Homework 1 BLK - Film Still and Evaluation

The genre that we selected was a thriller because we realised that we could create some very interesting shots with the limited settings we had. The film still we captured was of an actress buried deep amongst the leaves of a bush with the light hitting her in a haunting way, the image combines various effects which could give the audience hints as to what the genre is.

• Although the shot is a close-up, because we can only see certain features of the girl, we get the same intense feeling that an extreme close-up would provide us with. 
• We made sure the leaves surrounded the girl to form a frame within a frame and therefore a sense of being trapped, this highlights the great sense of enigma that the still creates for the audience. 
• A sense of enigma seems to be a frequent occurrence in thrillers due to the use of weird and unusual shots which aren't always clear. The actress is slightly out of focus, which could be seen as more haunting; it is blurring your vision as an on-looker and making you less aware of what is happening.
• Another convention of thrillers is a strong use of contrasting light and colours to make the shots more extreme. This shot fulfills this by using very bright leaves with darkness in the background. We ensured the beam of sunlight shone directly onto the side of the actress' facial features. 
• Along with the technical codes, the expression on the actress' face was important in representing the genre. She is looking up in an unnerving and unnatural way, reflecting themes of the genre.

I feel that our shot was successful because it really looks like a mysterious shot you might get in a thriller and the mise-en-scene was chosen effectively. It has a strong sense of enigma which helps portray the fact it is part of a flowing narrative and therefore a film still, which is also what we wanted to achieve.

In hindsight, I would have liked to try some other positionings of the actress so that different features were in the light. If we had more time, I think it might have been interesting to try a male actor doing the same shot as well, just to see how it differs.