Midterm Blog Post

This scene is from the The Conjuring where Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) has just fallen into the basement and uses the mirror in the music box to search for any ghosts that might be with her.

In the scene, the basement is completely dark with the exception of Lorraine's flashlight. This is a medium close up on her face as she looks in the mirror. The use of darkness around her is used to heighten the feeling that she is alone in the basement before the director chooses to reveal anything else.

This next screenshot is a close up on the reflection in the mirror. It is a little out of focus to give them that supernatural feel. The lighting is intentionally only on the two actors as they are the main focus of the shot.

 The scene then goes to a medium close up and an over the shoulder of all 3 actors as it slowly zooms in on the woman ghost as she turns her head around to look at Lorraine. It is trying to convey that this ghost is one that we (the audience) and Lorraine should be afraid of. The woman ghost is placed only a few feet away from Lorraine to enhance that feeling of dread. As if she could just reach out and grab her at any moment. The music is slowly building up, getting louder and louder.

The next shot is Lorraine turning to look back in the mirror and she sees that the ghosts are gone. The music suddenly stops. She turns back to look and the ghosts not behind her. This is to trick the audience into thinking things are now safe. When she turns back and puts the music box down, the ghost woman appears inches away from her face. It then cuts to an extreme close up of Lorraine's face, one that mirrors the close up of the ghost. She turns around and lowers the music box, then we see the face of the ghost that was behind her. The music blares. Half of the ghost woman's face is hidden in shadow from the use of low-key lighting. The same was used for Lorraine's face.

In an over the shoulder shot, the ghost woman then turns her head as if she has heard something and Lorraine follows her gaze to see what she is looking at. There is an extreme close up of her face then it cuts back to the medium over-the-shoulder shot of Lorraine as she attempts to see what the ghost is looking at.