Research and Planning 10: Composition

Composition is incredibly important in thriller films. They allow the audience to focus on more than one thing in the frame at any one time. It is key that our composition is balanced, otherwise having one character taking up too much of a frame can draw the audience away from the other sections of the frame. This can cause issues when trying to build enigma and tension, especially in films where the main focus of the frame is behind a character. An example of this is shown below.

This is a scene from the film Drive (2011) where the woman in the background is the main focus of this scene. As you can see, despite Oscar Isaac taking up half of the frame and Carey Mulligan being out of focus, she is still the main focus of the scene. During this shot, you can see her body language change and her facial expression, all while Oscar Isaac's character dominates the frame. The audience will be able to pick up on the subtle shifts in her facial expression and body language, even if the other character is taking up most of the frame.

This is what we will be doing with our characters in our sequence. An example where a balanced composition can be used is during the final sections of the chase between JD and Spark. Towards the end of the chase, we have an over the shoulder shot of Spark looking back, revealing JD in hot pursuit. This composition will be much like the example of Drive. Spark's shoulder will be taking up the bottom right/bottom middle section of the frame, whilst JD will be positioned in the middle/towards the top left of the frame. Despite the focus of the camera switching to JD, the audience will able to see Spark's shoulder and will even be able to make out his frightened facial expression as JD closes in on him.

It should be noted that although we intend the main focus to be on our characters and their chase through the woodlands, we aim to show the scenery of our setting using still shots and medium long/long shots. By doing this, we will be able to perfectly frame our characters' chase and allow the audience to notice their surroundings so that they can use this knowledge to raise questions about the characters' location.