Planning Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography is very important in films as it means that every image is part of cinematography and you cannot have a film without images. With cinematography also comes movements and angles that the camera is able to do which can convey the themes that the film is trying to delve into. Planning is essential because if you started filming a film without knowing what shots or angles or movements you want to do it turns the whole film into a mess and you don't really know what you going for in the first place.

The first movement to discuss is the hand help camera movement, it makes the frames look shaky, therefore making the entire scene seem disorientating or dysfunctional and it will be used in our piece when the antagonist strikes the victim or Cathryn. This type of movement is conventional to a thriller as they always want the audience to feel and immerse themselves into the scene, this then enables the audience to build a relationship with Cathryn as they are put in her perspective of the situation of not knowing what is going on around them.

The next movement or shot if you prefer will be a point of view shot and this will be when the victim is being dragged away by the antagonist through a thick ground of leaves in a forest, it is a point of view shot of her perspective. The effect we hope it creates is that the audience again are seeing on the same level as Cathryn is which further builds that relationship with the audience and the character as they see what she is going through and can almost see it through their own eyes as well. This is conventional to a thriller film as the creators always want you to see the danger and situation through the characters' eyes.

Next is an angle shot known as canted angle where the frame is twisted sideways at an angle, this will be used when the killer or antagonist has been seen by the victim while she walks through the forest. The effect of this should be that the character seems twisted and mentally unstable as the camera suggest all of this about his personality. This builds a relationship with the audience as right away they get an insight of him already as an antagonist and see he is not fully stable and they build a relationship of hate against him. This is conventional as in many thrillers the antagonist is always seen as twisted by the audience.

Another angle shot we want to create for the sequence is a high-angle shot of the girl walking through the forest on her own as she has just left her friends. This shot shows the inferiority of the character but also connotes that she is isolated and alone. In turn, this will then make the audience side and feel sympathy towards her which enables the audience to build this relationship between her and the audience. This is conventional to a thriller as the director always wants the audience to side with the victim and route for them.

Another angle that will be utilized in the sequence is an eye-level shot when she is walking through the forest on her own, most parts will just be about the girl on her own as this creates quite a calm atmosphere but also unsettling for the audience to watch. This shows that the audience are on the same level as her and that they understand her character and feel as if they are there with her walking through the forest. This builds up a relationship with the character on screen, therefore it is conventional in doing so.

Lastly is a low-angle shot of the antagonist after the girl has seen him after walking through the forest and it cuts to him. This shows that the antagonist is stronger and bigger than the girl and has more authority than her as well. the audience again build up that hate for this character but even they fear him like the victim, as they feel as if they are there, the killer poses a threat to both the audience and the characters or the audience think that the antagonist poses a threat to them. This is conventional as the director always wants the antagonist to seem big and fearful.

In conclusion, I think that our opening sequence will be effective as we have included the typical conventions of the thriller genre through the use of cinematography as well as creating emotions and feelings for the audience to feel for the characters through the use of cinematography as well. We aim to do this by building a relationship between the characters and the audience. I found this task very helpful as I now understand how to create effects and emotions instead of analyzing them and it helped me understand which shots and angles were more important in the opening than the others.