Nightcrawler Film Analysis

Nightcrawler exemplifies the surveillance film genre. Nightcrawler first exemplifies the surveillance film genre by having someone use equipment to film, listen, or spy on a person or event that is happening. In almost all of the movies or series that I have watched in this class, they all have had something to deal with a set of equipment. Louis Bloom, uses a hand held camera to shoot different crime scenes that he has hunted down to find. We have also seen in Rear Window, The Conversation, and The Wire, they all have someone using either a camera or a wiretap to gain information. Bloom videos events such as a shooting, car crash, and a home invasion. The surveillance genre is known for the use of equipment to find out information that either the viewers wanted to know, or something that the viewers did not know they wanted to see until it happens. It adds suspense to the entire plot and how the film is carried out. Bloom is willing to do anything to gain the shot before anyone else. The films that he shoots are very detailed and well thought. One of the main scenes that shows the usage of the camera equipment is when he showed up to the home invasion and walked into the house himself. He captured the bodies laying on the bed and couch. The movie also shows how the equipment has evolved over time. Bloom first started off using a basic video camera with a small light. Over the course of the movie, he upgraded to a larger camera and also had a microphone connected to it to be able to have interviews. Having a male as the one that is doing the surveying is also a specific convention that is special to the surveillance genre. There are not many movies that allow a woman to be the center of the movie or series. Zero Dark Thirty is one exception to this convention. In Rear Window, Jefferies is the one looking through the windows of his neighbors. In the Conversation, Harry Caul is listening to the discussion between the man and woman. Ex Machina, Caleb is the main one that is watching Ava and is getting close to her. In The Wire, McNulty is the main man that is doing the wiretap and is gaining the information. In Inside Man, Detective Frazier was the man on the case and is the one that was on the hunt for Dalton Russell. As you can tell, all of these movies have something in common and that is a man as the leading role and the one that is doing the surveillance. The final convention that defines a surveillance genre is a crime. There is always a crime that is either committed or something that is planned to be done. In Nightcrawler, Bloom caught a home invasion on camera before the cops showed up on the scene. He caught it all on camera and failed to give the information to the police and detectives about what the men looked like that shot the three people in the house. Most …show more content…
Through this sequence, we are able to feel the uncertainly and the unsteadiness that Nina feels around Bloom. The camera is able to capture her face as she looks into the eyes of Bloom when she tells him that she only went on a date with him as a professional move and not for anything romantic. When the camera moves over to Bloom, the viewers are able to see how he is trying to convince Nina that he is the reason the news station is improving and that more people are watching it. We are also able to see how confident Bloom is in himself and his business that he has created. The camera captures his facial expressions such as smirks, smiles, his eyes get big, and even his tone of voice, when he is talking good about himself. The viewers then get a mid shot of Nina and Bloom sitting at the dinner table. You can see Blooms reaction to Nina when he notices that she is not engaging with him has much has he wanted. This is a smart move by Dan Gilroy in the sense of allowing the audience to see the feelings between them and how it is a one sided