The Use of Claustrophobic Spaces as a Cinematographic Tool: Panic Room-D. Fincher (2002)

The use of the art of cinematography in conveying the emotions desired to be reflected on the audience in cinema films has an important role, especially in the spatial arrangement and design of cinema spaces. While the spaces discussed in the films are sometimes produced virtually, the spaces that exist/are built in real life are either used directly or designed. These usage possibilities and contingencies allowed by the technology of the period are also a facilitating tool for the emotions that are to be conveyed to the audience within the scope of the film. In addition to different shooting techniques, the arrangement of spatial data such as width, height, and light has been frequently used in this emotion transfer. The space setups of the scenes where positive emotions are to be reflected are often different from the space setups of the scenes where negative emotions are handled. Creating a claustrophobic atmosphere by setting up narrow, dark, closed spaces in some scenarios that are intended to be reflected in emotions such as anxiety and fear is frequently encountered, especially in thriller/horror movies.

Panic Room, one of the important movies in which the feeling of claustrophobia is handled with different dimensions, primarily allows the audience to weigh their feelings towards a closed space with the reflections of its name. It is disturbingly reminiscent of the familiar problems of modern social psychology, with the help of the word “panic”. Panic Room, directed by David Fincher in 2002, is a striking movie that evokes feelings of tension, fear, excitement, and claustrophobia with its cinematic space design and camera movements. In the movie, which is about a mother (Meg) and her daughter (Sarah) struggling with thieves on their first night in their new home, the building that is shown as the house where the events occurred is in New York Manhattan Upper West Side. Exterior and interior shots, based on this building and the street it is located on, were shot in spaces built in the studio environment. This study aims to examine the spaces where the interior and exterior shots of the film are made architecturally. The reflection of claustrophobic emotions, especially emphasized in the interior shots, on cinematic techniques, and the processing of these emotions through space are discussed.