Once Upon a Time in America

Whilst researching for our thriller we were shown shots from once upon a time in america, these shots have become very useful because they show the characters brute like exterior and create links behind the characters true personality and there intentions. One shot that we decided to use in our own thriller was the amazing worm's eye view shot. A worm's eye view allows the audience to see from a characters vulnerable perception and allows the audience to become placed within the situation. Within this shot we notice a lot about the character standing above. He is obviously very dominant due to his large influence among the shot and the fixed look of anger upon his face. We do however see that he is helping the character that we are seeing the shot from the point of, we know this because the character has extended his arm across the shot, almost creating a shield across the worm eyes body. We also know this because the characters trilby hat, (which is a generic convention to most thrillers because it shows social status whilst creating danger and reassuring the idea of power and potential enigmas) is tilted away from the character showing his face plainly, in many ways this is his non verbal way of telling the man on the floor that he has arrived and that he will be okay.
The final reason that this worms eye view is such an effective shot is because the shot is reversed, this could create the idea that the man is feeling faint and is not truly with the scene, or the alternative view that this character is on the opposite side to the other men and therefore he is a stronger character.

Throughout the film close ups and tilts are used in order to reinforce enigmas and to add mystery into the scene. In this shot a close up is used in order for the horrible situation to feel realistic and for the violence to become truly represented. This style of close up would be efficient in our own thriller opening because it would allow the audience to truly understand the murder. For example, when our character is lying dead in the snow, a close up shot of her blood covered face would allow the audience to pity her at the same time as understanding how she died. This could allow her death to be linked to an item later on in the thriller, for example, if she had bullet wounds then a close up of a gun or an empty box of ammunition would link the item with the murder to show the audience who committed the crime.