Cinematography: blog analysis tasks

 Find the opening sequence to a film or TV drama of your choice on YouTube and embed the video in a blogpost called 'Cinematography blog tasks'. 

1) Write an analysis of the cinematography in the opening sequence. Highlight your use of media language and try to cover camera shots, angles and movement using the terminology we have learned in lessons. 

In the beginning there is an establishing long shot which shows the entirety of the house/setting, and tells the audience it is a location of importance. The dogs slowly come into frame in slow motion and then cuts to a closeup of mug. A series medium closeups ensue as the camera is placed in different locations in the house, showing antique decorations and artefacts as the main attraction of each shot, many shown in a low angle. After this, the main character of the opening scene is looking for "Mr Thrombie" however he is not present, as shown when the camera pans to the left. Once the main character enters his bedroom, we see a closeup of her face before anything else, displaying her reaction first. Once this is over it cuts to a tracking shot moving towards the lifeless body of Mr Thrombie.

2) How does the camerawork give the audience clues about the setting, narrative and character?

The camerawork tells the audience almost immediately in the first few minutes of the movie that it will be a murder mystery. This is because, before we see the action, Mr Thrombies death, we are forced to see the main characters reaction first through the use of closeups. Also, due to the use of closeups inside of the home of different decorations it employs enigma codes since we as the audience want to know who this person is.

Secondly, find and analyse one film or TV still image. Add the image to your blogpost. 

3) Analyse the camera shot/angle in the image and what it communicates to the audience. Remember to highlight the media terminology you use.

The image I used is a still image from the movie Joker (2019). In this image we see a low angle shot, and it is also an over the shoulder shot which go hand in hand together well. The use of the over the shoulder gives us a sense of being part of the crowd who are sitting on the seats and we are seeing first hand. The low angle shot makes us perceive the Joker as larger which in turns makes him more menacing and ominous.