Single camera techniques are commonly used in film and television productions due to lower costs. Quarantine is a found footage horror film that effectively uses single camera techniques to create a sense of realism and tension for viewers. Key aspects of the film's single camera technique include shaky camerawork during intense scenes, interviews filmed with a single static camera, and minimal editing to maintain the documentary style. These techniques immerse viewers in the story and help establish Quarantine as an authentic zombie horror film.

1. Task 2
Single camera techniques play a major part in the media industry whether it be a music
video, film or even a television series (sit-com). This technique is used and called when during
production, one camera is used per scene. It mainly depends on the scene. Every shot and
angle is used and recorded by just one camera. This is mainly used as mainly producers or
directors are given a very tight and fixed budget for them to use more than one camera. In
other cases, it may not be needed due to lack of availability of the space on set for more than
one camera. This technique is usually used because it is mainly cost effective. You also don’t
have to worry about getting seen by another camera on set. Yet if it was an action movie with
a scene where you would have a building scene collapse, you may use multiple cameras. This
is because you must catch different angles and can only have that one chance to film.
There are many examples of single camera productions that are still used today. One is a
famous sitcom called Modern family. Modern family in every episode has a scene where the
characters are interviewed discussing their situation as you can see below.
We can tell that this is a single camera production as they are being interviewed by only one
camera. We can tell as the camera is placed at one angle throughout. The same happens
during the whole show and it works well most of the times.
Another example of single camera productions is Calvin Harris’s music video for ‘This Is What
You Came For’ featuring Rihanna. Throughout the whole music video, Rihanna is dancing and
singing into one camera that is placed without any different angles shot. The music video had
different effects behind Rihanna maybe on a green screen yet was simple and done with a
single camera.

2. The 180 degree rule works very well along with single camera productions as it is done very
easily. This is also because the rule is not broken, for instance if you want to capture another
angle of the scene as a whole, with the use of tracking you can easily shift to the other side.
In this way you also do not have to worry about getting in the way of another camera. Yet it
also depends on the space of the set.
There are many advantages and disadvantages when it comes to single camera production.
One advantage is there is more use of space to allow the camera to track if needed. Because
of single camera production it also takes less time to set up the camera and get the crew
ready as there is one camera rather than multi. For instance setting up one tripod and
positioning it. It’s also very cost effective as you need one camera man behind one camera
and one equipment such as tripods and dolly’s. Editing is also very easily done as the editor’s
only need to take footage from one camera in order rather than multi cameras.
On the other hand, there are a few disadvantages. For instance, there may be a chance of
continuity error. Using a single camera may also be very time consuming as the actors must
re do the scenes for the camera to be placed at different shots and angles. There may also be
a limitation of scenes, for example, if there was an explosion scene used, there would only be
one shot unless you create another explosion yet it would cost more money.
Quarantine
Quarantine is a horror movie which is directed by John Erick Dowdle in 2008. As well as
horror the movie has a sub-genre of zombies. This is as the film itself shows how people get
infected by a deadly disease and start to turn aggressive, killing other humans. Yet if the
movie was about demons and spirits it wouldn’t be a zombie sub-genre horror movie. There
are many conventions which make this a horror film due to lighting, the plot and much more
that I will explain. Firstly, the narrative structure of the film suited the plot very well. First off
the ending was left closed.

3. This is as Angie (Jennifer Carpenter) is shown dragged away by a zombie. This tells the
audience that she is now dead and there were survivors left. However if the film ended with
Angie not being dragged, that would’ve been open-ended as the audience would have
wondered what had happened to her such as, did she make it? The film itself was single
stranded and this is because there was one simple story shown from beginning to end of the
film.
The director started off with a reporter at a fire station and slowly shown how due to an
emergency 911 call they end up at an abandoned building. If there was more than one story
shown during the film, then it would have been multi strand. The story goes in a linear and
chronological way as the story starts off with the present and goes forward in time. There are
no use of flashbacks as well which makes the film linear. Yet if the film started off with as the
woman making the virus then showing the reporter, the film would be non-linear.
Camerawork is used very simply throughout the film as it was found footage (P.O.V). Found
footage means as the raw footage was found and just played as displayed in order on the
camera. This also means how the footage could be found at any time, for example, a year
after the incident or couple weeks after, later releasing it to the public.

