Scene analysis of 'The secret of Marrowbone'

The scene I have chosen is from the 2018 horror film, 'The secret of Marrowbone.' The scene follows Billy, our protagonist for this scene, as he searches for a box of money in the attic of his farm house. But as he tries to escape, the rope he is climbing is pulled, which causes Billy's neck to be trapped in the rope while he is dangling in the air, as he starts to choke.

The setting for this scene features certain shots of the attic, following Billy's eyes as he looks around the attic, looking for the money box. As the camera is mostly at his eye level, it makes the audience feel as if they are spectating what is unfolding, but are unable to do anything, so emotions then kick in, as Billy is seen to nearly die. The camera also takes many shots either looking down the chimney into the attic, or up the chimney, looking at the night sky. The scene is mostly dark, except the match lit by Billy, or the moonlight shining through. This in turn creates a lot of shadows, which gives the audience the impression that something may be hiding in them, but we just can't see them. The misc-en-scene of the dark, narrowing spaces of the chimney all work together to make the audience see that Billy has very little chance of escape or help, which makes us fear for his life even more.

The scene also has a mix of digetic and non-digetic sound. There is a sombre melodic sound throughout the entire scene, which raises and falls in volume at points, to emphasise the importance or the tension of a certain point. For example, when the rope starts to be moved around, the tension rises so the music intensifies, to amplify the danger that Billy is in, as well as quickening the pace of the scene. However, when Billy is just walking around the attic, the music is barely noticeable, which draws the audience's attention more to what Billy is doing. 

There are two distance shots used in this scene and two types of camera movements: close up and medium shot, and crane and panning/tilt. The use of close up shots shows the fear in Billy's eyes. For example, when Billy drops down the chimney, with the rope tied around his neck, the use of multiple close up shots from different angles shows the fear in his eyes before his impending death, which makes the audience feel for Billy, as he was only trying to help his family out by getting more money. But at the same time, medium shots are helps the audience see Billy's surroundings, and makes the audience worry when they see the arm reach out to grab the rope, as the audience see this happen before Billy does, which give the audience the chance to realise what is about to happen, as they realise they can't do anything about it and will have to witness Billy's death. 

The scene uses mostly short duration shots, which keeps the scene alive and upbeat, and not dragged out. Some shots are repeated, such as Billy's eyes, which tells the audience that something is going to happen to Billy, and we need to watch out for him. As well as showing us that Billy is important to the scene, some shots include only Billy's face, blocking our view from anything else that could be hiding behind Billy in the scene, which could scare the audience and they could think that something is hidden behind him, but it is being shielded from us on purpose, and it is going to come out of the shadows and attack Billy. 

Adam Hill.

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