Task 2's Single Camera Production Essay for Units: 2, 3, 22 (includes analysis of 2 movies: The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Quarantine (2008)

1. The Conjuring 2
The Conjuring 2 is a movie based on “The Enfield Poltergeist.”
“The Enfield Poltergeist” is the name given to the alleged claims of supernatural and
paranormal activity, which took place at the council residence of Penny Hodgson and
her family between 1977 and 1979.
The movie is supposedly based on a true story but there are elements of the film that
are made up and were not supposedly real within the alleged true story such as one
of the antagonists being the crooked man who was not mentioned, included or even a
part of the Enfield Poltergeist story. This also makes the movie unconventional, as
there is a hierarchy of antagonists with Bill Wilkins and The Crooked Man and the
protagonist being the Demon.
Genre
Conjuring 2 is a movie, which falls under the category of horror and falls under the
genre of supernatural horror due to the main antagonist being in a form of a spirit or
ghost. The sub-genre for this film is supernatural horror as the antagonists being
dealt with come in the form of a spirit and a
demon.

2. Narrative
The Conjuring 2 is a closed ended storyline as the audience have seen the end of
the storyline and already know that there is no cliffhanger at the end of the film to
follow. Although most of the film followed into one storyline, The Conjuring is a multi-
strand film as the film contained to storylines at first; these were the storylines for
both the Warrens and Hodgsons. All events in The Conjuring 2 happened in
chronological order meaning that the film’s events unfolded in a linear sequence.
Technical elements
Camerawork: the majority of the jumpscares
were close ups such as The Crooked Man’s
jumpscare on Ed. The close ups on the
jumpscares were so that the audience could
experience the antagonists up in their face
and to make them feel as if they were in the
characters shoes and make them see their
expressions as well which is why there are
also close ups on the characters. There were
also close ups on objects such as the TV to
show their importance in the film. The TV for example was shown because one of
the antagonists (whom the audience would be revealed to as well) was manipulating
it.
There were instances of high angles being used as well for example, when the
audience are first introduced to The Crooked man, from Billy’s point of view, there is
a high angle to show how big and tall The Crooked Man is. The high angle could
also show the sense of Billy’s powerlessness as you have his fear right in front of
him and can see his facial expression from the low angle given from The Crooked
Man’s point of view.
The included long shots were to show the audience the surrounding environment
and get the audience involved in the sense vulnerability and feeling small. Mid shots
were used to show dialogue and some establishing shots were used at the start of
the scene to show the setting and/ or the environment of the location such as the
very start of the movie

3. Mise en scene:
The audience could tell that the setting of the film takes place during the 1970’s as
looking at the house decoration, there furniture and some luxuries such as the sofa
and lamp look to be from the 60’s and house decorations may happen once or twice
every ten years which would indicate to the audience that this does take place during
the 70’s. Looking at the Hodgsons, the audience can see that they are no financially
stable. For example, they live in council house and in that council house, their
furniture and wallpaper looks very old. The boys seem to be wearing similar clothes
regularly with bob cuts and long hair which is different to Ed (showing the
juxtaposition) as Ed’s home, furniture, luxuries, clothing and hair look more modern
and clean and much better than the Hodgson’s. Although hairstyles were different
between America and Britain, looking at Ed, you can see he looks like he had a fresh
cut hence his short hair. This was also shown through parallel editing.
Throughout the movie, there was high key lighting during calm and happy moments
and dark/ damp lighting during eerie moments.
Editing:
The longest shot in the movie is shown when Ed and Bill are having a conversation.
There is a mid-shot used as this is show dialogue and the audience is focused on Ed
which leaves Bill (the antagonist) blurred out in the background so the audience can
mainly focus on Ed throughout the dialogue and focus on things such as his body
language, facial expressions and the tone of his voice.
There was also many cutaways where there was one take, which would then break
away from the characters and show other reactions. This was also used to show
jumpscares for example, Lorraine, looking at a mirror, back, then again at the mirror
to see the nun.

4. Sound:
There is a lot of non-diegetic sound used to add tension for the audience. There is a
lot of instrumental music used to do so. (Non-diegetic sound is the sound that the
audience can hear but the characters in the movie cannot). There was also
synchronous sound used. This would show or indicate to the audience what is
happening to as well as around the characters. For example, during the pub scene;
as the pub is filled with people, the way that synchronous sound was used was that
there was indistinctive chatter included in the background to show that there are
others in the pub, not just the main characters that makes the scene more realistic.
Quarantine
Genre
Quarantine is a single camera produced movie that falls under the genre of horror
due to its conventions which include (for example) panic and dreadfulness. This film
falls under the sub-genre of zombie as the audience sees a setting which leaves the
characters isolated in an apartment building, which is caused by the section or
colony of protagonists which (in this film), are the living dead.
Narrative
A narrative is how the events unfold or occur. Quarantine is a closed ended storyline
meaning that the storyline ends with the audience already knowing or anticipated the
ending (what happened). This example is seen at the end of the movie when you
see Angie (or Ángela Vidal played by Jennifer Carpenter) crawling towards the
camera in a pitch black room hence the night vision on the camera (being the last
living person) before suddenly getting dragged away into the darkness.

