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Further Analysis in the Horror/Thriller Genre- Cinematography

The Cinematography of Horror/Thrillers

Types of Shot:

Close-ups or Extreme Close-ups:

Horror/Thrillers often use close-ups in films to convey a characters emotion in a clear and intimate way or in some cases the show the gore of a particular object or person. From these shot reverse POV shots from Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs we can infer that each of the characters, Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling are on equal grounds but are fighting for power and authority over one another because each have separate motives they are trying to achieve. Clarice seems apprehensive of  whereas Hannibal's face is calm and collected, evoking fear and power; showing who currently has the upper hand in the scene. 

Long shots:

Horror/Thrillers also often use long shots in the film. This is so that the audience can get a prolonged look at the mise-en-scene of where a character is beset and focus on the characters body language and its relation to the surroundings and the story itself. This shot from Robert Eggers' 2016 historical period horror The Witch perfectly describes this. The protagonist, Thomasin, stands in the centre of the frame alongside Black Phillip, a satanic goat, as she stares up at a coven of witches as they rise up into the air. This shot is important because it conveys to the audience the reason as to why Thomasin follows Black Phillip into the woods naked; she is to become a witch herself. This shot, along with its low-key lighting and haunting non-diegetic music that support the horror/thriller genre conventions, is also important to the narrative because we see how Thomasin evolves and reaches her final persona. 

Medium Shots:

A trend I have noticed in horror/thrillers are that medium shots are commonly used to convey gore and violence that are common occurences in these types of films. They are used to show a characters emotion and what relation it has the the characters movements and actions. This shot from David Cronenberg's Scanners shows this use of gore and violence by portraying a news anchor's head exploding with very realistic effects. The blood and look of uneasiness on the characters face are made clear and create a very disturbing and 'gross-out' that subverted audiences expectations as for what was going to happen. Its also worth noting that this shot was only 8 minutes into the film which mean that Cronenberg wanted to shock the audience from the outset of the film and has continued this trend with his other work such as The Fly and Videodrome.

Angles:

Low Angle

This shot from Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 thriller Drive has been used to make the protagonist seem stereotypically masculine and superior to the audience and person he is interrogating who are percieved as inferior and weak. Notice the emphasis on the hammer he is grasping his fingers around being used as a warning to both the audienc and character on the ground alike.

High Angle:

 This shot from Paul Thomas Anderson's 2012 film The Master conveys perfectly what kind of character Freddie is and what the message of the film is about also. Freddie is shot in a fashion that not only hints at his lazy attitude to life what with his drunkenly sleeping but it also makes him look large, almost like a giant. Freddie believes himself to be a strong and important man  in this world and he fights anybody who challenges him on his masculinity or importance in the world, hence his giant appearance on the screen. His ignorance is further developed when you see the smaller people around him looking like ants, much weaker than Freddie. The film itself is about man and how we fight over power and dominance over each other and its this shot, in my opinion, that best conveys this message.

Movement

Steadicam/Handheld Shots:

In horror/thrillers, Steadicam Shots very often follow a characters movements when they are walking and all have an element of suspense to them because the audience do not know what they are going to see next and there is an almost inevitability to them; no way of escaping the character, immersion and movement. This Steadicam shot from Dennis Villeneuve's 2013 thriller Enemy follows Adam as he walks down the hallway of his home and looks face to face with a gigantic tarantula in his living room. This shot is a vital part of the entire film narratively-speaking as it reveals what the spiders (which have been appearing continuously through the film) represent; this being his fear of commitment in a relationship. A spider appears in the film whenever Adam has the urge to cheat on his wife and this shot here where the tarantula scurries in the corner shows his wife becoming the spider symbol and conveying her fear that she is being cheated on. This method is used very often in the genre but more often they are used for a 'jump-scare', as seen in the corridor shots of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. 

Tilt Shots:

Tilts are used to introduce a character in horror/thrillers, whether they are 'good' characters or 'bad' characters. This shot from John Carpenter's 1982 classic The Thing reveals the antagonist of the film, a parasitic extra-terrestrial life-form that assimilates other organisms and in turn imitates them, half way through its assimilation process. The camera moves upwards slowly so that the audience have time to look at all of the monster and take in the fear and dread which Kurt Russel's character feels when the beast is revealed.

Stationary:

Horror/Thrillers very often actually keep the camera barely moving or perfectly still so that the audience have time to take in the image and the fear an suspense the director is trying to create. This shot from Dario Argento's 1977 classic Suspiria stays completely stationary and focuses on the woman attempting to get help from a supernatural being attacking her as well as the bright pink architecture (reminiscent of Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel) that envelops her. This shot holds on her desperation and creates a large amount of space between her and the camera, making her seem weak and destined to die, which she inevitably does.

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Genre research

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BBFC classifications

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Research and Analysis of Title Sequences- A Clockwork Orange

Analysis of A Clockwork Orange Opening Titles

Treatment

Treatment

The name we gave our name Virago because the motor bike that is featured in the film that Edward rides is a Yamaha Virago. Due to the motor bike being a big part of the backstory of the film. Also the word Virago means a domineering, violent or bad-tempered woman. Which fits in with the story of Edward’s wife. Having this title linked in with story, the viewer may be intrigued to find out more about any unanswered questions they have when they watched the film.

