Independent task- How are camera angles used in American horror story to connote different feelings, including those of tension and suspense, amongst the audience?

Independent task- How are camera angles used in American horror story to connote different feelings, including those of tension and suspense, amongst the audience?

American horror story (synopsis taken from Wikipedia) The first season, subsequently subtitled Murder House, takes place in Los Angeles, California during the year 2011 and centers on a family that moves into a house haunted by its deceased former occupants. The second season, subtitled Asylum, takes place in Massachusetts during the year 1964 and follows the stories of the inhabitants of an institution for the criminally insane. The third season, subtitled Coven, takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana during the year 2013 and follows a coven of witches who face off against those who wish to destroy them. The fourth season, subtitled Freak Show, takes place in Jupiter, Florida during the year 1952 and centers around one of the few remaining American freak shows.

Different camera angles are used to connote different feelings among the audience. Below I have analysed different camera angles used in American Horror Story and written why they were used and what feelings the producers may have been trying to imply to the audience.

The use of the high angled shot when showing the disfigured man could suggest that he is a victim because high angled shots are used to represent the character as weak and as victims. This also makes them suspicious of him as they haven't been previously introduced to him. It could also create feelings of tension and suspense due to the fact he is hiding amongst the washing and make the audience question why he is doing so.

The use of this high angled shot, combined with the fact he is holding a gun connotes feelings of power, dominance and superiority. This and the fact he is looking directly into the camera, and in turn pointing the gun at the audience, creates feelings of tension and suspense amongst the audience due to the fact it looks like he is staring directly at them.

The fact this shot is upside down, combined with the fact she is screaming, connotes feelings  of panic and unease amongst the audience because they don't know what is going on, this is a close up shot which shows the emotion on her face which is that of panic and fear which puts the audience on edge. The use of the rule of thirds and the fact the needle is centre shot will connote tension because the audience have no idea as to why she is being injected.

The use of the high angled shot combined with the fact she is strapped down into a hospital bed reinforces the idea of her vulnerability and weakness. This shot may have been used to create feelings of unease amongst the audience because as modern day people we know that only 'crazy' people are tied down to their beds when they are a danger to themselves.



The close up of the jars in this shots, combined with the low key lighting means the audience cannot fully make out what is in the jars, this creates feelings of unease amongst the audience because the shapes in the jars look unnatural but because of the close up it means they cannot fully see what is in the jars.



This establishing shot sets the scene for the audience and gives them a chance to see what is happening around the house, of which the show is centred. The girls, in the centre of the shot, filing into the house show the audience that they either live or work their but the girls floating above the stairs create feelings of tension because the audience do not know why, or how, they are floating there.

The high angled shot, again, connotes weakness, inferiority and and vulnerability. This combined with the man standing over her shows his dominance over her and reinforces her weakness and lower status. This creates feelings of compassion amongst the audience because the camera angle is used to make them feel sorry and possibly empathise with her, if they to have been in a hospital.




The low angled shot of the girls walking down the street connotes feelings of superiority, dominance and power; which is not usually what women are represented as. They are being represented as strong and powerful which breaks most media conventions.





The mid to close shot zoom in that's used in this scene is used to show the emotions of which the characters are feeling. The zoom in on their screaming faces gives the audience a sense of anxiety because they have no idea why they are screaming, but combined with the fact it zooms in while she is shouting "GO AWAY" directly into the camera creates feelings of suspense within the audience because they want to know who she is telling to go away and why they are both screaming.


As I have explained above different camera angles can be used to create different emotions in the audience and can be used to create feelings of empathy, or those of tension and suspense. Combining different elements together such as lighting and camera angles can create a very tense scene.

Evaluation Question 7

The preliminary task taught me about working to deadlines and having to work within a schedule. It also taught me about teamwork, which our group had a few issues with due to lack of communication during the preliminary task and it meant a member of our group joined late.
Whereas in the thriller opening we communicated well as a team and made sure everyone knew what they were doing and had to do independently.

