The start of the scene when Barrymore is on the phone to the killer, shows no real suspense or tension through different camera angles. The distress comes from the acting, whereby she is panicking, crying and pleading with the killer over the phone. A chair then gets thrown through the patio door windows, and she runs for the kitchen. As she runs from the room she was originally in to the kitchen, the camera doesn't cut, it just stays fixed on her and moves as she goes across the shot. It then cuts once she picks the knife up, and the camera then goes below her, becoming a low angled shot, and showing the scared emotion on her face.
She proceeds to walk backwards towards a door that leads outside. As she walks backwards, the camera follows her using a handheld shot. This is then followed by a very quick POV shot for a few frames, in which we see the killer run past the door frame in the distance. The handheld then continues as she starts to panic further, and look around for the door. once outside, the camera moves in the same sort of way that Barrymore does, as she closes the door as quietly as possible, the camera gives a very feint shake, and as she collapses herself slightly into the corner, the camera moves with her in the same direction, almost replicating her movements. As she shakes the camera does also, this brings the audience into the story, and helps to authenticate the atmosphere, and make people viewing it as scared as she is.
The camera once again reverts to a POV shot in which she is again looking for the killer. She spots him straight away, and immediately darts back so she is out of his view, but at the same time that she starts to pull back, we also see him move forward out of the shot too. We then see an extreme long shot, showing a car coming down the road, which brings her the thought of some salvation, and an end to the nightmare. After seeing the car, and checking the window again to see where the killer is, she sees him in the room, but not too close, so she decides to duck below the window frame, and briskly move forward, to try and help making contact with her parents in the approaching car. She then comes up to check the window once more, and as she does so, the camera angle reverts back to another POV shot, and we see the killer straight in front of us. There is then a struggle between Barrymore and the killer over the knife, and at which stage the villain is always at a higher point physically to show more power.
Once the Killer has attacked Drew Barrymore, and stabbed her, she then falls to the floor holding her wound. We see a high angle shot here, to show the dominance of the villain, and the helplessness of the victimised, 'damsel in distress'. The frames continue to switch between either a high angle shot of Barrymore, or a low angle shot of the killer 'Ghost Face' again representing a hierarchy of power.
Once again to involve the audience in this terrifying ordeal, when she is laying helpless on the floor, and her neck has been cut, the camera also lays on the floor, writhing in pain with her, and then it switches to the POV, which is upside down of her parents getting out of the car in the driveway.
When she gets up, and tries to get the attention of her parents as they enter the house, the most over powering sound is the non-digetic background music, which creates an atmosphere that appears to explain teat Barrymore will not be able to drag their attention to what is happening with Ghost Face. Int he next few frames once the parents have entered the house, it shows Ghost Face pinning Barrymore to the floor once again, and this time there is a lot of weapon focus, as she pulls his mask off, but the identity is still hidden from the audience.
Once her parents realise half the house is trashed, and that something that was cooking is on fire and setting the house alight, the camera then follows the mother as she panics trying to find her daughter. It doesn't cut in the same way that it didn't right at the start when Drew went into the kitchen. As the parents are on the phone, listening to the sounds of her dying, we see a shot in which Drew Barrymore is being dragged along off the screen, with the phone still in her trailing hand.
You have clearly watched this clip very carefully and identified many of the camera shots that have been used.
ReplyDeleteI now need for you to make this more analytical using the PEER paragraph format, at the moment it's too much like a summary. Also try to be more specific when identifying what camera shots are used in the 2nd paragraph. Don't forget to link the camera shots with how they relate to thriller conventions.