Camera Shots in 'Hit List'

Throughout the planning and filming of our thriller opening we wanted to try and show the different techniques we had and also gained in the process of making our film. Here I am now going to list and explain some of the different shots we used and why in particular we used them and why we thought they would be successful.

The first shot that is shown to the audience is a an establishing shot of Lily walking down the street, as she does this, the camera zooms out to reveal her character. We wanted to make the character and scene look realistic, therefore we dressed Lily in smart clothing to show the audience she is on her way home from work. We also dressed her in these clothes because we didn't want the audience to suspect anything suspicious about her, we wanted them to think she was just an average woman making her way home from a hard day at work.

The next shot that I have chosen to show is when there is a close up of the briefcase, we did this because this is prop plays is a significant part in our film. It’s a practical prop as at the start the audience just think its a normal briefcase from work, but the fact that there is a close up with straight away make the audience doubt maybe what’s inside it and what the relevance of it is.

 Another interesting shot used is of the radio being turned on and also tuned, this is a very significant shot as the radio plays a crucial part in telling a story in our film. The voice over of the radio news reporter is the only dialogue we have in our film. This is because none of us wanted to particularly speak in our film as we thought it wouldn't look professional. Therefore we asked Dan, a friend to do it kindly for us as we thought he had the best radio reporter kind of voice. 

After the radio is turned on and tuned we are shown a pan from Lily’s feet to her head. I think this was a good shot to use because it shows the audience that the character is anxious but they are only thinking she is distressed because there is a killer on the loose. However she is actually tense because the police are investigating her case and she is worried of getting caught and what the consequences might be.

On the next shot shown we used the same pan up technique as in the kitchen again later on in the film where I am shown tied up and being held hostage is fully revealed. However we shot this a bit differently by using the camera handheld. We wanted to get a unsteady camera effect which I thought we did very well and this shaky effect was a good technique to use as it shows the characters nervousness. 

The last shot that i have chosen to show is a particularly interesting shot that I think we used very well. Here you can see Lily’s eyes reflecting in the sharp kitchen knife she is holding which I think to be quite an unusual but good shot to other thriller opening’s we have seen. I think it is used well because it portrays Lily’s character as being evil and sinister which is what we wanted to be conveyed to the audience at this point in our film.