The film I have studied here is called 'The Babadook' a psychological thriller.

I have studied the conventions of the genre mainly

regarding the audio and visual elements such as lighting techniques, variable editing, sound FX, camera techniques and
cinematography and music as well as diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Having conducted research which has included watching
the opening several times and taking notes, having seen the film and have a good knowledge of the characters and plot and seen other
films like it in the past so am accustomed to the genre. Furthermore I have researched the feature on IMDB.

Shot No:1
Type of shot: Medium Close-Up
Camera/ movement: The camera is fixed on the films
protagonist (Amelia) and does not change angle or move in
any way, instead allowing only Amelia to move, and be
jolted around as the vehicle flips and is battered up during
the crash as though the camera is fixed to the cars dash
board. The lighting is manipulated in a way that Amelia is
very lit up and her surroundings are darkened making her
actions, facial expressions and movements the complete
focus of the shot, however still establishing the setting (in a
crashing car) The lighting is key in this film to establish its
psychological thriller genre as when darkness is used it
tends to be very deep and black and mixes with light very
strangely. It is noticeable that during the shots set at night
time the producers juxtapose two lighting extremes very
dark and or very light.

Sound: The sounds in this mainly consist of muffled, slow

motion screams (which, mysteriously do not come from
Amelia, implying another passenger) there are also many
mechanical creaks as the car is damaged creating a sense
of panic.
Dialogue: The only dialogue appears to be the faint sound
of a child shouting Mom! ,suggesting she is asleep and
experiencing a post- traumatic nightmare and her child is
trying to wake her up.
Music: There is no music as such however there is the
screech of a violin as glass moves past the frame and hits
Amelias face to shock the viewers.
Costume: Amelia wears a kind of white night- gown, this
may connote her protagonist position in the film.
Furthermore it indicates an emergency, that perhaps she
was in bed and has to drive down to hospital because shes
going into labour.

Shot No: 2
Type of shot: medium close up to highlight
Amelias expression.
Camera/ movement: No camera
movement. Instead Amelia turns to her right
to look at whoever is driving the car. The
lack of camera movement makes the viewer
feel trapped in the car with Amelia. The
lighting in this shot (as with many others) is
very psychological as the darkness behind
Amelia is impenetrable and extremely
ominous and blinding making the viewer
feel helpless and fearful; obvious features of
a thriller.

Sound: None, a brief moment of

silence to create tension, this is
intensely ominous.
Dialogue: The child shouting
MOM! is repeated, this time a
little louder, this develops the
stress, tension and confusion.

Shot No:3
Type of shot: Medium close- up to see Amelias
husband recovering from the crash and unharmed
creating a brief moment of hope amongst the
viewer.
Camera/ movement: No camera movement. In
this shot we are very briefly introduced to Amelias
deceased husband and it is made very clear that
they are in a car as her husband appears to be
clutching a steering wheel with a smashed car
window to his right. As he begins to return
Amelias gaze the glare of oncoming headlights
appear in the far right side of the frame. The sight
of him recovering after their car has toppled gives
the audience false hope which is almost
immediately crushed by the trucks horn and
headlights.

Sound: This shot is completely

silent, another feature of this
scenes abstract and theatrical
nature.

Shot No: 4
Type of shot: Medium close up, makes the
lighting on Amelias face almost blinding and
distressing.
Camera/ Movement: No camera
movement. However the light becomes
brighter on Amelias face as the headlights
get closer, soon obscuring the entire frame
as Amelia turns away and braces herself.
The film makers use the light to transit to
the next scene. This shot reinforces my
previous point about the lighting. As despite
the extremely bright foreground due to the
headlights the background is still just
blackness.

