Cinematography

In this analysis I am looking at some camera shots which I observed from scream 4, Olivia’s death scene. I have studied some camera shots for my cinematography and displayed how they convey the thriller genre that I am working on. I would like to analyse how camera shots contribute to different emotions expressed in thriller films and how this all works.

This is at 1:07 when Kirby opens the
closet, here you see  her lips stuttering

The first camera shot that I analysed was in the bedroom where Kirby is talking on the phone. This is a long-shot as you can see her horrified and Jill is standing in the background, you can see the background which is out of focus and is focused on Kirby’s face. This concentrates on her lips stuttering and as thriller it conveys that after she opened the closet she is terrified. Jill is looking at Kirby as she doesn't know what is going on and is looking for reassurance, the audience are waiting on Kirby’s next move to trigger the next jumps off fear therefore she is going to be talking on the phone again and it would most likely lead to an act of violence which is also a convention of a thriller film. Violence to a brutal level like in scream 4 makes the audience anxious and this conveys the thriller perfectly as it makes the viewers trapped in a tense environment.

During 1:20 the killer strikes at Olivia

The phone caller told her to look in the closet but when he phones back he lets her know that it isn't her closet and the camera concentrates on Olivia, which is a mid-shot. The character portraying the killer launches out of her closet as Olivia sprints for her life but she can get away. The mask on the killers face is a distorted image of a human skull, which makes it mysterious and frightening. In this shit Olivia’s hair is distributed wildly in the air showing the surprise and shock the killer has given her. When the audience see a shot such as this the hope on her surviving and they feel the thrill of thinking about what the character getting attacked should do in order to walk out alive but the film will convey her death to change the audience’s thoughts and create the shock of the thriller for them. When she dies the viewing audience become betrayed by their hopes and this causes them the become weak while not achieving what they wanted to see in this thriller film.

At 1:39 they are yelling with shock as
they not believe it

This camera shot that I analysed is a mid-shot of Jill and Kirby yelling out of the window as they can see Olivia being slaughtered. Jill has her hand over her mouth showing she did not expect such a catastrophe to happen as she is screaming because her friend is close to her death, Olivia’s hand is on the window hitting it and screaming as she is frightened along with Jill and the audience is drawn into this with the fact that they want her to live but they cannot even do anything, this creates suspense to convey the thriller which builds up a tense audience. This encourages the audience to continue viewing the film as the tense audience need a point which allows them to relax from the recurring incident and they hold on to this continuing to watch the film.

I think the idea with scream that it results straight into violence always unexpected to create excitement of fear for the audience therefore meeting the genre of a thriller as it has all the aspects it needs for the audiences emotive demands, overall the expressive tension used in scream outcomes in only conveying the codes of a thriller and i think the camera shots are used efficiently enough to be reflecting on what actually happens.