Camera Angles/Shots

Conventional shots in thriller

• The shots we’ve used are found in many different thrillers and we followed the convention rather closely. I will compare a range of shots we used with shots from other thriller movie, therefore following the convention.

Comparison with The Dark Knight

Though its not a low angle shot like the one we used, it still does the same thing, with the villain (the joke) not facing the camera and instead walking away from it.The second shot also shows the antagonist walking away from the camera, with his back turned to the camera.

Comparison with Scream

Both shots are taken after a red herring. The shots are both close-up shots showing the facial expressions of the character. In ours the shot is the same but the reaction is different. After a red herring the character is meant to be ok and assured there is nothing to worry about. Our protagonist does the opposite and begins to worry further, though the shot is shown the same way.

Comparison with Silence of the Lambs

Both shots shot a straight path with a point of view shot. The difference is that in our shot the protagonist is being followed and the point of view is from the point of view of the antagonist.The Silence of the Lambs shot is from the shot of the protagonist.

The point of view shot in thriller movies

• The point of view shot was used twice in our opening sequence. We felt this shot was needed to hide the identity of the antagonist.

• This is often done in thriller movies so the villains identity can remain a mystery.

Comparison with Sweeny Todd

The over the shoulder shot is used often in thriller movies. In both shots here it is used to show the person with power looking at the person who is helpless.

Comparison with Silence of the Lambs

This shot shows a character walking near the centre of the screen. Our shot shows the antagonist walking challenging the use of this shot. It is normally used to show the protagonist walking not the antagonist.

Comparison with The Haunted Mansion

This shot leads on from a zoom our. It begins with the inside of the house and ends showing the entrance of the house. This is accompanied by a scream in both shots following the conventional use of the shot in thrillers.

Low angle shot of shoes

• This shot is very popular used to show movement, it is used in a lot in thriller movies This shot is used in the following films:

– Inglorious Bastards

– Terminator 2 Judgement Day

– Sweeny Todd

– TV Thriller series (Supernatural)

Comparison with Terminator 2 Judgement Day, Sweeny Todd, Inglorious Bastards and Supernatural

Low angle shot, both showing movement. In our shot it is of somebody walking and in the shot from terminator it shows the car begin to move. In both the thing moving begins stationary.

Similar shot also taken from Sweeny Todd, however it is unclear as the protagonist is moving very quickly

Comparison with The Prestige

ECU on the gun in The Prestige. We did a similar shot however, we used a knife instead of a gun. The audience are certain to react after seeing a powerful weapon. By focusing on the weapon you strike fear into the audience early showing them what is to come. The movie was taken because the director has directed many other successful thrillers (Christopher Nolan) including:Batman Begins, Batman the Dark knight and Memento.

Comparison with Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi

Match on action shot. Used in thrillers often. Here we see it used on a weapon linking in with the previous shot too. In this shot the weapon begins being held still and then it suddenly moves.

Challenge

• We did then challenge the use of a dolly shot. Normally for a stalking scene when the music picks up the dolly shot is used following the protagonist.

• However, we tried to do this but did not have a dolly so tried with a computer table. We found that due to the bumpy roads the camera was too shaky, we therefore did not use the shot.

Conventions of a thriller we could not follow

• As well as the dolly shot we could not use the establishing shot. This shot is often used by Christopher Nolan, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. To use this shot we would need a helicopter or to get on top of another house which we could not.

• We tried to get the pictures off Google maps/earth but found it didn’t look professional and instead of following the convention would go against it.

Establishing shot of Gotham from The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan

Challenge

• We challenged this as Alfred Hitchcock did in his movie Vertigo. Instead of using a Extreme-long shot we used a Close-up shot.

Extreme Close-up in VeritgoOur low angle shot, close-up just on boots.

Reflections

• The shots shown all follow the conventions of the thriller genre. All the examples were taken from thriller movies/ Shows.

• The only shot we should have used but couldn’t was the dolly shot and the establishing shot.

• The shots in a thriller genre are accompanied with diegetic and non-diegetic sound. In many of these shots the music also plays a key part.

• This leads on to the next presentation.