T.G321
Cyberbully (Ben Chanan, UK, 2015)
As one of our main ideas focusses on the theme of a man being hacked, I watched Cyberbully (2015) on Channel 4, as it features extremely pertinent camerawork and ideas.
The introduction to this television film shows a girl, Casey Jacobs, singing, from the webcam's perspective, thus immediately establishing the theme of technology related voyeurism. The song, Hip Hop Kids by Portugal. The Man, fits seamlessly with the narrative, and subtly constructs a synthetic facade of resilience within the girl's character to anybody who knows the song.
The song's significance continues in introducing the antagonist's presence in the diegesis, as it stops and changes whilst Casey stands back, confused. Her computer then begins to lag as pop-ups appear.
Whilst talking to another character on Skype, the audience is shown the screen, which is being recorded from within the computer, i.e. a screen recording as opposed to filming a screen with a camera. The "camera" slowly pans to the smaller pop-up, and zooms, representing its significance. The "camera" slowly pans around the screen, following the mouse's action. For example, it pans to show Twitter as Casey is reading a tweet, whilst panning back to show the character's faces, and therefore their reactions. The cuts back to faces from pop-ups increase in pace as the argument climaxes.
The film is particularly unconvetional in that it occurs in real time, i.e. there are no jump cuts.
A directly overhead shot, showing Casey crouching at her computer in a stance of confusion, zooms out extremely slowly. Another recurring camera-angle is a mid-shot of Casey, with the top of her laptop in the foreground. The camera is pointed at an extremely tight angle to the computer as "typing..." is present , obscuring some of the screen's content and increasing the tension. The camera then cuts to a point-of-view shot as the messages are received.
The non-diegetic sound radically changes to slightly comedic opera music as Casey types a tweet on Nathan's account, representing her thoughts as mischevious, yet with no intention of serious consequences. This increases the drama of her shock later on, as the juxtaposition with the sombre tone of the hacker makes her realise her wrongdoing, at which point the music slows down, and there are more shot-reverse-shots of close-ups of her face, to the messages in question.
In a film featuring a character who spends a lot of time alone, there is a risk of the audience being unable to relate to the character, which would make the narrative unengaging. In Cyberbully, this is avoided by Casey talking to herself frequently, offering an insight into her emotions, encouraging the audience to feel more concern for her wellbeing.
After a murderous face appears on the screen and Casey screams, the action cuts to the title – a simple yellow font on a black background. A waveform is edited into the design, referring to the antagonist's main personification in the film – its voice.
The development of the storyline includes the subtle development of the antagonist. For example, at the start the hacker only communicates by writing. The hacker then appears to evolve, and begins to communicate via audio. The antagonist's ability to evolve increases the threat, and therefore the audience's engagement.
As Casey reads a message on the computer, the camera follows the text, with a purple tint, created by the screen's reflection, acting as a marker.
Whilst Casey sits at the computer, a key light is used to illuminate her face. It is disguised as the light from the computer, and is subtle enough to draw attention to her expression, without seeming unnatural.
A similar film is Unfriended (2014). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7jWim-6TaA
As the TV film has only recently been premiered on Channel 4, a full video is not yet available on the internet, but the trailer can be viewed here: