The Shots

I was originally going to put a storyboard into this post, but I have decided against it after I put an A/V script into my post The Outline. I am however going to talk about why I plan to use different type of shots in the film opening.

I start out with a series of POV, or Point of View shots to indicate that the scenes the audience is seeing is a direct interaction with someone's vision; it is what the character directly sees. I wanted the audience to feel like they are the character participating in the scenes. The scenes start with happier, everyday actions and become darker. The goal is for the audience to feel as if everything was right, and then it went wrong for the character.

After the boy realizes he can hear his thoughts aloud, a high wide angle is used to show the boy in his bedroom. I want to depict the room he is in and show that it is empty aside from the boy in his bed. I also want to give a sense that the boy is small and almost inferior to his surroundings. According to videoeditingsage.com, a high angle can be used to show  a subject as "smaller and/or weaker". That is what I intend to portray the boy as in this scene.

I include two notably unique and crucial shots in my film opening. The first one to appear is the dolly zoom, or the "vertigo" shot. It's when the camera is pulled back from the subject, but the lens is zoomed in on the subject simultaneously. The main purpose is to "tell the viewers that the character in the focus of the camera has just had an emotional shock," according to tvtropes.org. I want the audience to realize that the boy just had a sudden and disturbing realization that will affect his actions and the following sequence. The vertigo shock was first made popular in the 1958 film Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock and has been used in countless films and shows, like Jaws by Steven Spielberg. (pictured below). (I really look forward to shooting this type of shot).

My next unique shot is when the boy runs outside and has he rotates, the camera revolves in the opposite direction around him. All this shot requires is the camera operator to revolve around the subject in a fluid circle. It took me a while to find the official name for it, and it doesn't seem there is a universal one. However, tvtropes.org calls it the "Orbital Shot". It is used to primarily portray that the character is spinning and is appropriate in scenes of confusion or paranoia. I want the audience to realize that the boy is not only confused and scared but that something is very "twisted," hence the twisting camera shot.

Blair, Dan. "Camera Angles High-Angle: Give Your Scene More Impact!" The Video Editing Sage. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

"Vertigo Effect." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Tarantola, Andrew. "How To Recreate Hitchcock's Famous "Vertigo Effect"." Gizmodo. Gizmodo.com, 03 May 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

"Orbital Shot." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.