Final Thriller Edit

Here is the final edit for our Thriller opening.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygyfs3CpfUI

Evaluation Question 6

In the production of our thriller we used different technologies such as video cameras because we believed it would be the best piece of technology to film our thriller on, the camera we used also had built in microphones which picked up the little diegetic sound we had. We didn't use external mics due to the lack of diegetic sound in our thriller. We used the camera in different ways and different angles so we didn't have the same angle all the way through. Using the camera in different ways made me consider the way that other films are produced and the time that must go into filming them.

In post production we used Premier Pro to help us change shots in post production. We accidentally broke the 180 degree rule during filming and had to flip 2 of our shots to make sure they were the right way round. We also used colour and lighting adjustments in post production to enhance our shots and make sure they were

visible to the audience. We added in fade to white in between our cross cuts to help with continuity.

 

 Fade to white







In post production we also added our non diegetic soundtracks. And used soundbridges to help, again, with continuity. This allowed us to link our soundtracks together and not have any issue with using 2 soundtracks.




Presentational devices used on my blog
I have used powerpoints on my blog because these are an easy to use and understand method of presenting my work, you can link it together and add screenshots and pictures to emphasis your points. I have also used video clips included with my work to show the points I am analysing and to show what I am talking about. I used Prezis to present my answer to the evaluation question 5 to present my ideas in a different and more creative way.



Technology has helped me in my research because I could google ideas and compare our thriller to other thrilers that have already been filmed and produced. Youtube allowed me to analyse other thrillers and consider techniques we could use in our own thriller production.
Technology also helped in the planning of our thriller because we could use google maps to look at locations before we went location scouting. We used our phones we went location scouting to take photos of possible locations and we used them to call each other when we thought we had found somewhere suitable.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Our thriller is quite a mainstream film and was influence by other mainstream thrillers such as ‘House at the end of the Street’ and ‘Taken’ which are mainstream thrillers. It does have slight film noir aspect with the males playing chess gambling, over the life of a teenage girl, smoking and drinking in a dark room in smart suits which is part of the aesthetic and mise en scene of film noir. It could be considered for distribution by a conglomerate like Universal and 20^th Century Fox because it could attract a variety of audiences. I believe we have produced our film to be mainstream so we don’t limit our audience. 20^th Century fox distributed ‘Taken’ and films like ‘Jumper’ and ‘Taken 2’ which influenced our thriller film.

Our film would be most likely to be exhibited by a multiplex cinema such as Odeon or View because of the mainstream audience they attract. They exhibited the films that influenced our thriller such as; ‘Taken’, ‘House at the end of the Street’ and ‘Jumper’.

New technologies could offer new distribution opportunities for our thriller and attract a different range of audience. You tube and Social networking would allow adverts and pages that could be shared and seen by audiences that might not possibly see it otherwise.

 
Netflix is also a viable option because it targets people who possibly couldn’t get out to the cinema and it also shows thriller films which are similar to the thriller we filmed.

Being a film student may allow more opportunities for our thriller. This would be because we could enter it into film competitions such as student competitions and first time film competitions which could open doors for us as young producers and possibly open more distribution and exhibition doors for us.

 

 

Evaluation Question 4

           Who would be the audience for your media product?

Media Texts	Possible examples of texts	How does our film fit this profile?
Films	I think that the genre of films our target audience would watch would be of the same genre of thriller and would be films such as Taken and other action thrillers	Our film is of a similar genre to these and would suit the audience that watch these films because it is similar to the films they already watch.
Radio	I think the main radio station that would be listened to by our thriller target audience would be Radio One because that is a modern, younger generation, attracting radio station. We could also consider having adverts on the radio or interviews which promote the film and widen our audience.	This fits our film profile because the audience that Radio One attracts is similar to that of the audience demographic we are trying to reach with our film.
Magazines	I would consider Empire as a possible magazine that would be read by our target audience  because it attracts a younger audience who are interested in films and it means we could also consider placing adverts in the magazine which would further expand our audience.	This fits our film profile because Empire is a modern magazine that has featured films such as Taken and other action thrillers.
Television shows	Television shows that could interest our audience are shows such as The Tomorrow People, The 100 and 24 because these are all engaging thriller films that would have a similar audience demographic as the one we are trying to attract,	This fits our film profile because they are action thrillers and they also use suspense like we do in our thriller opening.