4. A shot proves the film is found footage as Scott even kills 2 zombies using the camera and
gets blood on the lens then cleaning it after.
This saves money for the film budget as well as there as a single camera production used
throughout. This gives an impression to the audience as if their watching a documentary as
the audience can see one camera is used throughout as the film is mainly focussed on the
reporter and her cameraman Scott (Steve Harris). So the audience see everything in Scott’s
view. This is because it makes it conventional for a horror film as the audience feel horrified
and scared due to the camerawork, it reflects real-life, as if the footage seen is real and has
happened. As the film is found footage, the director managed to keep the camera on filming
throughout rather than dropping it and saving their own lives.
This is again to keep the verisimilitude as Angie says to film everything as what any reporter
always says. Scott manages to keep the camera at relatively eye level. This is so the viewers
are not disturbed and can relate as if they are the camera’s eye.
There are many steady shot at the beginning to keep the viewers comfortable and it makes
them feel safe. However when the zombies start making an appearance, there’s a lot of
shakiness with the camera. This is as people are running for their lives and realistically, we
shake too while running. In this manner verisimilitude is kept and the audience feel disturbed
and uncomfortable as we prefer steady shots. Also when Scott tries to enter the fire track the
shots are shaky as roads are also bumpy.

5. There many different shots and camera angles as well. Most shots that were taken were
mainly mid-shots, this is because the director wanted to show the audience not just facial
expressions but body language as well. Long-shot is also used in this manner to show actions
and body languages of other characters.
Close-ups are used as well mostly to capture facial reactions of the characters to make the
audience more aware of the situation. For example, we can tell if the character is crying in a
close-up as we see tears falling down their face.
Angles such as high and low angles are used such as when Angie and the rest are going up or
down the stairs, Scott looks up and down to see if there’s any danger or anything they should
be aware of.
There was a lot of jump scares used as it’s conventional for horror films. Such jump scares
were used in many scenes such as when Angie, Jake and Scott are waiting in the elevator, as
the door opens, the girl jumps in attacking Angie and Jake tries to save her.

6. Especially when the woman is handcuffed to the stairs, as they try to get past she tries to
reach for them and attack them.Also you may notice when they see Ms. Espinoza as the first
zombie (infected), the camera shows her in a low angle to show how she is more powerful
than them which makes her look scarier. If she was seen in a normal eye level, it wouldn’t
have been scarier as much to the audience. There are a few high angle shots taken for
example when the two men from CDC (Central Disease Control) came and locked a room
with the two victims. Scott tries to get a view by climbing over to capture what they were
experimenting.
This is very conventional for a horror movie as the audience know something is wrong and a
lot of tension is built. There are a lot of over the shoulder shot as Scott is always behind Angie
or other characters taking part in conversations. Tracking is used the most. This is as Scott
takes the camera where ever he goes, while running or walking.
In the film, during post production, hardly any editing was needed for the film. This is
because everything must be kept natural to show the audience how real everything is. The
pace was kept natural, for instance, if the character would run so would the actions and
camera would move very fast. If they were walking slowly so would the camera as we Scott
again is in charge of the camera and films everything. There is no need for change of angle in
between such as cutaways because everything is found footage and the film itself is a single
camera production. Yet if the film was not found footage then it may have been needed as
there would be a chance of a multi camera production. If the film was edited, the
verisimilitude would have taken away and would not suit the role of the film. There however
was a use of ellipses but done in a manner where it made sense. The editors had done this by
making the camera look it had a technical difficulty and may have skipped forward in time a
few seconds not hours.

7. This is because if they had skipped a few hours it wouldn’t make sense as the camera would
be on the whole time until the battery ran out. So where would they have found a charger?
Also there would have been a lot of important scenes or incidents missed out. For example,
who had died and how? There was not a lot of editing needed as the actors had managed
their time very well with their actions. The actors were able to make everything naturally
constant, such as chasing scenes. For example, when the officer was a zombie and ran after
Angie and Scott, they showed him chase them then showed Angie trying to find the key to
open the door. When she had, Scott looked back and perfectly the officer had timed his
position on getting close to them while Angie opened the door.
With Mise En Scene, firstly, lighting is very conventional in a horror movie. The directing has
used great contrast in the film with lighting which suited the horror genre. Firstly lighting is
very conventional in a horror movie. The directing has used great contrast in the film with
lighting which suited the horror genre. The director has used great contrast with locations
and lightings to create juxtaposition. This is because the characters go from one good and
happy place to a cold and disturbed old building. As an audience, we can see at first we are
the fire station which makes us feel very safe and comfortable even though its night time.
This is also because of the use of lighting which is bright and makes us feel comfortable.

