How is Camerawork used effectively in the film District 9?

District 9 (2009) is an indie/thriller film of which documents the occurrences in a

futuristic world of which aliens referred to as prawns inhabit and work for
humans. The gripping thriller follows a south African reporter who grows liking to
the aliens and eventually becomes one himself after being infected and goes
against mercenary commands of which gives the film new levels of intensity.
Camerawork is cleverly used in the film as it initially starts with a
handheld/documentary style of which soon develops into a more cinematic way
of shooting. As well as this, the producers could emphasise certain parts of the
film by switching back and forth between filming options of which makes the film
more dynamic.
The producers didnt want the aliens to come across as powerful at all, as in
other films where they usually have superiority over all characters. Instead, they
presented the prawns as incredibly inferior, mischievous and emphasised the
fact that they are just a herd of bugs. We see this in the film where Wilkus is
crawling away from Kobus (the mercenary).

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This initial shot establishes the state of the area where the scene takes place,
allowing the audience to interoperate the mood straight away this shot gives
the audience the thought of isolation and destruction of which they could inter
textualize and compare with areas of poverty and/or war. The way that the
camera follows the rule of thirds and has a third of the shot blocked out by a
brick wall connotes that something is watching Wilkus which initially will
emphasise the tension and put the audience on edge. Allowing any following
developments to have a bigger and more effective impact in the audience
themselves. The long shot itself furthermore belittles Wilkus as the audience can
see how his size compares to the desolate and destructed landscape, the
audience could therefore feel sympathy for the character, moreover, the way
that the longshot compliments the miseen-scene camouflages Wilkus into the
scenery of which connotes how he is wasting away and that he is slowly
 becoming a permanent resident of the area. As well as this, the way that the
camera shakes about/isnt stabilised emphasises the films style of which is a
cinematic documentary which therefore adds realism to the scene as well as
individuality.

This shot carries on after Wilkus is metaphorically belittled by the camerawork.

Koobus, the mercenary, is clearly dominant in this shot due to the low angle of
which he is seen, this not only emphasises his power over Koobus but also
outlines his bravery of which could later be seen as egotistical confidence. To
reinforce this, Wilkus is earlier on compared to the landscape of which shows how
he is injured and weak, whereas koobus is accompanied with a sky backdrop

which therefore develops the idea of binary opposites.

The extreme close up of Wilkus face emphasises to the audience the pure terror
that he is feeling, this goes against connotations of a typical thriller film as the
protagonist tends to usually be brave and powerful throughout the film, however
in District 9, Wilkus is presented as an ordinary man of whom fits the role of an
unexpected hero as the film develops. The way that this shot is composed is
significantly intriguing as the background, unlike the other shots, is drawn out of
focus, leaving the audience to pay their full attention to Wilkus face, through
this, we can see his infected/transformed eye of which is mainly centred in the
screen. This goes against the idea of avoiding the middle yet draws attention to
the eye which will leave the audience feeling more sympathetic towards the

character, rather than afraid.

This shot can be interoperated in a few ways of which is a brilliant way to incise
the audience and make them think thoroughly about what is going on. Initially,
the long, high angle shot displays the aliens as inferior, of which is controversial
considering that they are winning their fight against Koobus, this could allow the
audience to see the camera angles as meaningless regarding power to then
allow them to rethink how Wilkus was presented at first in this clip. As well as
this, they could regard other aspects of the films cinematography to grasp a
deeper understanding of the film as a whole. This is clever as the film is a South
African production with a low budget, therefore they didnt have too much
equipment or production cost to embed too many things for the audience to
infer. Therefore, by having different meanings and representations, they are able
to immerse the viewer completely without overproducing the movie. On the
other hand, the shot seems to be similar to a recording from a reporting
helicopter, therefore again reinforcing the style of film and reiterating the idea
that the producers are trying to convey, that the whole concept is a
documentation of which makes the plot more realistic to the viewers.
 To conclude, District 9 is a hard film to analyse regarding the use of camerawork
as the budget and concepts can clash to make inferences contradictive and
surprising, however, the basic use of camerawork to initialise levels and
authority pars with the hidden connotations and inferences that the
audience/viewers are able to make. District 9 clearly aimed to maintain the idea
of a documentary but also incorporate a cinematic aspect of which they could
take advantage of in terms of adding meanings to each shot, of which they would
genuinely find difficult to do if the film was shot exactly like a documentary/news
report of which you would usually see on TV.