Sound in Horror Films

One of the most significant components to any successful film is the use of sound. This can extend to both digetic sound such as foley’s (i.e. the sound of a knife being sharpened) and non-digetic sound such as ambient music. Within Horror films, sound tends to be used particularly effectively to create an air of tension, fear and foreboding, so it is particularly important that we consider its use within our coursework piece. Some examples of how sound is used in horror films can be seen below.

Dead Silence Theme Music

I think that this is a particularly effective piece of music as it is so eerie. It begins initially as being quite soft, and builds as the music progresses in both sound level and tension. Even though the song ends as it starts, tension and fear are still evoked throughout and perhaps even more so because of this.

Jaws Motif

Recurring sound motif’s are often used within Horror films. Often their usage helps to create a sense of foreboding hinting to the audience of trouble to come. For example in this clip, the Shark (which is a symbol of danger and destruction) ‘s appearance is always accompanied by this particular piece of music. This piece of music is low and tense, and again like many of the other pieces of music I have looked at within horror films, it builds in pace, sound level and tension as it goes on.

Psycho Theme Music

The short sharp Violin sounds are particularly significant in this piece, as when used in the context of the film they prove to be firm examples of synchronous sound (as a sound, the violins coincide with the stabbing of protagonist, Marion Crane). Because we do not expect to hear this type of noise when a person is stabbed, the effect that this sound has is one of distortion, making the situation seem even more surreal and frightening than it otherwise may be. Furthermore the fact that the violins are played quickly, help to establish a sense of pace throughout the song, which continues to build as the piece continues, in reflection of the fast paced and tense nature of the film itself. As a theme for this film, it is successful in creating tension and fear, thus helping the film to conform to the conventions of its genre as a whole.

The Exorcist Theme Music

This is extremely similar in sound to the ‘Dead Silence’ theme tune, in that it is quite high pitched and tinkly. Again, it gets more and more tense as it goes on in reflection of the action within the film itself, however it does not, like other horror film soundtracks often do, reach a crescendo. Instead, this piece tends to stay at a low sound level throughout, having only eerie undertones layered within it, as it continues.

Horror title sequences -Editing

Following my research into existing products and other student work I have compiled my findings together and split it into the four key areas; mise-en-scene, camera work, sound and editing.

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Horror title sequences – Camera work

ollowing my research into existing products and other student work I have compiled my findings together and split it into the four key areas; mise-en-scene, camera work, sound and editing.

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Horror title sequences – Sound

Following my research into existing products and other student work I have compiled my findings together and split it into the four key areas; mise-en-scene, camera work, sound and editing.

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Horror title sequences – Mise-en-Scene

Following my research into existing products and other student work I have compiled my findings together and split it into the four key areas; mise-en-scene, camera work, sound and editing.

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Teacher feedback on Blog

Recently we met with our Media teacher to get some feedback on our Blog. We videoed the whole event, finding out both what positive things he had to say about our work, and discovering some key areas where we could improve our blog. We hope to take on board all of the advice we have been given, and hopefully continue to improve our work!

Our choice

We have chosen to produce an opening sequence within the genre of horror. The reasons for our choice come from the research that we have carried out over the few last weeks. We have also selected a target audience of teens. We felt that horror was better for us to choose than thriller because:

• Having looked at existing opening sequences, many thriller sequences take place outside with establishing shots from high up using a crane to show location. We do not have this equipment available to us so we feel we wouldn’t be able to produce an opening which consists of the common features of the thriller genre
• Also, having looked at past student work, filming outside seems to be of a lower quality than inside filming and since many thriller title sequences are outside this could prove to be a problem which makes us believe that we could produce a horror sequence to a higher standard than a thriller sequence
• Our survey results show that horror is the most popular genre with our target audience
• The survey also helped us to decide our target audience; looking at the results we could see mainly teenagers answered the survey so they will be the target audience and we will consider this when we create our product.

As a sub genre we have chosen to create the title sequence to a psychological horror as we have had some ideas about storylines that fit into this sub genre.

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Deciding the Genre of our Film?

Following on from the research that we have completed in to film openings, and the production of mood boards for each of the most common genres within film, we have began to consider what genre we wish our film opening to belong to. To help us to make this choice, I have analysed the results of the questionnaire that was posted previously, regarding film genre. This is a questionnaire that myself and Esther asked several members of our families and friends to fill out, in order to find out what type of films people like. Equally the creation of this, was aimed to help us discover if there was a correlation between certain age groups or genders and film genre, and furthermore to begin to identify our own target audience. The questions included in our survey can be seen in the image below…

Survey Findings-

Target Audience:
The first thing that this questionnaire revealed to us was that the majority of the people we knew, who had taken our survey were between the ages of 11 and 20, making them primarily of the adolescent age bracket. Given this, we have decided that it would perhaps be a good idea to make our film suitable for people who are of this age. This survey has allowed us to recognise the likes and the dislikes of this age group and we will be able to, if need be, access people of this age once more quite easily to complete further research in to our target audience (as collectively, we know more people between the ages of 11 and 20 than of any other age). Although, we will do some further research in to target audience, at present this survey indicates that people aged between 11-20 would be the best age group for us to direct our coursework toward.

