Ms B S7 Questions Homework

1. This is a MCU taken from a low angle. The aspects of this image that signify it is horror to us are as follows. The fact that the girl is seperated from the camera by the mesh suggests entrapment. The unnatural glow of the light and the lack of it adds to the eerie feeling of the image. The striking white of her eyes suggest purity and innocence which signifies that she is the victim in this situation. There is a tilted shadow behind the girl that could be her captor and suggests that she is trying to get out of the enclosed space to run away from the person or creature behind her. The fact that she is quite low down in the shot may be because she is on her knees and therefore we can infer from this that she is vunerable.

2. To create the lighting effects in the image we turned the lights off in the area we were in and and shone a light on the actor's face. This was not dark enough to create the desired effect. This is shown in the image on the right. To make the image darker we held a curtain to black out some excess light and changed the filter on our light to creater a dimmer spotlight effect. We then decided once we got the light right that the red sht did not really fit the profile of a horror victim so we asked the actor to wear her black cardigan back to front so that it created a more generic horror look to the shot.

3. I am pleased with how our shot turned out as i believe that the audience would be able to identify as a still from a horror/thriller film. I think that the lighting worked out well as it is light enough to be able to see what is going on but is still dark enough to leave that element of mystery to the narrative. I feel that the shadows that surround the girl on the ceiling and the rear wall act well as a aframe within a frame. This adds another dimension to the shot and therefore makes it more aesthetically pleasing.

4. With the benefit of hindsight if i were to recreate this shot i would have made the girl look more like a victim by giving her a more appropriate costume and applying some make-up. I would also have not left as much empty space for the viewer to look into as it distracts from the main image which is the victim. I may have also shone a slightly brighter light onto her face so that she stands out more. Finally I would have positioned the camera slightly better so that the girls facial features were not obscured by the bits of wire mesh such as her nose and right eye in the image at the top.