That's Very Moving

As promised, I did some research on camera movements and composition in the horror genre. The results were not exactly surprising. According to research done by the Tokyo University of Technology and Tokyo Metropolitan University, medium shots are the most used shot with close ups in a close second. "Medium close ups" come in third, and the rest of shots are rather minuscule.

Shot information for horror films.

The thing that sticks out the most would be the incredibly large usage of "handcam" shots, used in films like The Blair Witch Project. This filming technique gives the a production a more amateur feeling as most shots are shaky and seemingly unprofessional. In The Blair Witch Project, the movie is meant to be footage filmed by a group of students who go into the woods to create a documentary. They go missing and the footage is all they leave behind. It's an interesting technique, but it doesn't exactly fit what my group is going for. We plan on using more fixed shots with the occasional use of zooms, pans, and tilts to complement them.

Another common technique is the "dolly shot, first used by Alfred Hitchcock in his film Veritgo. Popsugar states that Hitchcock "hoped to convey the dizzy feeling his main character felt due to his condition." The article even describes how to create the shot, and it's pretty simple.

The dolly zoom in action.

This is probably the most famous dolly zoom of all time. It's from critically acclaimed thriller Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The shot is very interesting visually, and does a good job of conveying a dizzy/confused feeling. We might have a good opportunity to implement a shot like this, but I don't know how likely that is. At the moment, there isn't a moment where such a feeling needs to be conveyed. It would be foolish to ram this shot into our film if it doesn't fit the rest of our opening.

Overall, this research isn't incredibly useful. Now I know we don't have to do anything too special in terms of composition. Basic medium shots and close ups are the standard in the horror industry. While I would like to include interesting shots like the dolly zoom, it would need the right situation to be used in. There are more options for interesting shots, so maybe we can end up using some of those.

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/

Heimdahl, L., Kanematsu, Y., Tsuruta, N., Motegi, R., Mikami, K., & Kondo, K. (2016). Analysis of Camera Work in Horror Movies. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/127/005/ecp16127005.pdf

Spielberg, S. (Director), & Benchley, P., & Gottlieb, C. (Writers). (1975). Jaws[Video file]. United States: Universal. Retrieved March 11, 2018.

Roschke, R. (2017, September 12). The Mesmerizing Camera Trick That Appears in Hundreds of Movies and TV Shows. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/What-Zoom-Camera-Effect-Use-Horror-Movies-43988328

The Blair Witch Project (1999). (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/

The Blair Witch Project (1999). (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185937/

Vertigo (1958). (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/