After our group spent roughly 30 minutes taking over 30 photos, I photographed this:
Description
- Tilted Frame to create a sense of distortion and make the viewer feel uneasy whilst the knife is more level in the frame to make the villain seem in control.
- Low Angle to make the viewer feel more powerless and make the villain seem more dominant.
- Mid Close - Up so that the viewer can't see much of the villain (apart from a glove and part of a black jacket) leaving them unsure about who it could be.
- Low - Key Lighting so that viewer feels insecure and wondering about what is in the darkness.
- Shaft Of Light On The Blade so that it's clear that it is the focal point and that it is important to the narrative.
- Black Glove And Jacket for connations of darkness and evil whilst it covers any features which could reveal who the villain is or what they look like.
- Blood On The Knife suggests that somebody has just been killed and this is the middle of a killing spree.
- Holding The Knife, Primed To Stab so that the viewer has narrative expectations of somebody being killed.
- Located In Front Of A Door At The Top Of A Staircase suggests that this is a chase perhaps and / or that the next victim is just behind the door. This is also a fairly familar location so that it frightens the viewer more by making them feel as though they could be invaded in this way.
Achieving The Shot / Effect
To achieve the effect, we went to a small room which could be locked and took several pictures. However, because this room was so dark I decided to open the door to let in some natural light, acting as a key light. Next, I lowered the tripod to less than 50cm to make it a low angle shot. Then, I tilted the tripod's head clockwise to make it a tilted frame. Subsequently, I asked my model to pose so that the knife was tilted clockwise to match the camera so that it would enhance the sense of distortion I mentioned earlier. After, I asked the light director to shine a narrow shaft of light onto the knife to make it stand out a lot more as the focal point of the shot.
Successful Points
- The blade is clearly the focus of the shot and stands out a lot more than anything else.
- The tilting of the camera and knife created the sense of distortion I was aiming for.
- It is impossible to see any part of the model apart from their clothes for the uncertainity I wanted.
What I Would Do Differently In Hindsight
- This picture is definetly underexposed so I'd like to take this shot in a lighter room or with an additional light source.
- I would try to get the knife to be 100% vertical in the frame although that would be quite hard to get perfectly right.
- I'd also like the background to be a lot further away from the camera so that it's more clear as a door at the top of a staircase.
- I think that the knife could also be slightly closer to the camera to see the details of the blade and blood for an added fear factor.
