Shot-Types & Camerawork of

Horror Movie Trailers

Close-Up Shots Usually, close-up shots and camerawork in the scaring of audiences as they show the closest view of what the movie’s antagonist looks like. The upper shot from The Boy shows the antagonist, a ventriloquist dummy looking eerily directly into the camera. This angle of camerawork is used to see the paleness in the face in order to scare the audience as paleness can relate with ghostliness and also the realism of the doll to a normal boy. The centre shot from Blair Witch focuses on an spooky sign with a message. The shot is used to pick up the message’s meaning as well as signify its eeriness and relation to the horror film. As seen in the bottom shot, the close up of the girl’s zombie-like foot in Maggie shows the pure horror of her character, suggesting she’s evil. This is done to glorify the horror and unnerve the audience watching.

Establishing ShotCamerawork like this is useful as it helps to establish the setting and surroundings of the movie's main characters. The second top image taken from The Boy shows the creepy looking manor house which is conventional as this is where most horror films take place. The panning shot from the left to right coming from behind a tree also adds a scary element because. The middle establishing shot from Blair Witch shows a forest, typical of a horror movie setting. The idea of isolation and away from society gives the impression a scary thing can occur and warns the audience of where the film will take place. The bottom shot, taken from the film Maggie shows a destroyed landscape and despair, a recurrence found in certain subgenres of horror films e.g. post-apocalyptic horror. This is done so the audience can feel and appreciate the landscape of which the characters have to work around. Furthermore, the smoke helps create a mist in the background, suggesting to the audience something sinister and evil may be lurking around. The top image from We Are What We Are also establishes the weather conditions, where we can see pathetic fallacy coming into play as rain is a negative connotation linked to negativity in horror villainy.

WeaponryCamerawork can be used in different ways to signify the use and danger of a type of weapon, usually that of the antagonist/villain. In the top shot of Creep, we see a grainy first-person footage clip of the antagonist with an axe. The grainy effect helps to disguise the view of the scene slightly, increasing the suspense and unknown nature for the audience’s purpose but also helps to shield the villain’s identity. From the middle shot of Prisoners, we see the main character holding and aiming his gun. The camera angle shows us the darkness around him which in turn elevates suspense as something big is either going to or already happening. In the bottom shot from Maggie, we can see a police officer in what looks to be special equipment along with a gun, informing the audience that danger is present – danger is a common recurring theme of horror movies.

Over-the-Shoulder Shot

The ‘over-the-shoulder’ shot helps to give the viewpoint of someone or something from a third person perspective behind the character. This notably seems to be a view of either the villain or a suspicious character in the plotline. This is regular shot amongst horror movies as it can help to display the main character’s horror when witnessing like the audience the villain for the first time. This is shown in the above-shot from

Point of View Shot

The above shot taken from the movie Creep shows a wolf mask as the main character opens up the cupboard. This shows the audience the exact vision of the cameraman/actor’s and the wolf looking directly into the lens of camera creates a scary encounter.

The point of view shot shows the same angle of vision as the audience, and is particular affective when used in first-person supernatural films or even in film scenes from the point of view of the primary antagonist or villain. This is because it gives a much more realistic feel to film, as if the audience are there

Long Shot Long shots are useful in horror films because they are able to capture the entire setting and helps to create an atmosphere on eeriness. As shown below in The Boy, the long shot is used to signify the mystery of the long road into a sinister-looking forest.