Horror Shot

1. Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be seen as representing 'horror'.
The shot is a medium close up (MCU) and the female actor is located towards the bottom of the frame with a scared look on her face. The camera is at a low angle and in front of wire fencing. The actor is trapped behind the wire and her hands grasp it as if to some how break free. There is a shadow above her head with an arm reaching out about to catch her as she is clearly hiding but has now been found. The lighting in the shot is very dark which is typical in the horror genre, and the only source of light is an artificial light which shines dimly on her face and the back wall making the shadow visable. The white in the victims eyes particulary standout and create a sense of fear in the victim.

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

When we were setting up the shot we knew that we wanted a shadow in the background which would require two people but because the wire fencing was high up in a loft, the only way to take the shot was to hang off the ladder. This meant that we couldn't have two people on the ladder so we made the person taking the photo also be the silluette in the background as the light was behind him. The effect of horror also comes from the feeling of entrapment that we see in the actor; she looks typically scared and the wire fencing achors this feeling. We also had the actor holding on to the wire so she looks like she has no where to go. The lighting effect was achieved by cutting out all the natural light from the shot and having one artificial key light which shone dimly on to the face of the actor and the backwall of the shot. The shot is a medium close up and this allows the audience to clearly see the horror and fear in the actors eyes.

3. What was successful about your shot?

I think the shot portrays the theme of horror very well however, there is still some flaws. The location and the wire fencing is very important to our shot as it connotes entrapment and it helps to totally convince the audience that our actor is indeed trapped. Moreover, the fact that the actor grasps the wire shows that she is trying to get free because she is so desperate to get away from whatevers looking for her. Without it a lot of that feeling would be lost. The shadow while being a very effective idea wasn't done brilliantly as it is too low in the shot and dosn't appear powerful enough and thus is not as scary. However, if you look at it from the point of view of it rising up, getting bigger and bigger, then it works very well and creates a feeling of tension and excitement over whats about to happen. The positioning of the facial features wasn't done too well as only one of her eyes can be seen, the shot should have been repositioned so that both eyes could be seen through the fence as the eyes are very powerful in protraying emotion.

4. What would you do differently in hindsight?

If I was to redo the shot I would make the shadow higher in the shot and I would make sure her facial features such as the eyes are clearly seen through the wire fencing. I would also put a little bit more artificial light on the hands and the face of the girl to make her emotions of fear standout more. The actor is also looking at the camera and I would have her eyes turned slightly to the right of the shot as this is away from the shadow and we need her to be completely unaware of it being there.