The Abbott family leaves their destroyed home and walks into a world of blind monsters that hunt by sound. Deaf daughter Regan sets out to find other survivors. Watch how the film opens with the first day of the invasion and then splits the family into separate lines of danger.
A Quiet Place Part II is a 2021 horror, science fiction and thriller film directed by John Krasinski. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (2 narrative, 2 sound and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Fog uses several of the same techniques.
Opening with a short separate sequence, such as a fable, origin scene or overture, that sets tone and theme before the main story begins.
How this film uses it
The film begins on the first day, at a Little League game, before it jumps a year ahead. The prologue shows the invasion before the world went quiet, and it gives the sequel its own opening instead of a recap.
Where to see it
Little League game: The Abbotts watch a baseball game while something falls from the sky, and the hostile creatures attack.
Making a sound, voice or call drive the story itself. A phone line, a mimicked noise or a spliced recording changes what characters do or believe.
How this film uses it
Regan changes her cochlear implant so it gives off a high-frequency signal that disrupts the creatures. A song on the radio also sends her toward the island where survivors might be. Sound is both the weapon and the map.
Where to see it
Radio signal: Marcus hears a song on a radio broadcast, and Regan reads it as a signal from survivors on the Norwalk Islands.
Giving the threat a short list of clear rules early in the film. You then use those rules to predict danger, which keeps you checking every scene alongside the characters.
How this film uses it
The aliens are blind and react to sound, and the film adds a new rule when one of them drowns. They cannot swim, and that new rule gives the survivors something to use against them.
Where to see it
Marina ambush: Emmett lures aliens in, and one drowns, which shows that they cannot swim.
Alternating between simultaneous lines of action in different places or worlds. The cuts build suspense or draw a comparison between the threads.
How this film uses it
The finale splits the family into three places at once. Cutting between them lets each danger rise alongside the others, so you never get a moment to relax.
Where to see it
Three-way finale: Evelyn rescues Marcus and the baby, Regan broadcasts from the radio station, and Marcus uses a portable radio to weaken the alien at the foundry.
Questions
A Quiet Place Part II: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does A Quiet Place Part II use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in A Quiet Place Part II (2021): Self-Contained Prologue, Strategic Silence, Sound as Plot Device, Rule-Based Threat and Parallel Crosscutting.
Who directed A Quiet Place Part II?
John Krasinski directed A Quiet Place Part II, released in 2021. CineCode also covers A Quiet Place (2018).
What films are similar to A Quiet Place Part II?
Films that share techniques with A Quiet Place Part II include The Fog (1980), Schindler's List (1993), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Ran (1985).