Genre:
Following on from this, the results of our survey have revealed to us that the favourite and most commonly watched genre of film for people within our target group is horror. This has suggested to myself and Esther, that if we are to make our film for this particular collection of people that the genre of film we should opt to make should be horror, as it would be the genre they were most interested in. Such an idea was further emphasised by the responses collected from people, when we asked them what their favourite film was. The responses to this question included many horror films such as, ‘Carrie’, ‘The Shining’ and ‘Jennifer’s body’, which further indicated that we should opt to make a film belonging to this genre.

Popular title sequences

I found a list online of popular title sequences and I have looked at  three of these to get an idea of what appeals to an audience and what makes a title sequence popular and memorable.

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This sequence from Lord of War is almost like a short film in itself, following the production and life of a bullet which fits in with the storyline about an arms dealer. The sequence if predominantly in a point of view shot from the view of the bullet which is unusual and disorientating to the viewer, particularly when the bullet is packaged and the screen goes dark, only to open up in a completely new location. There is little editing at the sequence is essentially one long shot which when used alongside the point of view shot helps the viewer to feel as though they are going on a complete and continuous journey with the bullet.
This sequence has a few different locations the weapons factory to a war zone. Ironically, the brightest and most colourful location is also one of the most dangerous, the war zone and the safer location, the factory, is darker and the colours and much less vibrant. This fits in with the contrapuntal relaxing and calm music that plays throughout the sequence, lulling the viewer into a false sense of security.

Right at the end of the sequence the bullet flies into the head of a young boy. This shock tactic ensures the attention of the viewer as the film begins. This shocking event also marks the end of the title sequence and the beginning of the film and actual storyline.
The titles in this sequence blend into the different locations such as the font of the film title, ‘Lord of War’ which is in the same gold metallic of the bullet. The titles are put up in the moment with the least actions e.g. the darkness when the box is closed which ensures that they aren’t ignored. They are written in block capitals, in the centre of the screen with the most important information in a larger size than the rest of the writing.

This is a dark opening sequence and such is the tone of this film. It introduces some of the key elements of the film such as technology which is represented through the recurring use of wires, violence which is shown through the gag, the punch and the grabbing hands and passion which is shown through the kiss. The black oil which seems to cover everything in the clip could show the deceit, lies and covering up which are common themes throughout the film.

This sequence is fast paced and includes a great number of short shots which work alongside the dark colours and the seeming never region with no specific or identifiable location to make the viewer feel uneasy. The music is fast and intense with the singer sounder passionate and dramatic which represents the protagonist of the story. So many of the themes and elements of the story and presented in this clip that it almost seems to be a map of the protagonists mind.

The titles in this clip are very simplistic in a subtle font, white and rather small but their contrast with the black background and general dark colouring allows them to stand out without taking away from the power and intense imagery.

Although this title sequence doesn’t conform to the usual rules and restrictions of title sequences as the actors are introduced by their characters names and not their own, it was still one of the favourite title sequences on the poll. It’s popularity is most probably due to the clever editing that is used within this clip. Graphic matches and other editing techniques are used to link together a number of different clips and make the transitions smooth which gives the whole sequence a smoother finish.

The music in the clip is fast paced which matches the quick and smooth transitions between the scenes. The music is quite repetitive and consistent and plays throughout the sequence so it’s abrupt ending marks the end of the title sequence and the beginning of the film and story line.

The bold and large titles font seems to reflect the nature of the characters that they introduce. The names of the characters are used instead of the actors to give the audience a head start as the film as a complex story line which could be difficult to follow. The names come up when the character is on screen and a close up of the characters face is shown so that the audience can associate the name with their face.

 

Other student work

I have looked at some examples of other student work to influence my own ideas and to try and understand what standard of work I should be able to produce under the time limit with the equipment available to us. These are the clips I have looked at and what I like about them.

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In this clip I liked the use of short takes and jump cuts which made the viewer feel disorientated. It made it difficult to make sense of the scene and the action which make the viewer feel uneasy and uncomfortable. I also liked to use a folley when the photos appeared on the screen. These features will influence my own product when I begin to make my opening sequence.

In this clip I like that although, at the beginning of the sequence, the voice over seems contrapuntal, as the scene of the crime is described we realize that it is not. I also think that camera angles are used cleverly in this opening sequence as we are never shown the face of the man which builds suspense which is in keeping with the thriller genre.

In this clip I like the crackling sound effect that has been used along with the titles and the jumpy, cut style of the titles themselves which reflects the genre of the piece. Something that I noticed about this piece is that sometimes, particularly in the moment after the boy lights a cigarette, the editing doesn’t seem smooth however, it doesn’t appear to change enough to be a jump cut. This is something I will remember for when I create my own opening sequence; transitions within editing must be smooth and any jump cuts must be made extremely clear so that they don’t look like mistakes.

I like fast forward to show the passing of time outside the station in this sequence and I like the use of sound with the dietetic sound of the radio discussing what we know to be the topic of the film. However, the outside clips, particularly the one of the train, seem loud and of lower quality than the rest of the clips and the voice over at the beginning seems to last for a long time. I will take this into consideration when I create my own opening sequence, especially when selecting the location for my sequence and when story boarding.