Camera Angles in Thrillers Pt. I

In this post I will be analysing key camera angles in select thriller films and the effects that they contain.

SE7EN:
The first camera angle used in the opening is a close up on a book. The close up is on the top of the book as it is lying on something. The close up cause shadows to be more pronounced and causes light to be distorted so that while the view of the pages may be pronounced, any image beyond that is blurred and hard to distinguish. This use of light to put extra emphasis on the book begins the film with a very dark and gloomy feel to it and sets the tone for what is to come. It may also lead a viewer to feel uncertain of just what is going to come and why so much emphasis is on a simple book.

The next scene shows a tilted close up on a diagram of two hands. The camera here is not completely stable and shakes just enough that if you are paying attention it gives the impression of shivering. This along with the shadows moving across the diagram gives the scene a sinister feel to it and that while the diagram itself may not play any significant part in the film, the connotations that it has might.

The next scene offers close ups of different pieces of machinery. The individual pieces of machinery are very hard to recognise not only due to the fact that the machinery you see is general parts such as gears and hinges, but that the scene is dark and the camera 'flashes' often. This gives the effect that these machines are supposed to be intentionally dark and enigmatic and that the viewer should be disturbed when they are near.

The next scene is a close-up of a man slicing pieces of skin off of his fingers with a razor blade. Due to the camera using the same effects mentioned earlier this whole scene becomes extremely disturbing. The mans fingers have a lot of dead skin on them and they appear rough and callused, giving the man a corpse like look. This could leave the audience wondering just why the man is mutilating himself and why he appears dead, which ties in to the film where the killer (to avoid spoilers) 'cuts' a victim with a similar item.

The scenes continue on in this fashion with each scene being dark and normally a close-up on an item. This would leave a viewer not only slightly disturbed by what they have seen but curious as to what the items and the way they were filmed have to do with the story of the film.

Link to video:
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/