Research into Cinematography – Miss Miller

 The Happening

In this essay, I will be discussing cinematography within the thriller genre. Cinematography is the use of camera shots and angles to create a certain mood or atmosphere in a film. Typical camera shots vary between genres, as different genres want to create different atmospheres.  The clip I will be analysing the cinematography of is the opening to the apocalyptic thriller film ‘The Happening’ (above). I chose this clip because this film uses stereotypical shots for thriller films, despite having a slightly different premise to other thriller films.

In this part of the opening, a long shot is used, showing the entire crowd in the park. The purpose of using this shot is to show the people in the park looking ordinary, tricking the audience into thinking the scene is innocent and uneventful before the mass suicide starts. It is conventional of a thriller to shock the audience, and to do this the film must contain an element of surprise – meaning that, before the shock, there must be innocence.

 

Here, a point of view shot is used, so the audience can see what the woman on the park bench sees. We see the entire crowd, previously shown in the long shot, suddenly halting and standing completely still. This specific shot is used so the audience can experience the fear that the woman is feeling as these strange events occur, and we become scared and curious as to what is happening. This is conventional to the thriller genre as thrillers are psychological and therefore play with the audience’s emotions and fears. This also enables the audience to build up a relationship with the characters and empathise with them, which adds to the tension of the film, because the audience is scared with and for the characters.

This is an extreme close up shot of ‘Claire’ slowly taking the long pin out of her hair. The audience becomes worried as the other woman mentioned earlier in the scene that “it looks like those people are clawing at themselves”, suggesting everyone, for an unknown reason, is committing suicide. ‘Claire’ is acting strange, and suddenly reaches for a sharp metal object, implying that she will stab herself. This exreme close up shot is sepcifically used to focus on ‘Claire’ pulling out the long pin, signifying its importance to the scene, and to build up suspense. It is conventional of a thriller to warn the audience of objects that will sooner or later be important to the plot of the film. We know that the pin is in fact significant because ‘Claire’ stabs herself in the neck with it a few seconds after this shot.

The camera pans around builders who are having a casual conversation. When there is a sudden movement behind, the panning stops. The shot slowly turning round through the characters and then suddenly stopping creates suspense, while the sudden stop is a shock to the audience. Thrillers often ‘catch their audience off guard’ using techniques such as this to prepare them for following shocks and scary events.






When the builder is running towards another builder who fell from a roof, the camera is shaking and unsteady to represent his running – this is a ‘handheld’ shot. This shot is used because, although it represents running, it also adds a sense of uneasiness to the scene. The audience is also put into the character’s shoes, and we feel his fear. It is typical of thrillers to use handheld shots when the film becomes dangerous because the shaking and uneven camera work adds a sense of urgency to the scene. This is turn makes the audience worry for the characters and anticipate violence or drama.

After the second body falls, an aerial shot looks over the surviving builders. This shot is to make them look small and vulnerable, as they could be the next victims. Thrillers usually use this type of shot to look down on victims to portray them as weak, and the audience can infer that the people in the shot will die or be injured in the film. The sympathy that the audience feel for the characters is built up by this.

Overall, the shots and angles used in the beginning of this film are used to create tension and build suspense, making the audience feel scared and on-edge. The shots and angles used are typical of the thriller genre, as all thrillers aim to create suspense. Moreover, shots, such as Point Of View shots, are used to build up the relationship between the viewer and the characters. Thrillers are psychological films and require the audience to feel the fear that the characters feel. For my own thriller opening scene, I plan to use high angled shots to show the vulnerability of some characters.