8. However if the light was dark, we would feel as if something was not right with the location
and something bad was going to happen. As the Angie and Scott along with Jake and Fletcher
(and the rest of the firefighting crew) head to the 911 emergency you can tell there is low key
lighting due to the night time. This is a typical and traditional horror convention as all
paranormal or scary things happen mostly during the night. Even when they reach the old
building, the light is all low-key making the audience feel dark and uncomfortable, even
scared. If they had gone during day-time the audience would not feel as scared as everything
is bright and looks comfortable. The old building itself has tight spaces which makes the
audience feel claustrophobic as the building is also sinister. The colour schemes were mostly
blue and grey which gave a cold effect especially when the CDC enter the room to their
experiments and testing. Yet at the very end, when Angie and Scott are left in the room,
everything goes pitch black when the camera light stops working.
This makes the characters and the audience very uncomfortable as we cannot see the
surrounding properly until Scott uses his night vision on the camera. Even then nothing is as
clear as it was which disturbs our eyes.
There were many different props used which are used in a horrific way such as the drill is
used by the CDC members to drill a hole in the head to get a brain sample.

9. This makes the film quite explicit as the audience view disturbed scenes, conventional for a
horror film. The gun is a very important prop and also has a deep meaning. The gun itself
symbolises power and control as it makes sense as any police officer does. However in the
film, the gun is used to threaten people as control was lost and everyone was afraid. It
reflects reality as people would do the same in a situation to protect themselves.
The keys were very important which was taken by the caretaker. The keys had had access to
every room in the old building which was to help them escape from zombies as well. The keys
itself played the part of their lifeline as without them they would have been stuck and left
dead. If they hadn’t had the keys, they would have all been dead and the story would have
been short and everyone dead instantly.

10. What made the film more conventional is where they find the apartment where the infection
started. There were ‘Armageddon’ and ‘End of The World’ titled newspapers which freak the
audience out and showed how insane the character was. There was also a tape recorder with
a lot of lab rats to show experiments were being done. That explains to the audience how the
infection in the building started as Ms. Espinoza had a rat aggressively come out of her
apartment which probably bit Ms. Espinoza and her dog whom bit and attacked the rest.
There was even a tape recorder which played a voice of maybe a human being experimented
on as at the end there were 2 different characters we had not seen. The settings were quite
old fashioned showing people living there were not as wealthy as other Americans in Los
Angeles. Even the music teacher’s television was old fashioned from about a 90’s era.
The connotation of colour was used great. For example, the police officer’s uniform and fire
fighters were navy blue which symbolises bravery and loyalty. However the police officer was
scared and thus used his gun as he was threatened. Jake however was very calm. He was
brave enough to kill and fight the zombies. He was also loyal to the people trying his best to
save them. For example, Jake had tried to save Lawrence who had helped him rather than
saving his own life. He also helped Angie and Scott throughout guiding them and killing any
zombie in their way risking his own life leading to his death. Especially the caretaker, he was
elderly and had grey hair with a grey beard.

11. Grey itself signifies wisdom and responsibility. That’s why he was trusted with the keys by the
landlord as he was mature and responsible.
This film had no non-diegetic sound as it would have taken away the verisimilitude. This is as
it is found footage. For example, if u were to record a video, there would be no background
music added as its raw footage. You would have to add it by editing which would take the
realism away unless music was playing on television or a speaker. That is why even in one of
the rooms. The music teacher had music playing on the stereo, yet was not heard until the
camera got closer and he turned it off as he forgot to as they were all asked to evacuate their
rooms at the beginning. However there was asynchronous diegetic sound. This is again to
keep the reality as we constantly hear the loud helicopter and sometimes the police sirens.
These sounds kept realism going as especially with a helicopter, anyone can hear them from
a mile away. They wanted to show how they were trapped and escaping was impossible. Alot
of synchronous sounds were used aswell which was very important such as dialogue. There
was alot of shouting which is conventional in a horror movie as characters in the film are
terrified. Jake was a brave character and was quite formal as he was sort of a ‘gentleman’ and
was a good leader. He kept calm throughout the film yet was angry at the police officer as he
tried forcing everyone to take the wrong actions. Jake then went informal and used abusive
language as anyone would do in his situation. Fletcher was very informal as he was making
sexual hints and comments to Angie. Especially when they were making their way to the old
building, he said there “an 8 at 3”.

