus on it. This cinematography is conventional to a thriller film as it allows the audience to see that the victim is scared, this therefore makes her look vulnerable, and a vulnerable female victim is conventional of the thriller genre. 

I've included the cinematographic technique of shallow focusing in my opening scene, this will be when we first see the antagonist. In this shot we will see the victim in full focus and then in the background we will see the antagonist standing out of focus. The impact of this shot is that it creates tension as the audience know that something is there but they don't know the true identity of what it is. This cinematography will convey to the audience that the person standing out of focus has bad intentions as their identity is being hidden through the blur. This technique will make the audience feel more alarmed as they want to tell the victim that there is something behind her, I am hoping that this will build relations between the audience and the character. This camera shot is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma as the audience are unable to clearly see who it is.

I have also included a point of view shot in my opening sequence, this shot will be used from the point of view of the antagonist. In this shot we will only be able to see eye holes as the antagonist is wearing a mask. The impact of this shot will be to strike fear into the audience, as they are put in the position of the antagonist, this will make them feel uneasy. The P.O.V shot will allow relationships to be created between the audience and the antagonist as they can see things from his position. Furthermore it depicts the fact that the victim is so isolated, as she is being watched but she is unaware of it. This shot will create low key lighting as most of the screen is blacked out apart from the eye holes, this is conventional of the thriller genre. This piece of cinematography emphasises the fact that the antagonist is wearing a mask, and shows that his identity is hidden.

In this opening sequence I have also used a long shot, this shot is used to show the antagonist for the first time clearly. The shot will show the antagonist standing in a mask and holding a knife. The impact of this shot is that it allows the audience to see the whole of the character and the setting in which they are in. This shot allows the audience to identify that the antagonist is wearing a mask and holding a knife, thus creating a terrifying atmosphere. This therefore creates relationships between the audience and the victim as they are both scared at what may be going to happen. This shot also portrays how isolated the victim is as they are alone in an empty car park, thus making the victim look extremely inferior and vulnerable, which is conventional to the thriller genre. 

I think the use of cinematography in my opening sequence is vital in evoking a reaction from my audience as it allows the audience to create a relationship with the characters. The cinematography I have used also permits me to portray certain emotions toward my audience, for example the close up portrays the emotion of fear to my audience, thus creating fear among my audience. I feel that the cinematography I have used is conventional to the thriller genre as it extracts the key features of a thriller film such as low key lighting and an enigma etc. In planning and discussing the cinematography that I will be using in my opening sequence, I have been able to see what effect each of my camera shots and angles creates, this has been extremely helpful as I can identify which areas I need to improve on in terms of cinematography.