The Babadook anaylsis PDF

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The BABADOOK By

Script for Video Introduction The Babadook, released in 2014 and directed by Jennifer Kent, who was also the director of the inspiration of this film, ‘Monster’. The film is about a mother, Amelia and her son. Amelia loses her husband in a car crash on the way to give birth to her son, Samuel. Samuel constantly worries about a monster in the house which causes he and his mother to become distant from family and friends. To make matters worse, they read a strange book called, “Mister Babadook”, which is about a monster that hides in the dark around the house. Later in the film, Amelia begins to feel the effects of the book. The narrative progresses to the Amelia and Samuel encountering and overcoming the effects of the Babadook which leaves it captured in the basement with no escape. This presentation addresses the film techniques used by Jennifer Kent and her team to create this film and what effects these have on the audience, as well as how they communicate the different themes. The scene under analysis is ‘Strange things start to happen’ which take place between 22:37 to 27:30. In this scene it can be seen that some effects of the Babadook are taking place from the book that they read earlier from the film. Whatever the mother and son read from the book was actually happening around the house and this scene displays the strange things that start to happen around the house.

Technique oneThe use of Cinematography in the scene played a big part to what the audience feel will watching the scene. It helps shape the mood of the scene by the different camera angles and camera distances used as it can have different effects on the audience. The camera angles and camera distances also help portray the theme of the scene which is grief and as stated above the theme can help set a mood for the audience to experience which would be a scary, horror and a tense mood. The whole scene is based within the house and the start of the scene is mainly in the basement where Samuel usually goes secretly without letting his mom know. His mom enters the basement as Samuel comes out, as she walks down the stairs the camera shot used is a POV (point of view) which then changes back and forth to a close up of Amelia’s face. Kent used the POV shot so that the audience can see what is happening Report Date

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THE BABADOOK By around Amelia through her own eyes, the way she saw things looking down in the basement can help contribute to the theme of grief. The close up shot of her when she is cleaning up the mess of her husband’s belongs can help the viewer see the reaction and detail of emotion on Amelia’s face which at this time was sadness that was visible on her face during this time. The help of the camera shots POV and close up can help link to 1 of the stages of grief which is denial, after reading the book ‘Mister Babadook’ Amelia in the basement did feel as she denies the fact there is no monster such as the Babadook. However, at 23:05 While Amelia was hugging a picture of her husband and herself the camera rapidly changes from close up to POV and then back to close up as at this moment she turns her head in surprise she sees a full suit against the wall with shoes and hat lined up with it (here). The POV helps portray to the audience the fear and surprise through her own eyes and the close up helped to see her reaction after seeing the suit. Afterwards at the dinner table when both mother and son are drinking their soup the camera angle in this scene was a medium shot with a close up shot here and there while they were on the table. The close up shot is used when Amelia is drinking her soup and she gets glass chips in her soup, the close up helps the audience to see her reaction and make them feel empathy for her. Here the viewers can see with the help of the camera angle that she displays another stage of grief by looking cross and mad and Samuel as she would suspect him for placing glass chips in her soup. Here Samuel does scream out ‘THE BABADOOK DID IT’ but looking at Amelia’s face she denies the that fact. With the camera angles discussed it can be seen how the audience can see how Amelia is able to display some stages of grief.

Technique 2Another technique used by Kent is the audio used in the whole scene which helped set the mood for the scene and what was coming. The mood Kent wants the audience to feel while watching is frighten, tense and a sense of horror as if there was something to jump on to them. For example, when Amelia was down in the basement the music and sound effects that Kent uses is non-diegetic, the audio that the audience hears while Amelia walks down the stairs and starts to pick up her husband’s belongings the sound effects and music is not made by Amelia it is put in to the scene. This non-diegetic audio while she is in the basement is more instrument based and has lots of loud effects for the audience to feel as if they were there exercising the effect of the Babadook. While Amelia is picking up the belongs of her husband, the paper scratches from when she is picking up the music sheets and discs the audience at this point of the scene would feel a sense of unsettling mood and builds suspense of the upcoming event. Kent also uses diegetic sounds as well to contribute the suspense and mood of the scene which would be tense, scared and frighten. Example of this is when near the end of the basement scene where Amelia sees the suit against the wall, Kent for a sudden moment there

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THE BABADOOK By uses Diegetic sounds effects, made by Amelia for the audience to experience. In this audience would have a frighten face as well as a horrific but surprised face. The way Kent uses non-diegetic and diegetic sounds help to show the theme of the film which is grief, the 5 stages of grief. For example, near the end of the whole scene where Samuel and Amelia have a small fight, the sound effects here are all diegetic meaning they are all made by Amelia and Samuel. If the audience carefully listens to what Samuel says to his mom he is really mad at this point when his mom is not following what he wants her to do. Here one of the stages of grief are displayed as Samuel is feeling angry at her mom for not knowing what is going to happen. The sounds that is played in the background during this moment of the scene also effects the way audience sees the scene, they would have a tense mood and a serious amount of frustration about what is coming up as the mother and son had a fight. This would leave the audience to think what is going to happen next.

ConclusionIn conclusion, director Jennifer Kent uses camera angles to create a scary experience for the audience. The camera angles also contribute to mood which is set for the audience which is at tense, scared and frighten mood and give the audience a hint as to what is about to unfold. Additionally, the music also helped to create the same mood and hint at what was in store for the characters. Additionally, the cinematography and the diegetic and non-diegetic also helped the audience experience some of the stages of grief which was also the theme of this film. Kent has done a great job in creating this scene because her use of camera angles and sound help create a dark mood and scary atmosphere, no wonder it’s categorized as a horror movie.

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