A Quiet Place is a horror film directed, written, and starred in by John Krasinski. The basic premise is a post apocalyptic world, overrun by creatures who attack solely by sound. This scene is an example of a father’s ultimate sacrifice and the love that parents are supposed to have for their children.
The scene begins with the father reuniting with his kids after a terror filled night, the moment is filled with love and is a closeup of their group hug. It then zooms out for a more vulnerable affect, so the viewer is reminded that it isn’t just them out in the field. It is quite dark which adds an ominous affect and the actors are holding lights which draws the viewer's eye to them. The father shushes his kids and puts them in an old truck that has been seen earlier in the film when the son was practicing to drive it. That is an important detail to remember, it foreshadows this scene.
The kids are now in the truck to muffle their noise, the monster will attack even at the slightest scuffle, and the father did not go with them because he spotted a pickaxe. The shot is from within the barn that the pickaxe is in and facing toward the father so you can see his head turn and look at the pickaxe. The pickaxe is also lit better than the rest of the objects in the barn so that’s where your focus is. As he notices it, his kids are exiting the frame which leads the viewer to think solely about him and the pickaxe and temporarily forget the children. In classic heroic sacrifice, he decides to stay behind and attempt to kill the monster.
The kids get into the truck, the father conveniently out of the frame so the viewer begins to disassociate them from each other. They think of the father as one story line and the kid’s survival as another, which is a clever technique so when the father dies, you still have a storyline to follow and you don’t have to completely switch gears. The scene is able to continue even without him.
Spooky music has begun in full force at this point. Music is essential to this film because there is little dialogue since if you speak, the monster hears you, and you die. It is used to portray emotion and tone. The music chosen is, however, sparse with minimal instruments so the focus is really on the actors and the viewer doesn’t notice that the music is telling them how to feel. The music used now is deep and suspenseful so the viewer knows that the monster will appear soon.
The shot then zooms in slowly on the father picking up the pickaxe and holding it. It’s a subtle zoom so you don’t notice it unless your watching carefully and it adds to the effect. The father is also holding a flashlight and that light is used to light up the kids faces so you can clearly see their expressions as the father swings the light around. Since the entire scene is completely in the dark, this small and clever use of light is important to maximize the suspension.
As the father walks out of the shed, holding the pick axe, the camera moves with him. It faces him so as he walks forward, the camera backs up. Using this shot it’s as if the viewer is walking with him and it makes it so when he walks out of the shed completely, you can see the monster on the roof. It’s not the classic jump scare but it is cleverly revealing the monster to the audience. The music doesn’t change in intensity at all, which is an interesting choice but it is so the reveal of the monster isn’t the climax. The director wants the audience still holding their breath and have the anticipation build and build until the father kills himself. It’s more effective for the drama of his death.
As the monster launches himself onto the father his scream is quieter than later on in the scene. This helps even more to build the scene to the climactic point of the fathers death, so it pales everything in comparison. He swings at the monster who launches him about 16 feet away. The kid yells “Dad” which directs the monster towards him. When he is yelling, his face is more lit up than before in the scene so the viewer can really see his reaction even though light hasn’t actually increased.
A shrill alarm like noise is now accompanying the creepy music to increase the intensity of the scene. This is interesting because instead of changing the music or the speeding up the tempo, they just add another noise. This is also an artificial noise so you don’t notice it as much as you would an actual instrument. The scene is now even more well lit.
The daughter’s hearing aid begins to ring, which later on in the movie they realize can even kill the monster when played at a loud enough volume. But this ringing is especially clever, the daughter puts her hand to her ear so you know that it is coming from the hearing aid and the noise is also extremely obnoxious to the viewer. But not obnoxious enough that it completely detracts your attention from the scene, just enough that you want it to stop.
The girl turns off the hearing aid and with that, the music stops as well. There is complete and utter silence as if you’re hearing everything from the daughter’s perspective. Then you can see their faces of terror and their reactions, still no noise. The shots are close up so that is the only thing you can focus on and the camera is facing them so you can’t see what they’re reacting to and it is left up to your imagination. This increases the intensity of your reaction when you finally see the monster outside the truck. The first noise that you hear is the glass shattering as the monster breaks into the truck and simply the fact that it is sudden noise makes you jump.
The viewer then loudly hears the monster shaking and banging the truck. Noise fades, shot changes to the pickaxe then pans to the fathers hand, trembling and picking up the pick axe. It’s worthy of note that it doesn’t automatically go to the father, it pans to him so the audience has enough time to make the mental adjustment to following his story line and not the kid’s. Sad, slow piano music begins. In stark contrast to the earlier artificial sound the new use of instrument adds a level of melancholy and preempts the sadness that will be felt when he dies. The director is now switching between shots of the father struggling to stand and the daughter’s panicked face. Note that the son is no longer in the shots of the kids, it is solely the daughter watching her father even though it was the son who initially called out. This choice establishes that something is about to happen between the daughter and the father whose relationship was already shown to be tumultuous earlier in the film.
The father stands, close up on his face then close up of him dropping the pickaxe to make noise and attract the monster. This next moment is a moment that doesn’t make sense and is a flaw in the plot. The action of the monster stops long enough for the father to sign to his daughter that he loves her and has always loved her, the shots witching between him signing and her face. Then he yells, which triggers the monster to attack him even though it was initially ignoring him. Father dies, kid slips the clutch on the truck which he learned earlier in the movie, and they roll away to temporary safety.
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