PSYCHO!

Psycho

This is a sill from the movie “Psycho”, it is a POV shot (point of view shot) and shows the point of view of the woman in the shower, there is many times where this shot comes up and this is all to build up the tension because we don’t get much of the surroundings and what’s behind her as it’s a close up of the shower head. The shower head is centred so all the focus is on the water and the shower head, meaning that this is what they’re wanting the people to focus on the water and the shower, like the woman is making us feel a sense of calm and peace. The shower symbolises cleanliness and purity which from later on we know it isn’t, as the woman gets murdered in it. The shower is also a place that is private and the killer intrudes the personal space.  This shot is repeated many times, and only for a short period, making the viewer focus more.

This is a third person point of view where it is framed so that only important subjects are in view, and so that we can see  what’s going on behind the woman, who is completely oblivious to what’s about to happen. In this shot the golden mean can mean used as you can see the shadow in the left hand side and it goes down to the woman, showing us the important subjects. Unlike most of the shots in this scene this is a mid-shot and then closes in to the shadow behind the shower curtain, building up tension and panic as we can see what will happen yet the victim is blissful in the shower.  We are left with a sense of urgency to say that something bad is going to happen, to make the victim notice, making the viewer feel hopeless and like the victim. The only prop here is the semi-transparent shower curtain; the fact that it’s only semi-transparent gives it a sense of mystery as it gives us information that someone is there, yet it leaves us in the dark as the person is distorted and hard to see, as they’re lit from behind.

 

This is a close up shot of the killer and even though the face is centralised we can’t make anything out, as the face is dark from the light which is behind the killer, and also because of the water. This leads us to the thing most in focus which is the knife, the way that the rest of the bathroom is cut out makes the viewer focus on the killer, making it more emotional and personal as it is also in the point of view of the victim making us empathize with the victim. The way it is framed makes us focus on the killer, which is quiet uncomfortable as we have no choice, to either look at a blank face or a knife. The killer herself ( it is obvious it is a female by her hands) is dressed rather particular as she is disguised giving a sense of mystery  yet her outfit is bland and doesn’t make her stand out, she also opted to go for the female disguise which is unusual as usually the killer would go for the opposite gender. It is also peculiar as the killer is a female, as the typical killer in thriller movies are men and the typical victims are women.

 

This is an extreme close up of the victim, showing fear and emotion. Extreme close ups make the viewer uncomfortable and even though this shows emotions and fear well, it does make the viewer uncomfortable as well, maybe even empathizing with the victim as the emotion is extreme making the viewer feel the same panic. There is an editing technique used where we see the whole face and then it zooms in, having been put there to at first show the terror in her eyes, and when she starts screaming the corresponding sound. 

This is a Dutch mid shot of a third person view from above of the victim being attacked, and struggling to fight back. The fact that the angle is a canted angle gives us a sense of panic and chaos; it is abnormal, which fits the scene as she’s being attacked. The mid shot which is one of the only mid shots in the shower scene gives us an overall insight into what’s happening yet, the killer is still hidden as the bar goes across the face. The upper angle it has been shot at makes the victim look helpless and vulnerable, as well as her being naked as it exposes her completely, both on the outside and in. The way the victim is standing shows that she’s really struggling to keep the killer away, whilst the killer is quiet calm; with her posture straight and her arm straight out knowing what she’s doing.

The moving sequence

Overall the sequence works well together as its cut in different places giving us lots of points of view and angles to show different moods and build tension, and using mise-en-scene to give further information about each character yet still being in the dark about the killer even though we get a lot of details about her. There is also a lot of symbolism in this scene where everything has a meaning as to why it’s there. 

Media ISL: Glossary

Glossary of Camera Shots, Camera Movements, Editing Techniques and Filming Techniques and Terms.

Camera Shots:

Extreme Long Shot: 

• Show the subjects surroundings
• Can also be used as an establishing scene to introduce new scenes and settings
• Can be used where action is spread out.
• This shot is used to establish the surroundings and give more information about the surroundings, to the viewer

Longshot:

• Mostly the subject takes up all the frame eg. a man standing, his feet are nearly at the bottom and his head is almost at the top
• It can be used to show the character in their own environment.