12. This meant a girl was rated 8/10 at 3 o’clock. Angie asked if they were codes for anything he
replied saying he was rating women.
Angie was very formal at the beginning as she was a reporter and had to act very professional
as everything was being filmed. Yet towards the scenes where they discovered the zombies,
she had lost her mannerism and panicked, swearing and screaming in fear. But it created
verisimilitude as no one would be calm in such a horrific situation. The 4th wall was definitely
broken as she was speaking and looking at the camera as it was a documentary they were
filming. Throughout the film Angie kept looking at the camera along with all the other
characters as they were uncomfortable and didn’t know how to react. For, example when the
police officer at the beginning looks in the camera and asks why they were filming?
These zombies were traditionally not conventional for a horror movie. This is as traditional
zombies watched on screen before are slow and walk, just having the urge to feed and eat
people. For example, in the walking dead, the zombies walk towards their enemy calmly and
eat them once attacked. However the zombies in this film are fast and run, they are also
aggressive and just was to attack and kill you rather than eat you. However they had zombies
who were infected which is always the reason why for their behaviour and being.
Conjuring 2
The Conjuring part 2 is a horror film with a sub-genre of supernatural. This is as the story of
the film is based on a true story of a family in London whom one of the family member is
possessed by an evil spirit and showing supernatural incidents among the family and house.
The film also includes 2 more genres such as Thriller and Mystery. Thriller is sown in the film
such as scenes which create tension and suspension among the audience. For example, when
Johnny walks towards the dark kitchen as they hear a noise coming from there. This gets the
audience wondering if Johnny will be dragged in, killed or the demon coming out instead. A
lot of mystery is shown for example, when Lorraine is given a riddle by Bill Wilkins when she

13. enters the spirit realm. The audience wonder what it means themselves and until Lorraine
finally cracks the riddle which was the demons name, Valek.
A quick pan is used to match how fast a character could look round, for example, the part
where Lorraine finds the mirror in the beginning and the nun appears from cutting and
quickly panning back and forth to show her reaction. The cuts can also be used to go back
and forth to create a jump scare for the audience, for example, the part where Ed Warren
and Peggy are in the basement, Ed is attempting to fix the flooding problem in the basement
which creates a climax of the scene. The shot is looking down at the water, showing nothing
there; then it changes back to Peggy looking over towards Ed in a close up showing how
frightened she is as she sees something unnatural and then finally back to the water again
with the old man’s face coming out the water in a close up to give a jump scare.
The story for Conjuring 2 is linear and goes in chronological order. Despite there being two
stories for each family and a vision, the story keeps going forward in order to link both
stories. They do this by showing what both families do and how the Hodgson family need the
Warren family’s help. The story is left closed at the end with no cliff hangers. This is because
the antagonist was defeated by Lorraine giving a happy ending. Also the director probably
didn’t want to make another sequel and was done with it. The film is multi stranded as again
there were two families shown to use contrast on how the Hodgson family, who have a
possessed child need the Warren family, who are experts in such situations.
The close up is used in order to fill the screen as if the audience can see him up close and
horrify them otherwise in a mid or long shot, there’s not really much of a scare as you cannot
see the horrific face closely. There was a lot of close-ups used which was conventional for a
horror movie as it showed a lot of jump scares and reactions. For example, when Valak, the
nun, comes out the painting, it goes from a long shot to mid to close up. This is because it

