Classic Horror Shots
Horror is nothing if not a self-revering genre and as such, there are certain staples to the format that crop up in almost all titles for their tension building and cinematic prowess. In the same way that the so called 'inception-horn' bwaaaa noise seems to surface in trailers as a great way to create a sense of menace and scale, a lot of horror shots convey a certain message and why use something else to do this when there is a tried and tested method available. After all, the camera is one of the most important characters in a film as it decides what we see and how we see it.
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1. The 360 Degree Panoramic Shot
An amazing shot that plants the viewer in and amongst the action, spinning the entire away around to not only build up depth to the image but to also make the world feel more authentic as the usual dark zone behind the camera gives away to a moving, breathing set. In horror, a 360 degree shot is typically used either as a way of showing the aftermath of a situation (with bodies literally all around) or as a method of communicating panic if the speed is cranked up on the spinning head with character frantically panning around each other in a dialogue sequence. (Note that this example also has the camera movie as well as rotating) |
2. Off-Kilter
Characterized by a non-uniform angle, the off-kilter shot or the 'dutch tilt' communicates a feeling of unease, disorientation and general irregularity by canting the camera against the typically flat angle of most shots. An Off-Kilter shot can sometimes help define scale and perspective as a gigantic creature sizes up to the top left third and the character shrivelling into the bottom right. |
3. Over the shoulder / 3rd Person of the Killer
This shot puts the audience within touching distance of the antagonist, positioning with the rule of thirds your victim in focus from a downwards or equal angle depending on the connotation. This shot has a widespread use but commonly is meant to tell the audience that there is a threat to the audience, be that as they watch from afar with only the blurring foreground of a resemblance or as they watch their victim die. |
4. Power of suggested or Inferred Iconography
This methodology uses the cut away technique or deliberate blocking within the shot to help build suspense yet still give a visceral pay off from a kill. The classic example of course is the bloodied hand striking the window and sliding down or any shot that shows blood but not the body; this leaves more to the audience's sick imaginations and can actually be scarier than showing the threat at large as it continues to hide them in the obscurity of mystery, meaning the nastiest monster is that which you can whip up in your own head. |
5. Weapon as Subject
If you want to get really grizzly, getting a good telephoto lens (like a 135mm F/2.8) can give a close and cozy shot of the weapon made all the greater if the weapon is reflective and has either the victim within it or strong lighting cues. Honing in on the killer's weapon can also give the viewer subtle details about their character, for example, Freddy's claw glove is hand stitched and leather, relating back to his association with furnaces and smithery. |
6. Extreme close up on facial expression
The emotion conveyed in the human face is as subtle as it is powerful, getting the lens close enough to render the shivering skin, the teary eyes and the sweating pores communicates fear in a greater way than exposition and direction ever could. The especially powerful examples completely isolate the actor and the viewer through a heavy depth-of-field, sometimes even putting the antagonist into that blurred out space to keep up that sense of presence. |
7. High Angle shot looking down at victim
Camera placement had always been integral to conveying the shift of power between scenes, with the right lens and a high tripod, you can use the frame to show fragility, weakness and dis-empowerment which would be especially powerful when used in conjunction with the next shot type. Typically in horror, the high angle is used to scale the actors down physically, emphasizing a flatter figure because of the imaging and as such, making them appear less imposing. |
8. Low Angle shot looking up at killer
The reverse of the previous, the low angle shot scans upwards so that it is pointing towards the antagonist and subsequently giving them a more threatening stance as the angle expands their frame to appear vaster and more bulked out. By placing the camera so low, you put the audience as the victims as well which, as previously stated, can be very effective with a shot/reverse-shot set up from a grounded victim and a looming killer. |
9. The Safe Knife Stab
If the violence on screen were real, Hollywood would be severely short of it's current stars and up on it's grave count which is why film makers are given the challenge of hiding these attacks through movie magic. A lot of stabbing for example is either done in the dark, uses a retracting knife or at an angle that allows the knife to be obscured by the actor's body or limbs. Of course it should go without saying as well that the prop knifes are usually made from something else like rubber or plastic and are blunted to be safe. |
10. POV shots and reverse shots
Finally, POV shots are becoming more and more common as camera equipment get's lighter and easier to shift, but even in the days of the silver screen, that creepy perspective from the treeline or that haunting mask frame were the talk of the town. One of the real staples is the POV shot between the victim and the killer, the important point about about this is that is demonstrates excellently how the diametric opposites of the film see each other, the victim usually small, powerless or unaware whilst the killer is big, deadly and dangerous. |
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