How Does Eggers Use Sound In The Witch

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The movie, The Witch, directed by Robert Eggers is an intense and suspenseful horror film that is set in New England in the 1600’s about a family that comes over from England to settle in the New World. The family faces both expected and unexpected trials, from having a hard time getting crops to grow to having their family killed one by one a witch, this family’s settlement is far from easy. The sound used in this film plays a key role in adding to the intense nature of the movie. The Witch utilizes sound to shape the audience’s attention, shape the audience’s feelings, and to reveal character. First, The Witch utilizes sound to shape the audience's attention. Through climaxes in the sound track, it draws the audience in and prepare for an important scene in the movie. For instance, when Caleb and Thomasin were in the woods looking for their baby brother and came across the witch disguised as an attractive girl, as she and Caleb leaned in to kiss each other the tempo of the music increased, as did the volume and pitch to let the audience know of the magnitude of the action that had just occurred. Another way The Witch utilizes sound to shape the audience’s attention is actually through silence, or the absence of sound. By strategically placing moments of …show more content…

When the family arrives at the land that would become their homestead, they are on their knees thanking God for bringing them to this place and they are happy to have arrived. However, the music playing is mysterious and haunting, giving the audience a hint that things might not go as planned. A second instance where the sound shapes the audience’s feelings is when Thomasin, Mercy, and Joans are locked in the barn with the goats and they hear something rustling in the bushes. The sound coming from the bushes instills fear into the audience because it is clear the something is going to come out of the bushes, and that something is not