14. makes it look as if the nun is moving closer towards the audience which horrifies them. A
close up is also used on the toy of the crooked man which is possessed. This is to show the
audience that something is wrong with the toy and shows the story inside of the crooked
man chasing a little child. This also explains why we see the crooked man later on the film
scaring Tim.
There were quite a few high and low angles used. The perfect example is used when Lorraine
enters the spirit realm on her way back to Peggy’s house. Lorraine meets Bill Wilkins who is
sat on an arm chair. There is a high angle used when Bill Wilkins is in the shot. This is because
it shows the audience how Bill is helpless and is miserable.
It shows he is vulnerable as he is controlled by the antagonist. A low angle is used when
Lorraine talk to him to show she is bigger and powerful than Bill because she is the only one
who can stop the antagonist which is Valak. There's a long shots used as well, for example,
when Peggy enters Janett’s room. The reason for this is because it makes the set look very
spacious making the audience feel small and uncomfortable which is conventional for a
horror movie. Another long shot is used when the dog turns to the crooked man. This is
because we need to capture the whole body of the crooked man as a pan up is also used
starting from the feet to the head.

15. This creates a point of view shot which also makes the audience feel as if we are there
looking at him ourselves. There are mid shots used in some scenes such as when Ed and
Lorraine are at the pub having a meeting. This is to show body language and background
settings. Body language is necessary to show the audience as it also shows expressions of the
characters such as nervousness. There was a lot of use of single camera production in order
to save money from the budget given. However there was one use of multi camera
production for when everything is getting destroyed and thrown around in the kitchen. This
was because it saves money from re doing the scene and smashing glasses.
With multi cameras, the scene is only shot once rather than replacing and buying new decor
and props. An establishing shot is used a lot to show location and setting. For example one
establishing shot was used to show Peggy’s house to show the state of the house and
location. Especially when they introduce the name of the road ‘Green Street’ to show the
audience where the setting in London is located to keep the verisimilitude. This is as the film
is based on a true story in Green Street.
Another example is the pub before showing the character inside. This was to show
traditional London and what pubs look like outside along with the weather and 70’s car. The
snow shows its winter time as London does not often snow and rains a lot. This creates
pathetic fallacy.
Parallel and cross editing is used throughout the film especially at the beginning. The film
starts with the Warren family in America to introduce them to the audience as who they are
and what they do as a profession, just in case a few people aren’t familiar with part 1 of the
film. We are then taken to the Hodgsons family, who live in London and get a basic idea of
who they are to show the story of how and why both families meet. The two stories were
edited in parallel enabling the audience to understand both stories at the same time,
showing the differences and similarities between them. The two families, together with their
stories meet later on during the film showing one story throughout. Towards the end, the
families depart from each other along with their stories, reinforcing the use of cross and

16. parallel editing. Yet both stories are linked together in a way, for example, Ed and Lorraine
Warren keep the Spinner which is possessed from the Hodgsons house as their house in
America has one room filled with possessed items to keep safe away from other people to
prevent paranormal disturbance amongst others. Janett Hodgson also keeps Ed Warren's
crucifix necklace he gives her as to make her feel safe as it helped him before in previous
incidents.
A typical and common convention in horror films are quick cuts to jump scares or show
something horrific in order to catch the audience off guard and give them more of a scare.
This is seen in this film in many places with the main antagonist. There is a fairly high amount
of editing used comparatively in the rest of the film in high action moments as this stops
people from properly gaining their views on the situation causing the audience to feel more
uncomfortable due to their lack of knowledge which is a trick commonly used in horror films.
This is why there is a bit of thriller and mystery used in most horror films as it’s conventional.
Editing is also used in more subtle ways such as placing points in the film that can help to
create the atmosphere such as the spirit in the mirror in the conjuring 2 to show the
supernaturalism to the audience and make people fear for the protagonist. There are some
slow cuts used to create tension amongst the audience such as when Tim wakes up and
pushes the fire truck toy back in his tent.
We see the fire truck toy begins to come back out itself flashing, slowly cutting back to Tim to
capture his facial expressions. The shot then goes back to the toy which seems to come
closer into Tim’s room.

