D.B: Technical Analysis - The Ward (2010, John Carpenter)

Camera Techniques	Duration	Analysis
A long-shot tracking backward along a corridor.	0:00 – 0:12	The title of the film anchors the location of the corridor; that it must be some kind of ward. The title seems to appear unexpectedly in the corridor causing the belief that not everything is as it seems, it becomes the thing that you would pass in the darkness. whistling music and thunder.
A close-up slow tracking shot hovering around an old drawing of a man’s legs and arms tied up and carried by other men.	0:12 – 0:16	The slow tracking creates an interesting shot that lets the audience focus on the image being shown. The image is quite grotesque instilling the association that the film will be about harsh punishments and sin.
A close-up slow tracking shot hovering around an old drawing of a man being tortured on a wooden wheel.	0:16 – 0:20	The images shown connote pain and suffering.
A close-up slow tracking shot hovering around an old drawing of a woman’s hand tied above her head whilst men inspect her.	0:20 – 0:25	The image seems like a picture from the witch hunting times. The woman looks terrified and has been completely belittled.
The previous picture is split into broken glass pieces that slowly separate, now the still close-up has moved further up the picture to show the woman’s bound hands.	0:25 – 0:29	The shattering of the glass connotes something delicate being destroyed and the already morbid image has an even greater disturbing quality added to it.
A still close-up of an old black and white drawing of a man’s ankles being chained. The picture has few shatter marks of a broken mirror slowly separating.	0:29 – 0:33	The slow-motion movement of the broken glass creates a peaceful contrast to the morbid image.
A still close-up of an old drawing of a man chained to a chair with a box around his face. The image is in the same style as shattering glass, there are many cracks drifting apart pointing outside of the shot. The shot slowly fade out to reveal the next shot.	0:33 – 0:38	There is a repetition amongst the photos of constraint towards the people in the images. It is portrayed in a very negative way, for example, in this shot the man has had his human rights taken away from him by the fact that he cannot see or eat whilst he is wearing the containment.
A still close-up of an old photo of a woman with electric wires attached to her forehead, looking to the sky and praying. The image is shattered like glass drifting apart.	0:38 – 0:45	The wires in her forehead look incredibly painful and as if they are torturing her. This connotes fear and pain which is a convention of the horror genre.
A still medium-close up of an old photograph of a man’s face expressed with horror and pain. The image is in the bottom left corner and the rest of the shot is shattering glass, the point that the glass has been struck is visible but not the object that struck it. The shattered pieces move towards the camera.	0:45 – 0:51	It is not seen what afflictions are being put upon the man in the photo but it is clear that the man is in complete agony. The audience is completely aware that the following film will be about torture and pain and will not be something pleasant. The connotations in this shot are conventionally of a psychological horror film.
A glass shattered photo of a man tied to a chair by his wrists and neck.	0:51 – 0:58	The man is wearing a convicts uniform with a rag on his head that suggests he is about to be killed by electrocution. The uniform connotes that the evil that is being done to him has some justification.
A needle is being inserted into a mans ear whilst his face is tied still. His eye is being forced open by another man as well. The image is shattered like glass drifting apart.	0:58 – 1:03	Lobotomies are often known as an old practice to help with mental disorders. The image is more grotesque than previous images, increasing the sense of dread that the film wishes to connote.The images represent the early days of mental science in which more evil devices were used to 'cure' the mentally insane.
One person is holding the patient's open skull whilst the other drill a circle into it. This image is less shattered because it requires more recognisable detail for it to be understood.	1:03 – 1:11	The images relating to mental disorders creates a dominant ideology that mental disabilities are dangerous and evil and that they ways to treat them are unsafe and the people with them are completely helpless. Every images is connoting mental disorders in a negative way. This representation signifies the mind as a fearful thing - a convention of its horror sub-genre.
A canted angle of a flat piece of glass being shattered from beneath in three different places. once again, the glass shatters in slow motion.	1:11 – 1:19	The shattering glass connotes the idea that the context of the image is an illusion and that pain is associated with this illusion.
A canted close-up of a woman strapped to a medical bed with a piece of cloth shoved into her mouth. The woman is receiving electroshock therapy. The image is shattered like glass drifting apart.	1:19 – 1:23	The images are designed to hint at the dark nature of the film. The purpose of them is to create a sense of dread for the mental ward that the film takes place in. This technique enables them to sustain tension from the beginning of the film.The images make the audience feel disconcerted and apprehensive of what they were about to witness.
A woman screams in pain as her head is held in place and a needle is used to inject something into her neck. The image is shattered like glass drifting apart.	1:23 – 1:29	The images are in black and white because the drained colour represents the lack of life and happiness evermore creating the feeling of hopelessness and dread.
A mid-shot of a woman sitting on a chair with her back to the camera wearing a white jacket. This shot is also shattered like glass that drifts apart in slow motion.	1:29 – 1:35	The shadows in the photo conceal the location that the character is in and her identity. The attention is completely brought to the white jacket and the dangerous mental instabilities that are associated with it.
A close-up of a woman tithing in pain as she receives electroshock therapy, The image is shattering like glass drifting apart.	1:35 – 1:46
The camera pans into the large hole in the glass where it has been shattered but to the left is an extreme-close-up of a  girl who has a large needle poking into her eye.	1:46 – 1:51
A large single shard of glass separates in slow motion with a long-shot of a girl cradling her legs whilst sitting against a wall projected onto the glass.	1:51 – 2:03	This shot is longer than the rest of the shots leaving the audience to ponder and focus more on the girl in the image than previous images. It suggests that the girl may have importance to the narrative.
Another large single piece of glass slowly floats off of the bottom left corner until it is completely unseen. Projected onto the piece of glass is a woman lying on the concrete floor in the fetal position.	2:03 – 2:12

Sound - On further research, I found out that the soundtrack was composed after the sequence was finished. This was so that the composer was able to create a piece of music that perfectly anchored the visuals.