 

These possible texts that our audience could be interested in were decided as a group.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

We tried to make all of the characters in our thriller as relatable and realistic and contemporary as possible. Our film concentrated on the social groups of young female teenagers and young adult males. We stylised the male characters and made them slightly larger than life and outlandish, we did this by playing on stereotypes from ‘gangster’ and other thriller films.

With the issue of gender we represented the males, playing chess, in our thriller opening be shown as dominant and powerful; this was represented through camera shots and through their costumes. Their costumes, the suits, represented the dominance, power and business like attitude to the abduction of a teenage girl. We stereotyped them a little with the red wine, cigarettes and suits this was influenced by films such as ‘The Godfather’ and ’American Gangster’ where the representation of males is that of dominance and authority. We also showed their authority in the camera angles we used such as the close up of Rakib’s mouth at the end of the opening when he says “checkmate” which we used to show that he is controlling the horror that is happening to Grace.

We attempted to make Grace’s character realistic and did this by representing her as relatable to teenage girls. This is shown in her costume, which was a typical you adult female’s attire, of black jeans and a white top, also through her behaviour with the fact she lies to her parents about the way she is getting home from the party and the way she takes a shortcut through a dark back alleyway. She was shown as a bit of a teenage rebel but the audience can see her realistic reaction when she realises she is being followed down a dark alleyway at night by a suspicious looking older male, her reaction was of horror and then to run.

In our thriller opening we show a little of what life is like for young females in contemporary Britain and the horrors they can face walking home alone in the dark and also that alcohol can dull your senses and make people more likely to do things they wouldn’t normally do when not under the effects of alcohol. It shows that alcohol leads to bad decisions for teenagers and that underage drinking is not as glamorous as often shown in other thrillers. We stylised our opening a little with the fact that the men playing chess were the reason for her being followed but it still shows that being inebriated is not glamourous because chances are you would not walk down a dark alleyway at 2am on your own when you were sober and not under the effects of alcohol.

Our film mainly focuses on White British characters; we did not concentrate drastically on the idea of ethnicity and ethnic minorities being seen as victims. In our thriller Rakib is actually portrayed as a villain, this is shown through the little smile at the end of the opening when he says “checkmate” which connotes the idea of pleasure and that he is pleased that Grace is going to be abducted. Lewis, the man abducting Grace, is a White British male and he is shown to be preying on Grace and following her which represents him in a bad light. Grace, who is also White British, is represented as a victim, this is quite stereotypical of thriller films where a young white female is seen as a victim and is preyed upon by an older male.

We did not really look at the idea of sexuality in our thriller opening, because the idea of sexuality is often represented wrongly in media texts and we did not want to offend anyone so we did not have any heterosexual or homosexual or any relationship shown in our thriller opening.

Our film is a product of modern day Britain as we know it and shows the rebellious nature of modern day teenagers and shows the underage drinking that happens in modern day society. We show 2 sides of modern Britain. We showed modern middle class teenagers rebel against their parents and what society thinks they should be and drink and show they don’t want to conform to societies expectations. We showed how this can lead to trouble, we showed how lying to parents can drastically effect a life, we showed this in a way that doesn’t normally happen - with the abduction of Grace - but abductions of vulnerable girls do happen in modern society. The other side we also showed a stylised version of the criminal underworld of Britain and showed a side of Britain that is not always shown in media texts because people don’t like to believe that criminals will play with other people’s lives.  Our film portrayed some dark feelings of pessimism and magnified certain stereotypes of criminals.

Personally I believe our representations were rather typical of our genre. We had male villains and a female victim whose nonconformity leads her to be in an unsavoury situation. We emphasised Grace’s status of being a victim with the high angle shot where she is being followed down the alleyway, this shows her as weak and makes her look small and vulnerable which is how we wanted her to look to the audience. We stuck to stereotypes of the genre and did not try and challenge any of them. Researching into other thrillers helped us to decide whether or not to challenge these standing stereotypes, thrillers such as ‘Taken’ which has a young female victim who is abducted, and her father then gets retribution over the men who took her, we used aspects of that in our thriller film. Our male representations came from ‘The Godfather’ and ‘American Gangster’ where males are authoritative and dominant.