Genre conventions - Cinematography

Cinematography 

The cinematography in a film is important a to establish the overall look of the film. This look is directly linked into conveying the film's genre. Some cinematography elements which are used to indicate the genre are:
✷ Lighting

✷ Composition

✷ Camera movement

✷ lenses

To match the cinematography to the genre:

For A thriller, the lighting depends on the mood of the particular piece, but it's normally it is naturalistic. Incorporating both aspects of light and dark.
In terms of camera movements thriller's use three ways of moving: horizontally, vertically or in a combination of the two. For the horizontal movement, the creators use pans or dolly tracks. Dolly tracks are useful in moving in or out smoothly and at the required speed. For vertical movement, it is typically a tilt up or down, films with high budgets sometimes have crane shots to show the scene without anything being out of proportion. To combine vertical and horizontal movement, usually a crane (can also go left and right as well as up and down) or a jib-boom is used (operates like a seesaw, makes movements smooth). A trick that thrillers often use to add suspense are zoom-ins and zoom-outs, these are easily done and will most likely feature in our film.
To add even more suspense, the camera could have a soft focus, but another popular technique used is the rack focus. A rack focus can have something important in the foreground in focus, then it may "rack" (or shift the focus) to something in the background which could be vital to the plot.


Unique cinematography to use in the film:

Crash zoom
This is a rather antiquated film technique, used in the Hollywood classics.
It’s used mostly to shock or as a reveal. This camera movement is unnatural to the eyes and looks nothing like real life, making the movement extremely noticeable. This indicates that you should only use it where necessary, and in a short film it is advisable to use it only once.
I feel that this shot would work well in a psychological drama purely because of its abnormality.

Wide angle lens shot / slight low angle
This specific shot shows the magnitude of the buildings and the vast space in scene. The negative space could connotes the desolation and the infinite emptiness of this town. The slight low angle shows the buildings towering over everything. This could indicate how intimidating the town is.

Motivated camera movement
This movement utilises the camera as a part of the plot point. The camera movement is slow and steady, connoting nothing out of the ordinary. However, the camera being where it is blocks a major plot point. As the camera zooms we see a person behind the post. This shocks the audience as the camera has deceived us while still showing the full room. Creating an intriguing reveal.
Watch Video for reveal.