DH Technical analysis - `The Conjuring` 2013

Duration (sec)	Camera distance, angle and movement	Mise-en-scene	Sound
7	Blackout	Blackout	Dialogue (people talking to paranormal investigators), transition click (like switch)
20	Close-up of side of doll’s face, slowly zooms out	Creepy old doll with cracks and faded colour	dialogue
5	Still, mid-shot, front of three people on a sofa	Date and name of event title, old fashioned clothes	dialogue
3	Side view of the people, close-up,  moves slightly around	Nervous and distressed expressions and body language	Dialogue, creepy ambience begins
25	Front view again, zoom away to give over shoulder shot	Serious expressions of investigators revealed	Dialogue, ambience
2	Close-up, side of faces of the group of three		As above
2	Doll in centre, people with hands and legs in shot, zoom on doll	Doll on seat, people sitting either side	As above but with louder music
2	Close-up again		As above
8	Mid-shot as people enter, pan down as paper is picked up	Door of apartment opens and light spills in	Ambience starts afresh, faint dialogue from behind door which dies as they look down
2	Still of hand with note	Note in childlike handwriting in red saying “miss me?”	ambience
4	Back to frontal shot of people in doorway	In front is darkness behind is bright people look past camera	Ambience, bass thump at transition
2	Slight movement, overshoulder	Very dark, doll lying in corridor	Creepy ambience
6	Frontal tracking shot as women move forwards		As above
4	POV shot as women move towards doll	Doll lying in shadow	Previous conversation continues as narration, music gets more intense
3	Frontal tracking, low-shot		As above
2	Mid-shot of doll, handicam	Doll has white dress with blood red highlights	As above
2	Close-up of dolls arm and hand	Hand contains broken red crayon like the note	As above
5	Medium close up of woman turning into room	Scared expression, flickering lights, red crayon on walls	Just music
3	Woman opens door, MCU	Room is trashed, red scrawls everywhere, lamp flickering	As above
3	Mid-shot as woman walks into room, zoom out	Red crayon on walls just in shot, flickering light	As above
2	Pan across room	Room is trashed, red scrawls everywhere, flickering light	As above
2	Pan again, close-up	Shows damage, flickering light	As above with sharp piano noise
1	Close-up of pictures	Pictures are scratched or smashed, flickering light	As above
1	As above	As above	As above
1	As above	As above	As above
3	MCU, pan around women	Women survey damage, one looks up, flickering light	Scary music
3	Pan up to writing	“Miss me?” written on ceiling, flickering light	As above
2	MCU, slight movement	Backs of characters as they reach for each other, flickering light	As above
2	Closer shot of writing	Writing again	As above
2	MCU, two-shot, tilts up while moving down	The two women, destruction in background, eyes widen as they look down	As above but fades, rattle as something rolls along floor out of shot
5	Still as crayon moves, then zoom on it	Crayon rolls into shot from top left	Breathy ambience
5	MLS of corridor, zoom tracking as women leave apartment	Woman picks up doll an moves to door, turns corner, other woman runs after	Other woman calls out to wait, music
7	MLS, bird’s eye view, zoom in	Woman with doll runs to a dumpster outside, throws doll and note inside, slams lid	Music, slam of dumpster lid
4	Blackout on slam		Music fades out

Analysis (More below...)

The first shot of the film

-I have learned that diegetic sound is not very important in horror except for key moments, there was almost no noticeable diegetic sound in the clip. 

-Character expression from seeing something with sound can be scarier than the thing itself, for example just hearing the crayon (image 4) and seeing the character expression was scarier than the shot of the crayon.

The haunted persons and investigators

-The average length of shot at the beginning is about 10 seconds, but during the paranormal events the cutting rate is reduced to just a couple of seconds.

-While the characters were speaking at the beginning there was very little camera movement, but during scary moments the camera had much more shake, zoom was also used to give objects and events prevalence.

The Doll

Devastation of the appartment

-Generally the shots were more symmetrical like the doll sitting between the people (image 2), however the more interestingly framed shots like the crayon (image 4) with rule of thirds was much more effective.

Note ("Miss me?")

Crayon rolling across floor

-The cuts are all very quick or sometimes with blackouts, the story being told takes prevalence however is very general, just building up fear or explaining parts. The action parts have little or no dialogue, relying on the narration and sometimes have jump cuts for the sake of pace.

(Unfortunately there are no good quality copies of the film's opening sequence on youtube)

DH