When we were deciding the length of the film, we decided that it should last around the 5 minute mark. This leaves us enough time to explain the story and still retain the audience’s attention, without them loosing attention the film. Also due to the film being an assessment, we would not have enough time for planning, editing and scripting to create a longer film. Around the 5 minute mark we feel is just fine for a short film and long enough to captivate the audience’s film throughout the film.

For our film we aim to target a large demographic, not to be bound to one set range of potential audience. The film was aimed to be watchable to all genders, races and religions. This was to stop any feeling of decimation or prejudices a specific group of people. To combat against gender, we casted a male and female characters to be the main characters in the film.  

The only restriction we have to our film is the viewing age. The rating we gave to our film is and 18, this is because in the BBFC classification it states ‘where material or treatment appears to us to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society.’

In our film, there is a suicide scene where Edward is self-harming and it is a very graphic scene. We feel like viewers under the age of 18 are not suitable to watch the film, because the viewer may not have developed filters to know not to copy the scenes in the scene. This is why the film we have created is for a mature audiences who we feel have enough life experiences to develop and put up these filters to stop them from repeating the scenes in the film. 

When it comes to distributing our short film we have 3 main distributers to showcase our film. The first one is Warp films. We chose Warp because it is a UK based independent film distributer with a number of popular films they have helped to distribute. These films include Four Lions, 71, This Is England and many more. They have also helped showcase other short films created by Lynne Ramsey, Richard Ayoade and Chris Cunningham. We film that Warp Films would be a good distributer for our short film as they already have a large fan base who watch their material that they distribute.

Another way we could distribute our film is by using YouTube, YouTube is a good, free way of making our film seen by large amounts of people. Many large short film creators use YouTube to distribute their films due to the fact that almost everyone can access it etc.

The films synopsis is about a young man who has recently lost his wife but still gets haunted with her memories. He rides his motor bike every day, to the grave yard, to see her. The widower (Edward) sit calmly in the grave yard, praying for her to rest peacefully and hopes reunite with her in the afterlife. One day, he gets home and starts to drink. He wakes up, heads still spinning and he feels a dark feeling in his house. He sees a figure at the bottom of the stairs, it was her. She wants him to join her in the afterlife.

When we imagined our film, we wanted to carry out the dark story line throughout the film, that why we wanted to make the film black and white, apart from certain characteristics. This is affect really highlights important and symbolic parts of the film, bringing the film more depth and dimension.

 Another element of our film is that it follows quiet a linear story line. We follow what the main character does in the story and include flashbacks to what has happened in the past. Such as the wedding scene. Adding these flashbacks gives the viewer more insight and better understanding of the story line. This makes the story line a lot easier to get is happening in the short film.

When we were creating the film, we wanted to brainstorm certain characteristics from other films to gain inspiration. Films like American Pyscho was a good psychological thriller that we wanted to emulate and copy some characteristics from the film. For example by creating a mysterious character like Patrick Bateman. Having this mysterious create a depth and dimension to the film because it makes the viewer think about the character and questions them about what certain actions or mise-en-scene that they might have.

The script for the film is mainly stage directions and how the characters should be portrayed in the scene. This makes the scene more believable to the viewer because we can plan on how we want the characters to be making sure that they can create a sense of realness with the scene. The script was inspired and written similarly to other films of the same genre such as American Psycho's description of particular scenes action as well as its pacing. The scripted dialogue was inspired by a plethora of drama and thriller films. 

Elliptical journey shot list

Elliptical journey shot list
Shot	Type	Description
1	Mid shot (Tilt up)	Kurt is at desk with a book, with his phone placed next to him which then receives text. Text bubble saying “meet me in S1.10”
2	Hand held mid shot	Camera pointed towards kurt, follows him walking down hall, Kurt looks down at his phone (where the text conversation lays over screen)
3	Long shot	Kurt walking through door and past camera
4	Long shot (tilt down)	Kurt walks down stairs
5	Long shot	Kurt walks towards two doors
6	Close shots	Shots of door numbers to eyeline match with kurt
7	Mid shot	Kurt walks through door
8	Mid – long shot	Kurt walks towards Chris, sits down and exchanges words

Non elliptical shot list

Non elliptical journey shot list
Shot	Type	Description
1	Mid shot (Tilt up)	Kurt is at desk with a book, with his phone placed next to him which then receives text
2	Close shot over shoulder	Kurt picks up phone, unlocks it and reveals the text “meet me outside S110”
3	Shot 1 mid, (pans right)	Kurt picks up book and walks to bookshelf
4	Long shot  (pan right)	Kurt puts book on shelf and walks away
5	Hand held mid shot	Camera pointed towards kurt, follows him walking down hall, kurt looks down at his phone
6	Long shot	Kurt approaches corner and continues walking down corridor
7	Over shoulder mid shot	Camera follows kurt towards stairs door
8	Long shot	Kurt walking through door and past camera
9	Long shot (tilt down)	Kurt walks down stairs
10	Mid Shot	Kurt walks through doors
11	Hand held mid shot	Facing towards Kurt from above , kurts walks down corridor
12	Long shot	Kurt walks towards two doors
13	Close shots	Shots of door numbers to eyeline match with kurt
14	Mid shot	Kurt walks through door
15	Mid shot	Kurt fully in room, closes door and walks towards Chris
16	Mid – long shot	Kurt walks towards Chris, sits down and exchanges words