Sleepy Hollow (Tree of the Dead) Paragraph

The clip seen from the horror film Sleepy Hollow - Tree of the Dead, shows create depth in it's cinematography all throughout the scene. The elements of the cinematography used specifically in this scene was the framing, focus, camera movement, perspective, camera position, exposure and the speed. The use of framing was used extremely well. The rule of thirds was used a lot in particular therefore made the scene very appealing and intriguing for audiences especially as the characters came into the shot on the right side of the rule of thirds but left the rest of frame to be filled by the enormous 'Tree of the Dead'. Therefore made this tree in particular very predominant of the frame and in turn, giving of a sense of being powerful and some what scary. This therefore supported the genre of horror. The element of focus in particular was very interesting. The cinematographer let everything be in focus which therefore had no blurred shots. From this, it enforced the idea that everything in the shot was very important for everyone to see therefore letting the audience see the background therefore give off a sense of a follower/stalker. Therefore reinforcing the concept of the genre. Although, the camera movement was very impressive. At the start of the scene, some shots were shot in the trees. Therefore, this created a very suspicious idea that there was someone constantly watching the main characters. In turn creating a very thrilling scene. Other movement was used by moving with a main character riding a horse through the forest, creating a very intense scene. The perspective was not used as much but was used none the less. This was sometimes used in the perspective of the child servant for the main man character. This was used as put in the perspective of the child to look at the man character to show him cutting the tree with his axe open. However, the camera position changed at various times throughout the scene. This especially as the main character were coming into the frame. They used a high shot to show the characters as weak ones that were not powerful, but on some occasions low shots were used for the main man character to show power of him on the others. Although most low shots were used as the headless hunter rode out of the tree of the dead showing him enormous power and influence over the other characters. Another element used was the exposure. At some points, they used over-exposure at the start of the scene which blended with fog in the scene as it showed the mysteriousness of this forest setting. Although there was many more shots of under-exposure as the scene came into darkness as it was late at night, especilly as the headless hunter came out of the tree. One last element used, was speed. The speed was at a reasonable pace for most of the scene until the hunter came out and had that in slow motion for th shots, therefore exagerating the shots. Although as the main man character was chasing after the hunter and the end of the scene, the pace was fast as the intensity grew to find out who this man was. Therefore these elements of cinematography were used very well to create a horror based scene.