Research into cinematography - Miss Miller

In this essay I will be analysing different camera angles and shots used by directors to create tension, suspense, shock and surprise. This is called cinematography, cinematography is the art or science of motion picture photography. It is the technique of movie photography, including both the shooting and development of the film. I chose a clip from ‘Saw V’ because this clip has a lot of different shots and camera angles which show different emotions and creates lots of suspense and tension. I can also analyse this clip in great detail.

The director first uses a point of view shot from the blond girls perspective, this shot is also a panorama. This is effective as it shows what the girl can see and allows the audience to feel what she is feeling. 

This shot is used by the director to create tension and suspense. He uses the camera in a way of which it looks like the audience can see what the girl is seeing, this creates a relationship between the character and the audience as the audience can see what she says and therefore can feel the emotions she is feeling. This would make the audience empathise with her situation and would make them like her more. This shot also creates tension and suspense, this is because as the camera pans around the ‘torture room’ which creates tension as it looks dangerous and unsafe, in addition the audience will feel suspense as they do not know what’s coming next and might not expect what is going to happen. This shot is typical to a thriller film as many thriller films like to use this as it creates tension and suspense, its also conventional as if the audience can see what the character is seeing they will feel engaged into the scene and they will enjoy the film more. 

The director then uses an eye level shot on the unstable man who is unsure of his situation. We can see that the man is shocked and surprised to what is going on around him, this makes the audience sympathise with his situation. This shot also creates tension as you are looking into the characters eyes which show intimidation.

The director uses this shot effectively to create tension, shock and surprise. He uses the camera at the eye level of this man which allows the audience to look into his eyes and feel his emotion. This creates a relationship between the audience and the character as they can see the emotion on his face. This also creates tension as the audience as the camera is in his face we can see intimidation which the director did on purpose to set the vibe of the scene and create tension. We can also see that the character is shocked and surprised to as why he is chained up under a blade, we can see this as the expression on his face does so. This is conventional to a thriller film as we can see clear detail of what he is feeling  and what position he is in.

The director then uses a high angle shot to show the inferiority of the character’s, we can see the whole of the character’s body’s which means we can see how they are standing.

The director uses the cctv camera as a high angled shot to create a theme of which the characters are inferior to the person watching them. This is very effective as not only do we get a high angled shot we also get the point of view of saw. This shows that saw is looking down over them which implies he has loads of power of them and can do what he likes. This creates a relationship between the audience and jig saw as they can see what he can see and can see his superiority. Although it may be a negative relationship as people might frown at the fact he is looking down over them. This is conventional to a thriller film as many thriller use a high angle to show the inferiority of the character’s and how unstable they are.

Lastly the director uses a shallow focus shot which shows the importance of a certain object. This creates tension in the scene as the key is the most important thing and is difficult to retrieve. This makes the audience sympathise with their situation and feel empathy for them.

The director pans down to the box uses a crane shot, which allows the audience to conclude on the importance of the object infront of them. This shot is so effective at creating tension In the scene, this is because we can see that the keys are inside a glass box and are far away from the people, this creates tension as the audience don’t know whether the characters will retrieve the keys and therefore either die or survive. This shot is used to create a relationship between the character’s and the audience, this is because the audience can empathise with their situation and therefore like the character’s more. This is conventional to a thriller film as it is very effective at creating tension which most thriller films try and do.