Camera Angles Deconstruction

Since my group’s film opening is a slasher horror chase scene, I decided deconstructing the camera angles from this chase in ‘Halloween 2’ would be useful in gaining ideas for our own.

This is the clip of the scene I used to deconstruct:

This chase scene begins with the killer shown in a low angle, making him appear superior and powerful. Since he is dominating the screen and shown to be sinister, this angle suggests to the audience that he is the villain.

This close-up angle is effective because it is shows the killer’s feet walking down the stairs. This is a really good idea and effective way of using the angle because it creates a sense of fear and builds tension for the viewer. We can see that the villain is chasing her, but we do not directly see him.

This long-shot is used to show the audience how the victim is desperately trying to escape. In this angle we are able to see her whole body struggling to get away, but also her distraught facial expressions.

The next angle is a close-up which is used to show the girl’s facial expression. In this shot we can see that she is very scared which effectively shows her fear and portrays her as the victim.

The close-up angle of the girl’s feet struggling to get away is also really effective in establishing she is the victim. It emphasises her desperation to get away and again suggests that she is the victim in this scene.

The long-shot angle is used here to again show the girl in desperation to escape the killer. Here we see her entire body running towards the camera, emphasising her struggle and vulnerability.

This mid-shot is used to show the villain following the girl. The use of this angle is effective because we still cannot see the identity of the killer which builds tension

Lastly, an extreme long shot is used to show the victim. This effectively shows how alone she is, as we are shown the isolation of the scene. This suggests she is vulnerable and again portrays her as the victim.

This deconstruction task was really useful because it gave me some ideas for our own opening scene. I particularly liked the use of the close-up shots showing the character's feet, and the low angle to portray the dominant villain.