Camera Shots/Angles

Point of View Shot



Horror Films often use point of view shots, to give the audience more of a first hand account of what’s happening. Obviously the idea of a horror film is to reel the audience in, and make the empathise with the characters; the idea being making us feel the fear that they do. A good example of this is in the original Friday the 13th, we get to see the reactions of the characters as the killer, Jason advances at them. Its also a good way of masking your killers identity as obviously if we are in the ’shoes’ of the killer. We cant actually see him/her, which gives the film a sense of mystery, and makes it a lot scarier as the scariest thing is in effect the unknown.

Low Angle



Low angles make the ‘Victim’ seem powerless. They are usually used when the ‘killer’ is in his prime. For example the picture is from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, when ‘leather face’ is killing a character. They create the feeling of being trapped, that there’s no escape. The victim is helpless and small.

Long shot



Long shots can be used as establishing shots. They help set up the movie, and work well at the beginning of trailers as well. They set the scene and give the audience an idea of were the film is set/located. They work well for Horror films as a long shot can show the audience an isolated area. They work well when showing us how alone the characters are, but it also reinforces the fact that later on when things start to go wrong there is nowhere to run.

Close-up



Close ups are a really important factor of Horror films. They Show the emotions of the characters, which tells the audience how they should be feeling as well, which is usually scared. They can show reactions (reaction shots) to different situations, which help keep a story moving. Close ups provide a way of communicating with out speech. For example in a scene were a ’killer’ is in the room, and a character must stay quiet and hide we may see a close up of them shaking and crying.

Extreme Close-up



Extreme close-ups work the same way as close-ups but they make the situation seem un natural. Perhaps a reaction to an un-human killer. They also show reactions to heightened and magnified situations. Horror films are usually really dramatic so they work well to show this. They can also be of things directly related to horror, such as weapons, or body parts, so they create a bigger impact and emphasise things.

Over the Shoulder shot



Over the Shoulder Shot lets the audience take a ‘back seat look at things. Unlike the point of view shot which places them directly in the midst of the action. We can still see the characters reaction to what’s happening. This works well if we already know who the killer is, for example we see ‘Freddy’ in the picture, throughout the film so its not like a big reveal. The shot also lets us see everything that’s happening within the scene, but were still quite close thus still involved allowing us to feel the fear , or any other emotion. The shot also reinforces that something is happening between to characters , like talking or in this case, an exchange between victim and killer.