Sound: There is a kind of metallic

scraping and the sound of a truck horn,
getting louder as it approaches their
car developing panic.
Dialogue: This time the child shouts
Mommy! Showing that the child is
losing patience with Amelia still not
having awoken.
Sound FX: A loud truck horn shocks and
warns the audience of another road
impact a very thrilling feature. (Nondiegetic)

Edit/Length of Shot: 28 seconds,

Edit/Length of Shot: 2 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 1 second

Edit/Length of Shot: 2 seconds

Shot No: 5
Type of shot: High angle/ birds eye view, a
technique which is not commonly used in
fictional films.
Camera: Fixed, to keep Amelia centralised.
Movement: Amelia, still illuminated by the
haunting truck headlights, floats down to
her bed as if levitating (a foreshadowing of
the possession that later occurs as levitation
is associated with possession) she makes
wavy gestures with her arms as though
falling. The same lighting technique is used
in this scene to mark that she is still
dreaming as the enveloping darkness seems
to disappear once she wakes up.

Sound: A muffled Thud as her

head hits the pillow.
Dialogue: MOM!
Music: More violin, a kind of
whaling song, generating a fairly
eerie environment (another
feature of the thriller genre)

Shot No: 6
Type of shot: Close up to make
the movement in the frame
sudden and shocking.
Camera: Closely follows her
head as she sits up from bed
making the viewer feel
claustrophobic.
Movement: Amelia briskly sits
up, having been awoken by her
son, with a slightly distressed
and unhappy facial expression.

Dialogue: MOM! sounds

again this time becoming a clear
sound towards the end of the
word as Amelia snaps out of
sub-consciousness.

Shot No: 7
Type of shot: Mid- shot, again with the
character centralised in the frame.
Camera: No movement this encourages
the viewer to focus on Samuels
nervous, upset and child like posture as
we are introduced to him for the first
time. This very much summarises his
personality for throughout the rest of
the film.
Movement: Minimal, in this shot we
are introduced to Amelias son; Samuel
as hes centred in the frame.

Dialogue: Samuel looks slightly

panicked, having also had a
nightmare saying I had the
dream again! This dialogue
means that he has this dream
regularly and we can tell its an
upsetting one by the upset and
moany tone he uses when
talking about it.
Costume: Samuel wears
pyjamas, showing he has just
gotten out of bed.

Shot No: 7
Type of shot: Point of view of a monster if it were
hiding there.
Camera: Fixed. To highlight the movements of
Samuel and Amelia.
Movement: Amelia, pulls blanket over to
eradicate the darkness over the camera, Samuel,
looks nervous and Amelia tired and fed up. This
briefly establishes the relationship between Sam
and Amelia showing that Sam, a paranoid young
boy is a lot of work for Amelia who must
frequently check his room for monsters who arent
there in order to humour Samuel. The
relationships and interactions between characters
tend to be crucial in thrillers as they often
determine events and their outcomes in the films
and solutions to the Movies crisis for example
(SPOILER ALERT) at the end of the film Amelia
drives Mister Babadook away by sizing him up and
being very protective of her son.

Sound: Rustling blanket.

Mise en scene: Toy soldiers
symbolise childhood.

Edit/Length of Shot: 4 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 2 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 2 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 3 seconds

Shot No: 8
Type of shot: Point of view (similar
technique to the last shot)
Camera: Fixed (Again, . To highlight
the character movements)
Movement: Amelia, again looking
tired opens the closet with Samuel
clutching her waist nervously, then
closing it again having found no
monsters. Like the previous shot it
is showing the point of view of
whatever monster would be in the
closet or under the bed.

Sound: Creaking hinges. The

silence of these shots makes the
creeks seem very loud. This is
followed by a wooden thud as
the doors close. These sounds
are quite traditional in horror
and thriller films. The creak in
particular as they show a door
being opened slowly and eerily.

Shot No: 9
Type of shot: Close-up showing
the image in the book, a
monster, this is relevant to the
previous two shots where they
seem to be looking for
monsters.
Camera: Fixed, focusing on the
books illustration.
Movement: The book shivers
slightly as Amelia and Sam are
holding it.

Sound: Page turning

Dialogue: (reading) straight
into the big, black Already
the theme of childhood
monsters is conveyed in a light
hearted manor, via the image of
the cartoon wolf and the
recognisable story of the 3 pigs.
The theme of monsters is
important in this type of thriller
because monsters invoke fear
and scare the audience,
effectively thrilling them.

