Homework 1 (BLK) Reflections on Shots

We chose to focus on the horror genre for the majority of our shots; this is because we felt that we would be able to portray this genre more easily than other genres under camera, lighting and setting constraints. In the foreground is a young man looking through a window, and his face can just be seen in the darkness. Not much can be seen in the background, but the lights which are below the subject, show that he is high up in the room. 

Representation of the genre
We tried to use extreme lighting in our shots to be reflective of the genre, so the majority of the shot is in black or brown darkness, targeting viewers fear of the dark and what may be in it; in this case the young man. It also plays on fears of the unknown and raises enigma in the viewers minds; we do not know much about this character, making him seem villainous and secretive. The shadowed face also helps to portray an evil side to the viewer, and together with the blank expression and under-lighting it is made clear that this character is the villain. The crosses on the window distance the viewer from the the subject, but do not look like protection from the villain; the viewer does not feel at ease or safe. The lights in the background can be seen, and the subject is above them, this connotes that the man may be watching something above. This generates enigma and fear. 

Achieving this effect

The natural lighting of a school setting is very high key, especially in the hall we were in which had many large windows. To try and darken the image the camera was set to sepia; we were unable to change ISO, aperture and shutter speed on our given camera. We also shot this in a reflective window neighboring a dark room. A pag-light shone under the subjects face so that he is only somewhat lit and can be seen partially. The crosses are from the window of which the reflection was shot.

What is successful?
I think overall the shot was successful. The genre is clear so it enables viewers to draw on pop culture of horror movies, creating expectations as well as enigma. I think the shot is reasonably  well framed: there are no blank spaces or gaps that could be otherwise filled. The shot is close enough to see the subjects expression, and the background can be seen as well. The lights of the hall can be seen and so the angle is clear. The soft focus also helps generates a mysterious tone. 

What can be improved?
The setting of the shot is unclear, and it is hard to work out what is in it. If this had been more obvious the viewer would have focused on this and the discovery of the figure in the foreground would be more shocking. Although I like how the face is partially lit, I would make the bits in light a bit brighter if possible, so the expression on the face is more obvious, and the viewer does not have to work to understand the image. I would also tilt the camera down further and zoom in; cutting off the black and the top of the image and enabling more background to be seen.