5. This film’s narrative is also a single strand as only there was only one main storyline
featured or happening in a movie unlike some other single camera produced film’s
such as The Conjuring 2. Quarantine also contains a linear sequence as all events in
the film happen in chronological order.
Technical elements
Camerawork: Quarantine’s camerawork is mainly found footage as this movie was
filmed as a documentary or news coverage. This means that there was no tripod
used to hold the camera as the camera was handheld. The only time where the
camera was held on a tripod was at the beginning where Angie (the reporter) and
Scott (the cameraman) were at the fire department.
There was a lot of mid shots used in this film, and with the film being found footage
(as it was held by a cameraman), this allowed the audience to see the characters at
eye level. The close ups used were generally to capture the live reaction of the
characters such as panic, anger and fear and the long shots used were to add pace
to the movie and show the audience the body language of the audience. For
example, at the beginning of the movie, Angie was seen standing straight, smiling
and comfortable with and around the firemen meaning that she was a happy, social
and friendly person however, near the end you can see the opposite. She was
shaking, frantic, sometimes kept her head down looking enraged out of fear, empty
and looked nowhere near comfortable.
With the found footage, there was a lot of shaking of the camera. This would show or
indicate to the audience the panic and rush of when the victims are running from the
living dead and fear could also be shown through Scott (the cameraman) as you
hear him breathe heavily, his tone (when he speaks) does change and you see the
camera shake even when they are not running.
As for angles, there was rarely any
high angles used. Some examples of
high angles that the audience may
have seen in this film was when the
living dead who have fallen a flight of
stairs to the ground and you see the
camera look over their bodies; or
when Scott climbs on top of a table to
film the investigation/ surgery being
performed on the deceased who lay on the table with people drilling into their skulls.
Editing: There is no real evidence of editing being used as this movie was filmed as
found footage. One of the only times the audience may see editing being used is

6. when Scott beats down one of the zombies with his camera and you see blood being
splattered on the lens. Through editing, the blood was added as an effect to show
that it was it’s from the zombie, this is why the audience may say that the blood may
not look to realistic.
Mise-en-scene: At the beginning
of the film, you can see that
there is bright light and to match
that, the audience can see that
everyone (in Quarantine) is
happy, all looking safe with no
danger going on. This can be
seen when the characters are at
the fire station/department and
on the road.
After, during the majority of the
movie, the audience can see that
the setting is darker, the light is
darker, and no one is happy, the
characters are confused, don’t feel
right about the current situation that
is going on, there is a sense of
panic which adds a sinister tone to
the film.
At the end of the film, it is pitch black
(hence the night vision on the
camera) and so are Ángie’s hopes of
surviving this nightmare. She is
scared into silence, shaking and has
lost self-control as no longer knows
what to do or what to say. In the
dark room, the space is very

7. cramped giving the audience a claustrophobic setting which makes them feel
uncomfortable.
In one of the dark rooms, there were newspaper clippings, tape records and labs
rats, and (scientific) equipment which may show the audience that there was a cause
to the virus which caused all the chaos and the havoc. Without this, the story would
not make sense as to what happened as well as why it happened and would’ve
confused the audience.
Various colours were worn or shown by the characters during Quarantine. For
example, the police officer wore his uniform which is blue. Blue signifies bravery and
heroism which is what police officers are seen as for protecting their cities and
country. The officer’s badge was silver and this would symbolise authority which the
audience would’ve seen in the film as the officer tended to be very commanding.
When it came to the living dead, the audience could see that they had fully black
eyes. In this movie, the colour black was representing power (which the zombies had
as they had the ability to kill anyone, fight anyone and would stop at nothing to do
so), death and evil which purely describes these zombies.
The fire fighter had a red hat which indicated that he had strength, power and
determination (the firefighter did his absolute best to lead and keep himself as well
as others alive).
There were colours shown by the environment within the film which indicated a lot of
moods to the audience. For example, the colour grey showed that there was a dull
and dirty atmosphere when everyone was confused, scared and in panic during the
movie. At the end of the movie, the setting was pitch black and dark. The audience
could tell that this meant death (just like what the eyes of the zombies symbolised),
and this was shown also with Ángie being dragged back until the audience could no
longer see her leading them to believe that she was also dead.

8. Sound
With the film being found footage with very little editing used. Most (if not, all) sound
heard in the movie was diegetic meaning that the sounds that the audience heard
could also be heard by the characters within the media text. If there was a lot of non-
diegetic sound as well as, then it will take away a lot the verisimilitude of the movie
meaning the is less realism of the movie to the text’s world which appears real and
the audience would not find the logic of Quarantine to be “believable.” There is some
asynchronous sound presented by the director at the beginner. For example, when
the people become barricaded inside the apartment building, the audience can hear
sirens and helicopters flying above the characters but cannot see the cars and
helicopters.