Midshot:

• Close enough to show us particular feautures of the subject yet far away enough to feel like we're looking at the whole subject
• This shot is often used as it feels like you can see the person in the flesh as  when in conversation most people look at the top half of the body.
• Allows room for movements and gestures.
• Often used in conversations and news reading.

Medium close up:

• Can show face comfortably giving an insight into the expression on the face.

Close Up:

• Feature/part is the main focus.
• Its good for showing detail, and the emotional state of a person. it makes the audience empathize with the person.

Extreme Close Up:

• Draws attention to important details yet too close to show emotion or dramatic scenes.
• Can make the viewer feel uncomfortable, so is not used very often

Cut Away:

• this is a shot of something other than the normal subject, it can be a  close up of something else that relates or carries on to the main subject.
• These can be used as a "buffer" between shots or to add some more info.

Two Shot:

• This can be used to establish a relationship between two subjects, which will be equally as important as one another.
•  Two shot can also include action and movement, so two moving people without getting too muddled up with the surroundings.

Over the Shoulder:

• This is a shot of a a person looking at a subject and we can see both the person looking at the subject and the subject.
• An over the shoulder shot is exactly that, it is a shot of over the shoulder of someone, it can also be reversed
• Its a good technique to use in conversation and can give a person point of view.

Noddy Shot:

• A reaction to the subject, this is very good to edit in later if no film can be put in place.
• Interviews. Nodding. Etc.

POV Shot:

• This is a point of view shot where we get the subject point of view
• can create tension

Camera Movement:

Low angle/high angle:

• Low angles can give a sense of scale to a building, or show power or authority
• High angles can make the viewer feel small and inferior, it will also make the subject seem small and inferior.

Pan:

• Can create action, speed and tension
• Used in chase scenes to follow the action and make you feel like you're actually there.

Tracking Shot:

• Creates tension and excitement and lets you follow the action.
• Helps to give a feel of motion and speed.

Tilt:

• Can be used to create a sense of height or size

Canted/Dutch:

• The camera is  not straight, giving a sense of chaos or abnormality

Zoom in/Zoom out:

• Can highlight or give more information about the subject

Crane Shot:

• Can help to show size and scale and how the subject fits into the scene.

Handheld:

• The camera moves with the action
• can make the viewer empathize with the character
• Can create tension

Filming Techniques:

Rule of thirds:

• If a noughts and crosses grid was drawn upon a scene the interest points would be where the lines cross.

Golden Mean:

• If you drew a diagonal line across the scene the points of interest wshould be along that line.

Transitions:

Dissolve:

• This is where one shot dissolves into another
• it can show time passing

Fade in/Fade out:

• Can help to show time has passed.

Fade to black/white:

• Can be used for flashbacks if used quickly.
• can create a sense of panic or build up tension.

Cross Cutting:

• Can show parallels and contrasts
• Like in Quantum of Solace ( the James Bond Film) it can be used to show two scenes which are happening at once
• Can build up tension and also gives us more info.

Wipe:

• A shot wipes across another shot
• Can look messy and unprofessional if not done correctly or badly timed.

Jumpcut:

• This is a very very very fast cut and can show a scene ending.

Match on Action:

• Cuts match action.
• A view of a dog walking down the stairs from behind...
• CUT
• A view of the dog taking the same step from the front ( the fluidity is very important you can have the dog jumping down a few stairs even though its walking)

Sound:

Digetic Sound:

• Heard on location and recorded on set.Includes most speech and normal background noise.

Non-Digetic:

• Added after filming, so includes soundtrack, sound effects and anything else added on after/

Horror Movie Poster

In media we were assigned a piece of homework  to design a poster for a movie, any movie, any genre. I chose to do a poster based on a horror movie as it links in with the topic of what we would do later on which is thriller movie openings. I used photoshop to layer images on top of each other and this was influenced by movie posters like Shutter Island  and The Woman in Black