What filmmaking techniques does The Witches use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Witches (2020): Rule-Based Threat, Retrospective Voiceover, Body Horror and Miniature Scale Perspective.

Who directed The Witches?

Robert Zemeckis directed The Witches, released in 2020. CineCode also covers Romancing the Stone (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992).

What films are similar to The Witches?

Films that share techniques with The Witches include Blade II (2002), Black Swan (2010), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Toy Story (1995).

Fantasy · Comedy · Family

The Witches

Robert Zemeckis, 2020

In 1960s Alabama, a boy and his grandmother check into a hotel and discover that a convention of witches is planning to turn the world's children into mice. Then the boy becomes a mouse himself. Worth watching for how the film turns rules and scale into suspense.

2 Narrative 1 Psychology 1 Cinematography

At a glance

The Witches is a 2020 fantasy, comedy and family film directed by Robert Zemeckis. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Blade II uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Rule-Based Threat

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

Charlie's grandmother Agatha gives him a checklist of how to spot a witch. They wear gloves to hide claws and wigs to hide baldness, and they have square toeless feet and wide mouths. Then you watch every adult in the hotel for those signs.

Where to see it

The hotel lesson: Agatha teaches Charlie how to tell witches from ordinary women by their gloves, wigs, feet, mouths and nostrils.

Narrative

Retrospective Voiceover

Having a narrator tell the story from some point after it happened. The events feel like memory, and you sense early on that something will be lost.

How this film uses it

Chris Rock narrates as the older Charlie, looking back on the events. His voice tells you early on that Charlie survives. It also makes the story feel like a memory and a tall tale at once.

Where to see it

The narration: Chris Rock's voice introduces young Charlie and the grandmother who takes him in.

Psychology

Body Horror

Showing the human body being changed, damaged or falling apart. The horror works because you imagine it happening to your own body, and it often stands for mental suffering.

How this film uses it

The potion changes bodies on screen. Bruno is turned into a mouse after eating chocolate from the Grand High Witch, and the other witches are turned into rats. Seeing a body change without the person's choice is the scary part.

Where to see it

The ballroom: Bruno is transformed into a mouse by the delayed effect of the potion. The Grand High Witch turns Charlie into a mouse as well.

Cinematography

Miniature Scale Perspective

Placing the camera low or shrinking a character so ordinary objects become huge. Furniture, vents and hands turn into looming landscapes and obstacles.

How this film uses it

As mice, Charlie and his friends use the hotel's vents to escape and steal the witch's room key. Later, a mousetrap becomes a launcher. The hotel feels like a different place at mouse size.

Where to see it

The mousetrap: The mice launch a bottle of potion into the Grand High Witch's mouth with a mousetrap. It turns her into a rat.

Questions

The Witches: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Witches use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Witches (2020): Rule-Based Threat, Retrospective Voiceover, Body Horror and Miniature Scale Perspective.
Who directed The Witches?: Robert Zemeckis directed The Witches, released in 2020. CineCode also covers Romancing the Stone (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992).
What films are similar to The Witches?: Films that share techniques with The Witches include Blade II (2002), Black Swan (2010), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Toy Story (1995).

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