Micro-analysis of The Descent.

By Alex Parsons

1st Snapshot, The Car Crash Scene.

This snapshot is a medium/small camera angle showing the family that is about to encounter a car crash. In this shot, you can see on the face of Sarah’s husband that he seems to be a bit upset. As the couple start to carry on with there conversation it edges closer and closer to the disaster which is about to occur in the next snapshot.

2nd Snapshot, The Car Crash Scene.

This snapshot is a close up shot of the couple looking at each other because the husband seems to be upset. As they are having a conversation, Sarah's husband starts to look at her in the eye, this is also proven when you look at the rear view mirror, you actually know he doesn't’t know that this crash is about to happen until it does. As we are the viewers we expect to see something bad happen at the start of the film because that kicks of the rest of the scenes in the film.

3rd Snapshot, The Car Crash Scene.

This shot is a medium shot, it’s very effective to the viewer because you can see the impact made in the crash. This snapshot is immediately after you see Sarah’s husband in the car looking away from the road, and as he is looking away the car veers to the right to the impact of the oncoming van.

4th Snapshot, Car Crash Scene.

This is a close up shot of the pole that shot straight through the van that they crashed into and went right into Sarah’s husbands head. The sound effect that they use in this shot is a very good sound to match the pole impale Sarah’s husbands brain, it’s kind of like a slushy sound that you would hear in a lot of horror movies. The close up of the back of the head rest is enough to see, because the viewers mind thinks better then special effects so they left it for the viewer to imagine what the face looks like from the front.

5th Snapshot, Car Crash Scene.

This is the last and final snapshot I have chosen for this scene, this shot is a medium zoom out shot where you see the final results of the tragic car accident. There is a bit of editing behind this shot because it doesn’t zoom out straight away, it’s kind of like a slow motion shot, so the viewer understand how bad the car crash was. In the window screen you can see three poles go through the car but Sarah survives because two of those pole go through her husband and one into their daughter, so I considers her lucky.

1st Snapshot Of The Face to Face Scene.

The second scene I have chosen to look at is the scene were Sarah and Juno have a face to face conflict. This snapshot is when Sarah picks up the climbing pick so she can do something to Juno with it because Juno had an affair with Sarah’s husband.

2nd Snapshot Of Face to Face Scene

This is another close up snapshot of Juno when she sees Sarah with the climbing pick in her hand and the viewers know what will be coming next. Juno may think she might get away with what she has done to Sarah but Sarah has other things on her mind.

3rd Snapshot Of Face to Face Scene

A medium shot of Juno looking up at Sarah who is about to stab Juno in the leg with a hatchet. This is also a low shot from Juno’s angle because it’s showing that Sarah is imperia to her. The mise-en-scense in this scene would be the design of Sarah’s make up, she has a face covered in blood and looks like a psycho killer.

4th Snapshot Of Face to Face Scene

This is another close up of Juno’s face when she realizes what she has done to deserve this hatchet to into her leg. The editing in this scene is amazing, how you have the change between Juno’s and Sarah’s face is amazing. It’s not too fast or too slow, it’s just right to see the anger and the disappointment in there faces.

5th Snapshot Of Face to Face Scene

This snapshot is a major close up of Sarah’s disturbing face, just before she stabs Juno in the leg with a climbing pick. Again the mise-en-scene in this snapshot would be the make up that Sarah has on, again to show how much she has been through in life and not just through this cave.

6th Snapshot Of Face to Face Scene

Finally the last snapshot is of Sarah plunging the climbing pick in Juno’s leg. The sound effects used in this shot are very obvious and disgusting, when Sarah plunges the climbing pick into Juno’s leg you can hear the noise that is made when a sharp object enters the body, it’s kind of like a squelch sound and when it’s used in a scene like this, it makes the viewer know how hard Sarah has plunged this climbing pick into Juno’s leg.

1st Snapshot of Sarah’s escape scene.

This is a close up shot of Sarah when she has fallen down the hole which leads to her escape. The mise-en-scene in this snapshot would be the lighting effect of the bones in front of her face, because it’s the c of daylight shining down on the bones.

2nd Snapshot of Sarah’s escape scene.

This is a medium shot of Sarah trying to escape the cave, in a rush, she is crawling up the bones of dead animals and people. I would say the pace of cuts between every camera shot when Sarah is escaping gives the viewer a good idea on how tough it must be trying to escape the cave.

3rd Snapshot of Sarah’s escape scene.

This is another medium shot of the back of Sarah climbing out of the cave. This shot is effective because of all the lighting put into it, it’s completely dark around her and where she is going, is the only place with light, it’s almost like she is walking into heaven because it’s such a relief.

4th Snapshot of Sarah’s escape scene.

This is the fourth snapshot of Sarah’s, this is a long shot of Sarah climbing up, what seems to be, a mountain of bones. The cinematographer has got his camera men/women to be very far away so they can get the viewer to know how much Sarah has got to climb to get out of this cave.

5th Snapshot of Sarah’s escape scene.

This is the final snapshot of Sarah escaping out of the cave. This is a close up shot of Sarah’s hand reaching for freedom. The camera angle of this shot is on the ground level.