Reflections On Shots

Q1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be described as representing your chosen genre

• My shot is a mid-closeup of a white teenage, boy holding onto bars and looking out of shot to the right with a scared look on his face; there are stairs leading up to a door in the background. My chosen genre was Thriller and I believe this genre is represented by the way a lot of mystery is created through the shot. The tight frame focuses your attention on to the character but also gives nothing away as to what is about to happen and with the boy looking out of shot, it creates a suspense as you don't know what know what he is looking at and why he looks so scared. The black and white/night vision gives it a Sin City feel- another thriller- and almost makes the shot more dramatic and drained of all emotion connoting the effect being scared has on your body (your face goes pale in fright). The way the boy is not at the top of the frame conventionally, suggests he is vunerable and less powerful than whatever is through the door/chasing him. Another effect creating a Thriller genre is the shadow on his face from the bars, as this could show the character has something to hide (maybe why he ended up in the situation)- a convention seen a lot in Thriller films.

Q2. What did you actually do to achieve the effect?

• To make the shot more dramatic we turned on the night vision on the camera, to make the character seem vunerable and weak we made him crouch down to take the shot and show a lot of the whites of his eyes. To create a mystery I decided it was vital to see the door, so the actor crouched down as low as possible for this and taking the shot, I crouched down a bit too. To show the shadow on the characters face and emphasize the whites of his eyes we placed the light in the space the actor was looking into.

Q3. Identify what is successful about your shot

• I think the tight framing of the shot was very successful as it emphasized the genre greatly. Te whites of the actor’s eyes were also successfully picked out to show his vunerability. The placing of the lighting to create the shadows was also successful as it gave the audience a deeper knowledge of the genre and character.

Q4. What would you do differently in hindsight?

• In hindsight I would have tried to make the stairs leading up to the door a lot darker with maybe one single light, making it seem more menacing- like the character has just run from darkness (evil) into light (good-saved-hope-etc.)