My attempt at a thriller shot

This is my attempt at taking a shot which could be in a thriller. I then answered the following questions to try to explain it.

Explain what you were trying to achieve with your shot.
With my shot I was trying to achieve a sense of apprehension and make the audience question the shot. For example why the hand is there and what is going to happen next? I was trying to create suspense and I feel the shot is not obvious as to what is happening so it has a hook for the audience; it draws them in to find out the answers to their questions. Because you cannot see who owns the hand you don’t get the full picture of the situation, you don’t know why they are there and if this was a film, it would be a good linking shot to create anxiety in the lead up to a big incident, it encourages curiousity within the audience.

In what way does it represent ‘thriller’?
The definition of a ‘thriller’ is: a suspenseful adventure story or play or movie.
I think it represents ‘thriller’ because the shot is supposed to add suspense. By not being able to see the whole character you have no idea who they are, what they are doing or anything else about them. You can see the bars on the banister of the stairs, and if this shot was in a film you would pan out to reveal more of the situation. As it is, you cannot directly identify much in the frame except for the hand and the fact that it is grasping onto something in what could be anger or terror. It is because of this unknown factor that the shot creates suspense and makes the audience want to find out answers. A good thriller makes people ask questions, it makes them want to keep on watching and keeps them hooked from the beginning right until the very end.

What works/doesn’t work about your shot?
I think what works about the shot is the element of uncertainty as to where exactly the shot is set and who is in it; it creates anticipation which I think is a key thing in a thriller. I think what doesn’t work about it is perhaps you need something else in the shot, such as someone’s feet coming down the stairs because it looks a little too focused on the hand and as a still shot it doesn’t work as well as it could in a film, because that is all you can see and it doesn’t have a background story to make it obvious as to what it is.