Cinematography

Cinematography is the art or technique of making a film with the combination of camera elements and displaying how a scene is shot. The three main elements that make up cinematography are:

Camera movement- camera movement represents audiences view point or perspective, during the course of filming. Movement plays a significant role in the emotional language of films images and audiences reactions to the action on the screen, as the camera itself may be moved to create effect.

Camera angles- The camera angle marks the precise place in which a camera is placed to take a shot. The camera angle provides the audience with the most effective and advantageous view point, and adds a unique perspective which can effect the audience perception of what is happening within a scene.

Camera positions- This is the positing of the camera, and how the scene is shot. camera positions helps the director convey different conventions an audience expects to see throughout a thriller film, and helps show a characters facial expression enabling the audience to understand how they are feeling.




 In scream 4 we see a number of different cinematography elements used throughout the film, for example a close up is used showing us a large surface area of screams face which shows us that he has a hidden identity. This shot relates to the conventions of a thriller film as the killers face is hidden and the audience are in suspense. This convention is commonly used throughout thrillers so that the audience do not know what is going on so therefore continue to watch the film.







Another shot i thought was important to why thrillers include certain camera shots was a mid shot showing a girls body and facial expression it is used to show the girl in more detail  whilst still showing  enough for the audience to feel as if they are looking at the whole of her. In this case from this shot we see the girls fear and anxiety. These types of camera shots are important in thrillers as the audience can feel the characters emotions engaging them more into the film.




A shallow focus shot is another shot used in scream 4 which shows Sydney in focus with her background blurred it is used to demonstrate subjectivity. This is used to hide the killer identity keeping the audience in suspense as they are unaware of what events are going to happen next. The shallow focus shot makes the audience feel uneasy as not knowing when the killer is going to appear.





Cinematography has helped me understand what and when to use cinema shots during my thriller for example i would use a close up to show the facial expressions of the character. It has also helped me understand the different camera shots that can be used in different situations. From this research on cinematography I want to use a shallow focus shot in my thriller as it gives a interesting effect by focuses on the subject and nothing else.