Ideas for use of camera

BRAINSTORM

Found footage For our trailer we decided to incorporate the idea of a ‘found footage’

style to make the events look more realistic for the audience, and also this is an effective way of making trailers look realistic even if they have a lower budget.

Using the found footage style of filming will probably be mostly used in scenes where the characters are investigating the pub which they are staying in, in order to build tension for the audience as they cant see the entire frame, just what the character would be seeing. This idea of limited vision makes it more terrifying when something scary pops up and also puts the audience in the character’s shoes.

Close ups Close ups are conventionally used to highlight the emotions of the

character in the frame and also to give the audience a more intimate look towards the character, almost putting the audience members in the frame. This therefore heightens the audience’s emotions towards the events.

We will be using close ups within our trailer to create this effect and to also make the audience feel more involved in the situation at hand. The close ups will not be shown as much in the opening of the trailer, and will probably only be introduced when the situation gets more mysterious and frightening for the characters so that these events can be emphasised through the character’s facial expressions.

Below is an inspirational trailer for our media text named ‘One Missed Call’. Here you see the use of close ups being used frequently to display emotion.

High& Low angle shots High angle shots are used to present the character being shown as a victim, weak and

vulnerable in the situation. This tends to make the audience feel sympathy and concern for the character, therefore making it quite an emotionally provoking camera angle to use. Low angle shots do the opposite of this and instead give the character power and authority.

We will probably subtly introduce this shot into our trailer in order to show the audience the position of the characters in the trailer and to show that in comparison to the supernatural forces at hand, they are weak. This camera angle has been used widely across horror films, for example in ‘One Missed Call’ when the final female gets dragged away she is displayed using a high angle shot which presents her as being weak and vulnerable.

Within the ‘Sixth Sense’ trailer, audiences are presented with a range of high and low angle shots to present the characters as being strong or weak.

Medium shot A medium shot is when the camera records an area equal to the height of someone

who is seated or a person from the waist upwards. It is a commonly used camera shot which shows the audience the background, the upper body’s positioning and facial expression, therefore giving them a better overall look into the frame.

This shot will be one of the mostly used in the trailer due to the fact it shows the audience what is happening in the frame and also allows them to recognise not only the character’s facial expression but also how they are feeling through their body language which is highly useful. It can also give viewers a better look at conversations between characters on screen and giving them a better idea of their reactions. Below is an image from the famous horror ‘Scream’ which uses a mid shot to emphasise the character’s feelings towards the conversation she is having with her killer which is a successful and inspirational use of camera which will be incorporated into my work.