Research and Planning - Typical Cinematography Style

Horror genre typical cinematography style

Cinematography plays a huge role in how effectively viewers experience suspense and terror in a horror film. The cinematography is arguably more important than any other role in the creation of a film/trailer, as a set can be dressed up with perfect mise-en-scene, a scene can be perfectly edited and have the most perfect score over the top, but if the cinematography is wrong it can completely change the reaction from the audience, the meaning of the scene and ultimately affect the entire film/film trailer. Due to the importance of the cinematography I feel I need to do a lot of research into the typical, or best, style of cinematography for the horror genre. I have been watching some horror trailers to get a sense of camera angles, framing sizes and camera movements which are typical to the horror genre.

The most common camera angle seems to be a high angle with the camera looking down on a character to portray weakness and vulnerability. The framing of horror films is usually quite tight, making the scenes seem claustrophobic adding a higher level of tension and suspense to the film/film trailer. The camera often zooms or pans quickly in horror films to make the audience jump and highlight emotions and scary moments. I will continue to watch trailers specifically for cinematography to make sure I know exactly what I'm doing before starting to film, but I feel I now have a good understanding of the typical style of cinematography used in horror movies.