Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Deconstruction - camera angles

Within the horror genre, there are a handful of shots which make up the majority of angles within the film. The two most common shots that you'll see when the killer and victim are in the same scene together are low angles and high angles.

A high angle shot will be mostly used when someone has died or is about to die. This will be used when the victim will be about to die or has died within the scene to show them as being weak and powerless. The shot is particularly effective when they have been badly beaten and wounded in a struggled fight with the killer and as the killer is about to finish them off, you have high angle shot of the victim, usually close up of their face, to show their eyes looking up at the killer with either a spiteful look in their eyes or a deep fear as their eyes widen. However, this shot also has the ability to be used with the killer being the damsel in distress when the hero of the 'victim' group overrules the killer.  I personally really like the usage of this type of shot when the killer is the focus of the low angle because it almost gives the audience a sense of accomplishment as they bring the killer down to his/her knees.




The other common shot you'll see within a horror film will be a low angle shot of typically the killer. The killer will will be the main focus with the aid of lighting to highlight their features to make them appear even more powerful than they already are. When a low angle shot is paired with a form of POV shot, it makes the audience feel like as if they're the victim themselves. It puts the audience in the same place of vulnerability as the victim is. However, like the high angle shot, a low angle shot can also be used to subvert the conventions of the killer being strong and the victims being weak when the hero eventually overrules the killer and the camera switches to a low angle POV shot 






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