17. The slow cut is used to create tension amongst the audience in order for the audience to
believe something will appear out of nowhere such as a demon to create a jump scare. There
is also a long cut used which is unconventional yet suits the scene well. For example, the only
long cut used is when Ed Warren is interviewing Janet in Bill Wilkin’s chair in the corner
behind him. The only reason it makes sense is because firstly, Bill was comfortable to talk to
them that way in Janet’s body. This also makes sense as later on in the film, people think
Janet made it up so this scene could have been a fake. However through the use of CGI we
can see how Janet slowly turns into the crooked man making it scary for the audience. Also
the long cut of Ed is because it adds mystery for the audience of what goes on in the back
and we capture Ed’s facial reactions throughout the questions and answers.
For example, when Bill kept saying how Ed’s father used to call him Edward or Eddie. Yet we
can see Ed’s confused as he replied how everyone including his father used to just call him
Ed. This created mystery in between the interview as the audience don’t know the truth.
Mise en scene was used great in the film and showed a lot of contrast. For example, when we
see the Warren family’s house, it has very bright colors and looks comfortable and modern.
Even though the movie is set in the year 1977, their house contains modern 70’s decors from
lamps to wallpaper.
The wallpapers have a bright sea green colour and the lamps are typical 70’s style. This shows
how happy the family are as well as wealthy. Ed and Lorraine's hair styles also show how
modern they are. For example, Ed has well trimmed sideburns of a 70’s style with slick and

18. neatly groomed hair. Lorraine has nice curls added to her hair, sometimes tied up greatly too.
She also has a nice textured colour with not even a single strand of grey hair even for her age
which shows how well she grooms herself. Their clothes are also modern with warm woolen
sweaters and warm coats in the film. Ed is also seen wearing leather gloves as they arrive in
London which in those times wear costly. His waistcoat and Lorraine’s dressing look very
upper class compared to the Hodgson family.
Yet when we are introduced to the Hodgsons family, we see a big difference in Mise en
scene showing the contrast between both families. For example, the house has old
decorations from about 10 years ago (1960’s). This is due to the television and furniture
including the wallpaper. We know the Hodgsons family are not wealthy as even Peggy says to
Tim how she can’t afford biscuits as Tim asks for some. Also an old man called Bill Wilkins was
living in the house before the Hodgsons family moved in meaning he had not changed the
furniture. People usually in those times would change their decor every 10 years as they were
not as wealthy, even Peggy was given the house by the council as she was a single mother of
4. The crosses hung on the wall are most important as they are turned upside down showing
anti Christ which shows how evil the demon is.
The washing machine was also old as we see it get broken, spraying out water as the pipes
must have been old and rusty. Peggy herself wore old fashioned and simple clothes. Her
clothes were also loose as she may have lost weight due to the amount of stress. Her hair
was messy and most times even tied up, she would also smoke a lot as she was stressed out.
The wallpaper was also decayed by the chair where Bill Wilkins died showing how the place is
rotten and she can’t afford to get it repaired as well as the flood in the basement. It also

19. shows how the spirit may still be there causing the wall to rot, emphasizing how Bill Wilkins
did not die peacefully. Also the lighting at Peggy’s house is gloomy and cold. There are a lot of
low key lighting of blue and grayish colour schemes used through the scenes at Peggy’s house
to show how miserable how everything is. This is due to the fact no one in the family is happy
but worried as they are scared of the antagonist as well as polygamist. Especially when Janett
get taken in the room which is locked surrounded by cross’s. It also keeps the verisimilitude
as winter times in London, the weather would be miserable with grey clouds, sometimes
raining. The only time there is high key lighting in Peggy’s house is when Ed and Lorraine
bring presents and gifts for the children and Ed starts to sings ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ by
Elvis Presley and JXL to the children. This makes the audience feel more relaxed and happy as
they enjoy a good song and they don’t need to be scared again.
The neighbor’s house however had high key lighting as well. This is to show the audience it is
a safe house as that’s where they go after their first incident with the demon when the beds
and cupboards were moving. There was a Christmas tree which was an important prop to
show the audience they are near Christmas time. Even the Christmas tree is small as they
can’t afford a big traditional one.
This is also because despite the cold weather, it does not snow in London, so the audience
wouldn’t know what season or month it was. However it did snow during the scene where
they showed how everyone was at the pub. The pub was also a very important setting as it
showed traditional London culture. For example, Ed and Lorraine along with the other
characters had met and had a discussion at the pub having a pint (beer). Janett is seen