Shot No: 10
Type of shot: Close up so that
the viewer can clearly see Sams
child- like interest in the book.
Camera: Fixed.
Movement: Samuel bites his
nails nervously (being scared by
the story, or perhaps the
illustration shown in the
previous shot)

Dialogue: (continuing) pot.

And that was the end of the big,
bad wolf Immediately
suggesting that monsters can be
beaten the audience may carry
this with them as hope until the
end of the film.

Shot No: 11
Type of shot: close up
Camera: sways and adjusts to
Samuels positioning ever so
slightly.
Movement: Samuel sits up to
talk to his mum about the book
and saying how hell protect her
from monsters. It is noticeable
that the colour in this film has
been saturated to reflect the
generally bleak mood of the film
and Amelias dull life.

Sound: Slight rustling of

blankets as Samuel sits up but
apart from that it is silent to
reflect the realistic nature of the
film and dull life of Amelia.
Dialogue: (Samuel) Ill kill the
monster when it comes, il
smash its head in
(foreshadowing the arrival of
Mister Babadook)

Edit/Length of Shot: 3 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 5 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 7 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 4 seconds

Shot No: 12
Type of shot: Mid shot.
Camera: Fixed with the two
characters huddled at the centre of
the frame. Movement: Very little,
besides Amelias mouth moving as
she reads. The stillness of this
scene reflects the calm evening
atmosphere however the silenced
sound makes it ominous.

Sound: Unclear and slightly muffled

speech of Amelia re-reading the book
unenthusiastically having been asked
to by her son.

Shot No: 13
Type of shot: A series of short close ups, conveying
how uncomfortable and un-pleasant it is to sleep
with Sam.
Camera/ movement: Top left shows Samuels foot
moving as he tosses and turns in the bed
uncomfortably. Top right, shows Sams relentless
teeth grinding as his bottom jaw moves side to
side over his teeth. The bottom left shot shows
Samuel gripping his mothers neck and the bottom
right shows the discomfort Amelia feels when Sam
sleeps in her bed having had a nightmare. This is
all representative of Amelias struggle of having
Sam for a Son.

Sound: Shuffling of sheets,

teeth grinding and scratching.
The sounds are heavily
amplified, brief and
uncomfortable to have the
viewer experience second-hand
how awful it is sleeping with
Samuel.

Shot No: 14

Sound: Yet another silent shot

with no dialogue to reflect
Amelias sleep deprivation.

Length of shot: 8 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 8 seconds (total)

Type of shot: Birds eye view/ mid shot.
Camera/ movement: None, the shot is designed to
show the distance Amelia creates between her
and her son, because she doesnt love him, due to
the difficult life he has caused her and the fact that
her husband has died on the day he was born,
seriously affecting her relationship and haunting
Amelia. This is also symbolic of the space Amelia
must give up for her son. He is keeping her awake
so she chooses to sleep right at the edge of the
bed to avoid him grabbing at her etc in his sleep.

Edit/Length of Shot: 5 seconds

Edit/Length of Shot: 4 seconds

Shot No: 15
General description: A formal
font to reflect Mister
Babadooks somewhat formal
attire and the dull mood of the
film (not to be confused with
the film being dull, otherwise it
wouldnt be a thriller) and to
convey the psychological horror
of the film.

Sound: None. There is no sound or

music, neither any kind of complex
transition. It just appears straight
after the mood has been set by the
previous scene. This creates an
incredibly mysterious and
intriguing atmosphere for the
viewer. And how it suddenly
appears is quite surprising. Yet
another thrilling feature; surprise.

To conclude The Babadook has a very influential opening which effectively invokess Jennifer Kents (The director) desired emotions
including fear, excitement, confusion, panic, sympathy and false hope. Analysing this opening has helped me to further understand
utilising lighting and colour manipulation to set the mood and tone of a scene and to invoke invoke emotion. It has also helped me to
understand the effect of camera angles in a film and using these and to create effect and hint at events in the story and convey its
theme effect. I am considering using these or one of these techniques in my main coursework.