The Witch Film Analysis

Sound is something that gets very little credit in movies, even considering the significant role it plays. In The Witch, by Robert Eggers, the multiple different sounds used brought the entire movies together as to add the extra horrifying sense intended. Towards the beginning of the movie the audience recognizes a form of diegetic sound as what happens within the court room has a matching noise to go along with it. There is the dialog of the men’s voices, as well as the sound of the environment, such as the ruffling of their movements, and the thuds of their footsteps. The way the actors speak establishes the time period, as it is very proper such as the language in early time periods. The accents used by the characters also establishes that they are from overseas and are more than likely new to the New England area. As the family leave the village they were originally located at, the audience is able to hear a form of nondiegetic sound, as there are no animals ever shown on screen, yet they can still be heard. This once again confirms that the time period takes place long ago, as well as identifies that the village is perhaps a farming village. Before the carriage is ever even shown the viewer is also able to make a prediction that they are riding in a horse pulled

The first notable one is the use of complete silence escalating into faint background music, which builds up suspension as the audience knows something is about to happen. The sound of the music became louder as he approached the witch as well as the pitch heightened. Once Caleb is at the witch there is a loud sound outside of the music as he’s grabbed, indicating that the witch is clearly not good. The sound then completely goes back out into silence as well as the image disappears, this just confirms yet again that whatever goes on between the witch and Caleb is not