Research into cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography

Cinematography is the photography and camerawork that is involved in the filmmaking process, which is arguably one of the most important jobs within the film industry as the cinematography will ultimately bring the film to life if done effectively. Examples of cinematography are low angle, high angle and extreme close up. The clip that I have chosen to analyse comes from the thriller film House of the End of the Street. This scene in particular shows the attempted escape of one of the characters, Carrie Anne, who throughout the film has been portrayed as mentally unstable and dangerous. There are many different camera techniques that have been used in the sequence that I have identified as conventional to the thriller genre.

The first camera technique that I identified was a long shot, used in the sequence when Carrie Anne finally escapes from the room that she had been trapped in. A long shot is used in film to show the audience a larger object or a large amount of the background in the scene. In this particular case, the audience are able to see both, a full body view of Carrie Anne, and a large amount of her surroundings, which look to be in horrible conditions, similar to a boiler room. The audience will sympathise with Carrie Anne as the way she was kept suggests that her brother, Ryan, does not care about her in the way a brother should. This creates an enigma as the audience will be curious to find out what Carrie Anne has done to deserve this treatment. Also, the audience may consequently view her brother as the antagonist of the film. The use of a long shot could involve the audience into the scene more as both them and Carrie Anne are for the first time seeing more than just the inside of her small room. This technique is conventional to the thriller genre as it gives the audience a bigger insight to what is happening around and behind the characters in the frame.

Another camera technique used in the sequence was a point of view shot (POV), which is when the audience can see the same thing as one of the characters in the scene. This technique can be used to build a relationship between that character and the audience who will also feel more involved in the scene. In the scene that I have chosen, the point of view that the audience see is Carrie Anne's as she looks around the corridor from outside her room to make sure that her brother isn't around to stop her from escaping. The audience will see that she is desperate to leave, but the knowledge that she has been locked up for such a long time will suggest that she is a dangerous character and that if she does escape, other characters will be in danger. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds up suspense as the audience do not know whether she is going to escape or what will happen if she does. To start with, the camera focuses on the door in front of her, and then the black stairs that she can see up ahead. Both the door and the stairs connote the idea of freedom and Carrie Anne's escape. The audience see her character hesitate before running towards the stairs, which suggests that she is scared that her brother is going to jump out at her and stop her from leaving. The audience will feel sympathetic towards Carrie Anne due to the way she has been kept hidden away in her own home, similar to the way a prisoner is. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma due to the audience wanting to know why Ryan has kept Carrie Anne locked away, or why Carrie Anne is so afraid of her brother. The audience will achieve a sense of hidden identity due to them not knowing the true depth of both Carrie Anne and Ryan, who the audience know are clearly hiding something.

The handheld camera technique is when the cameraman does not use a tripod when filming to keep the camera steady, instead they themselves will hold the camera in order to create jerky and unsteady images. In the scene from House at the End of the Street, handheld is used when the character Carrie Anne is being chased through the forest by her brother Ryan after escaping from the room that she had been locked in. This technique is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates a sense of panic and urgency that one of the characters has, in this case, the panic and urgency comes from Ryan who desperately wants to catch his sister before she is seen by anyone else. The technique further creates suspense within the sequence due to the audience having to wait to find out whether Ryan is going to find her in time. In the sequence, it is difficult for the audience to build a relationship with either of the characters due to the secrecy that they both have, which results in the audience not trusting either of them.

 

A two shot, as it sounds, is when there are only two characters featured in a frame. This can be used to attract the audience's attention to the most important characters in the scene, which also creates a more intimate feel to the scene, making the audience feel more involved. A two shot is used at the end of the sequence when the audience see Ryan and Carrie Anne hiding under the house after she had been caught. This clearly tells the audience that Ryan does not want Carrie Anne to be seen by anyone else, which is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates an enigma due to the audience being curious to find out why. It will also create suspense as both the audience and Ryan now realise that Carrie Anne is capable of escaping and that she could potentially try to escape again, which may foreshadow the dangerous events that are to follow further on in the film. The audience do not know what measures Ryan will go to in order to keep Carrie Anne hidden away from everyone else, therefore they may soon see his true self.

Another technique that is used in the sequence from House at the End of the Street was a high angle, which can be seen when the camera is positioned outside of the house window while Elissa is in the kitchen washing up. High angles are used in thriller films to show the audience the power and superiority that one character has over another, usually the killer over their victim. In the sequence, the use of this high angle shows Elissa in the light of a victim, which creates suspense due to the audience having the idea that she could be in danger. It also implies stalker behaviour on behalf of the killer who looks as if they are watching Elissa but does not want her to see them. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it could potentially lead to a jump scare, or build suspense within the audience who do not know what is going to happen to Elissa. The audience will feel sympathetic towards her as she is completely oblivious to what is going on outside of her house, or that she could be in serious danger.

In conclusion, cinematography is clearly one of the most important aspects of the filmmaking process. By researching the different techniques and analysing them through watching clips from well known thriller films, we now know what the shots are meant to look like which will make filming easier as we will have a rough idea of how our sequence is meant to look. The cinematography that I identified after watching the sequence from House at the End of the Street all contribute to creating a conventional thriller sequence. The use of handheld helped to create a conventional thriller sequence as it built a sense of panic within the sequence, which then created suspense within the audience as they did not know the background of the two characters therefore they were in the dark about why the characters were panicked. Also, the use of point of view (POV) in the sequence helped to involve the audience more by giving them more of an insight into the character of Carrie Anne.