Scene Critique - 1
The scene I chose to critique is from A Quiet Place, directed by John Krasinski.
This scene is one of the most influential, explanatory, and intense moments in the film, for multiple reasons.
So far, the movie has been almost completely silent. The scene begins with the
two children playing monopoly, but with homemade pieces that are soft and silent, unlike the original game. This helps viewers infer that the family must stay quiet, and the only indication that we know about something bad happening if they make noise is the opening scene, where a monster comes and kills the third child, because his toy made noise (one thing I noticed in that scene, the entire time there were absolutely no birds. There was no other noise other than the sound of the characters walking on sand). Other than that, viewers can't be quite sure why everything has to be silent. About 25 seconds in, the kids are reaching for cards and the little boy knocks over the lamp, causing the first real noise viewers have heard since the very beginning. The glass shatters, and the fire from the lantern begins to spread, which causes the father to rush over to pat it out with a blanket. After he finishes, he seems to be paralyzed with fear, as he looks around slowly before standing up. Viewers can infer that he's waiting for something, and he puts a finger to his lips to tell the children that they need to stay quiet. The scene then cuts to his wife, who before this had just been a character in the background of some of the shots, and she looks terrified. The viewer can obviously tell that she is pregnant, which foreshadows a later scene when she gives birth. At 1:30 seconds in, another loid noise occurs above them, and everyone looks shocked. Eerie music begins playing, as the cameras cut to each character individually, showing the pure terror on their faces. The father goes to look out of the window, and the viewers as well as the family get jumpscared by raccoons falling off of the roof. Everyone has a chance to look relieved. After this scene, the movie cuts to a wide shot of the setting, the farm with string lights which become more important later on. The farm setting is important, as it shows how large the area they are on is, and how lonely and isolated it feels. There is literally no one else. The next scene is of the raccoons in the corn field, making noise. Suddenly they are snatched up by an unseen creature.
Each decision made my the director, Krasinski, was inentional. He did some
reviews on this scene to elaborate and explain his decisions and how they play into the whole idea of the movie. He describes this scene as the best to really tell the rules of being silent and what happens if you dont. He also says that sound is the MAIN character in this film, which was really interesting to me. People generally wouldn't think of sound as a character, but in this situation it really makes sense. You know that when there is sound, something is going to happen, it's a cause of tension and fear. This entire scene was captured live, but on two different cameras so they could get that feeling of urgency and tension that happens when you try and do things in one take, because otherwise it would feel less realistic if there were cuts. Something really interesting he mentioned, was the fact that they shot on film. I didn't really think that was done anymore, because we have access to hi-def technology, but how he explained it made a lot of sense to me. He noted that film plays with light really well, and he said you could play with the darkness and light a bit more. He also had an important note about set design. They dont have words to describe things to people, so they had to use intricate and detailed set design to do that, which in my mind also relates to the costumes. Throughout the movie, they switch between the hearing enabled characters points of view, where you can hear sound and understand their reactions. But because one of the main characters, the daughter, is deaf, when they film from behind and you can see her hearing aid, everything goes silent. The viewer becomes deaf just like the character.
This scene was, in my opinion, one of the most important as it explains silence
and what happens if they make too much noise. It also introduces the monster with the use of raccoons. It's obvious how much thought was put into this movie, which makes it one of my favorites of all time. The concept is really interesting, and I think it's overall really well made movie.
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