20. wearing a red sweater halfway through the movie. Red symbolizes not just for the ‘Christmas
Spirit’ and joy but also danger and power. Power in the sense as no one can stop the demon
and what it does however Ed and Lorraine manage to do that at the end once solving the
riddle to defeat it. Also danger because Ed was even almost killed trying to save Janett. Just
being around Janett was dangerous due to the incident such as the flying couch, knives
thrown on the table and a flying chair which smacked against the door almost killing Ed again.
Another main prop is Ed’s crucifix. This is important as Ed uses it to wear off the antagonist
for his protection. For example, when Janett is stuck in the cupboard possessed after the
kitchen incident, Ed uses the crucifix at her for the demon to leave which she does as Janett
is seen screaming in pain, becoming her normal self. He then gives it to Janett as well later on
to keep herself protected and feel safe incase of any other incident. There was the use of the
guitar which was used to be played by Ed to show a sign of happiness as there was too many
scenes with everyone miserable.
The tape recorder was very important as well because once Ed and Lorraine will interview a
possessed person, they would play the audio again to gather proof for the church in order to
be allowed to perform an exorcism. The tape recorder is also used at the end as the audio
tape film drops and crosses over. This gave Ed the idea to play the two separate audio tapes
together showing Janett was not lying and needs their help before she dies. There were also
cameras used around the house to gather proof and information to show the church. The
most important use was the one outside the kitchen.
This was because Janett is caught faking everything making it look as if they were doing it for
fame and to get a new house by the council. Yet Janett says the antagonist told her to fake it

21. otherwise it will kill her family, leaving Janett helpless. The Ouija board is also a very
important prop. This is because in the film Janett uses it with her sister to try and
communicate with a spirit. All she wanted was to know if her dad will come back as he left
them for another woman showing how much they miss him also showing the audience why
Peggy is alone and stressed. Yet that Ouija board had brought something else and something
dangerous. There is a lot of use of sound to that make this horror film conventional. For
example there is a mixture of use of diegetic sound and non diegetic sound. There was a lot
of diegetic, synchronous sound. For example, when the television plays the religious church
music it shows the audience it’s coming from the television when Ed enters the house to save
Janett.
This shows the presence of the nun who is trying to distract and scare Ed. We know it is the
evil nun, Valak, as even when Lorraine stalks her to the room, the vinyl record plays the same
song showing the audience Valak is near or present to scare them. Scary music is very
conventional for a horror movie as the audience feels very terrified creating a jump scare.
Another great use of diegetic sound is thunder to show the audience it’s raining with scary
thunder noises which is traditionally conventional in a horror movie. Another example is
when, Ed plays the guitar and sings a song to the children. This is heard by the audience as
well as the character in the film. The tone of voice of most of the character are very formal.
For example, when Ed and Lorraine are on television during an interview, they speak and
argue in a formal tone.
Even when the doctor insults Lorraine, Ed does not use brutal language as he controls his
words even though he wanted to as Lorraine calmed Ed down. Lorraine has a change in tone

22. of voice as well when she yells at Valak to leave Ed alone when she sees a vision of his death.
This tone of voice also proves to the audience how much Lorraine loves Ed.
Peggy and the children also speak formally especially when Ed and Lorraine come over as
they respect them for being generous enough to help them out. However Peggy gets angry
and her tone of voice changes when they all accuse Janett of faking everything towards the
end of the film. When Janett gets sucked into the locked room, we can hear the crosses turn
upside down to show how tightly they were fixed on the wall. This shows how powerful the
demon also is to turn them over easily. Even the toy which is possessed by the crooked man
is special as it plays a song saying you better run before the crooked man chases you. This
makes the toy creepier and emphasis how the crooked man comes after Tim. He also has a
crooked laugh to show how crooked he is which is conventional for a horror film. A great use
of synchronous sound is when Janett’s sister, Margaret, hears 3 loud bangs on the door.
However we cannot see who is causing the bang as we suspect a demon. Yet Margaret
believes it was Janett as she left however Janett is confused as she didn’t do it. The 3 bangs
having great meaning as each bang is an insult. Each bang goes to the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit. This is explained by Ed warren in part 1. These unusual banging noises are very
conventional for a horror film. Great use of non diegetic sound is gasps and screams by the
characters. These sounds are conventional for all horror films as they also create jump scares
for the audience and show something is wrong. The scene where Peggy is in Janett’s rooms,
and the drawers and beds start to move, Peggy gasps in shock to give a natural shock.

23. Another great use of non diegetic sound is at the beginning when Lorraine does narration of
how the story at the beginning haunts her to also show the audience what she and Ed do for
a living.