Sound in Horror Films

Background Music

Background music is very important in horror films because they help create the scary atmosphere and often signifies the build up of events. The typical features include isolated instruments playing a solo. This links with the idea of vulnerability of the characters. In most cases, the music would in a minor key and dissonant chords to express the scared feelings and danger of the protagonist. To begin with, it would usually start at a slow pace with low pitch sounds to lengthen the suspense. 

Typical instruments would include string instruments. This is because it can reach a high pitch to make the audience uncomfortable. Bass would be used quite a lot, sometimes to represent a heartbeat or forebode what's going to happen next.

There is often a large contrast between the start and the climax of the film. This is likely to start off with long held note and then contradicted with staccato notes and stabs to shock the audience and indicate that the action is about to begin. There is also an increase in volume and dramatic changes in pitch to create tension. Sudden silences is often used to create a shocking ending.

A good example is the film Jaws. The beginning starts off quite slow in the minor key to suggest danger. as the action begins, the tempo increases and there are short notes to emphasise the panic and fear.

Sound Effects

There are some iconic sound effects which often connotes with horror such as church bells, owls or footsteps. Church bells are often heard in those films of a paranormal genre linking with religion and supernatural beings. Furthermore, echoes are used to create the eerie atmosphere. A lot of the time, there is use of foley to exaggerate the sounds and make it more noticeable.

Voices

Generally, the antagonist's voice is likely to be male due to their deep voices. Usually their voices are quite distinctive and recognisable, therefore adding to unknown threat, even if they do not appear on screen. 

However, in some horror films, there are whispering voices to create the tension and and fear. Often, it is a child who contradicts the innocent cheerful character. For example, in 'The Shining' where the two little girls speak in a whispering monotone voice in sync to create the feeling of uneasiness.

                                                 

Main Brief

In the main brief, the background music would start of slow to create the suspense. As the scene reaches the climax, the volume would increase as well as the tempo to indicate that something is going to happen. We will also add sound effects such as footsteps and rustling leaves to create the sense that someone is following the protagonist. As is is just the opening, the antagonist will not have any lines.

Institutions Working in Synergy

Synergy: When two companies work together to mutually benefit each other.

The stages of production are as followed:

Production -- Marketing -- Distribution -- Exhibition

Synergy works when different elements within media conglomerate promote linked products. The typically have a larger effect than if one product was released on its own.

A conglomerate is when a production company owns a number of other companies and a subsidiary is a company owned by another production company.

An example of this is Warner Bros which is a conglomerate who owns DC Films and New Line Cinema.

Toy Story 3

An example of companies working in synergy is Disney to promote the film Toy story 3. They promoted this in various different ways:

-DVD/Blue-ray combos of the previous films in the franchise.

-Before the release of the film, Disney Interactive Studios released 'Toy story 3: The Video Game'.

-Sneak Previews of the films on Disney Channel.

Harry Potter and the Philospher's stone

In 2000, AOL worked in synergy with Time Warner. Time Warner is an oligoploy which owned the conglomerate Warner Gros. Pictures, therefore also working in synergy to distribute the film. This synergy between the institutions benefitted both, especially for marketing. The product was marketed in several ways:

-Adverets were shown on the American T.V channels, HBO and WB which are both subsidaries of Time Warner.

-AOL's internet service also promoted mechandise. They offered ticket promotions in exchange for a subcription of AOL's sevices which promotes both insitutions.

-The soundtrack was released on Atlantic records which is a subsidary of Warner Music.

The Great Wall

A recent example of companies working in synergy is the film 'The Great Wall'. The Great Wall had recently been announced and is going to be funded by the multi-business oligopoly, Wanda. Wanda had bought the conglomerate of Legendary, and as Lengendary had an existing distribution agrrement with Universal, the institutions continued to work in synergy to distribute all the films.

Main Brief

As we are an independant company, the budget is relatively low. therefore, we have decided to work in synergy with another company to help produce and distribute the film.

Editing Styles in Horror Films

Cutting:

Eye-line match: This is similar to shot reverse shot an refers to the path of where the eye is looking. The camera films a character looking at something and then cuts to their direction of gaze. This is often used in horror to add to the suspense before it reveals what the character is looking at.

Cross-cutting: To alternate one action when editing to show two sequences. In horror films, this is used to follow several actions at once. It normally is used when there is a lot going on in different locations.

Cutaway: This is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting another shot of something else. It often is used when there is suspense, to interrupt the scene so the audience is left wondering what is going to happen next.

Insert: This is when there is part of a scene filmed from a different angle or length from the original shot. It is often used in horror films to emphasisea different ascpect of the scene. For example, when an antagonist pulls out a weapon, an insert might be used to focus on the weapon close-up.

Jump cut: A jump cut is the transition between two shots which appears to have skipped a few frames due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other. the frames are often similar but not the same to create a jumping movement.

Other Editing Styles:

Slow motion is also often used in many films, particularly when there is a lot of action. This is often to highlight a key moment in the film or to dramatise it to create suspense. Some horror films uses this editing technique to add to the tension.

In some horror films, there are a variety of long takes and short takes. Long takes are often used to draw out the suspense and tension whereas short takes usually reflect on the hectic situation.

The Main Brief

In the main brief, we will try to use a few of these techniques in order to create suspense and tension. The opening will incorporate the eye-line match shot and cutaways. As this is only the opening, cross cutting many not be possible as there is only one sequence.

Textual Analysis: Scream

Typically a horror film starts with a black screen and this idea is reinforced at the beginning of Scream, in which the screen is completely black before white bold text appears. The colour white represent innocence and purity which may portray the main character. There is non-diegetic sound in the background of a low sustained string sound and a heartbeat. As the sound is playing, the text changes to red which connotes blood and death. During this transition there is a sharp non-digetic sound effect almost like the sound of a knife which also suggests that there will be injuries. After this sound effect, there is a digetic telephone ringing and the screen transitions to the action.

The film begins with a close-up shot of a telephone ringing and is picked up by the protagonist (Drew Barrymore). This action was shown in a long length shot and the audience is first introduced to the main character. Barrymore's appearance would of been a surprise to the audience as she was a big celebrity-generally horror films do not cast well known actors. This links with Richard Dyer's star theory who states that intitutions uses stars to attract a larger audience. The character is a young woman with blonde hair and a cream jumper. Her hair colour and clothing illustrates the typical American female. The colours are quite light and almost white. The white text at the beginning enforces the idea of the character being pure and innocent. White can be seen as a delicate colour which encourages the typical gender stereotypes of a woman being kind and gentle. A medium shot of the protagonist is shown, wearing minimal subtle makeup to support her seemingly nice and innocent personality. However, the assumption is then contradicted by the red lipstick that she is wearing making her more sexualised.

As she picks up the phone, a male's voice answers asking who she was. She then exchanges a few lines of dialogue before hanging up. As she walks away from the telephone, there is a tracking shot. The man then calls again, wanting to talk to her. The character is positioned to the right of the frame which is purposeful and not just dead space. Besides her are glass doors which emphasises how vulnerable she is because glass is easily broken. There is a long length shot to film the phone call with only slight camera movement. When she hangs up for the second time the camera has shifted so the woman is in the centre in front of the glass doors. Barrymore walks away and out of the frame of the camera, however, the camera lingers on the doors for a few seconds to show its significance.

The screen cuts to an establishing shot so the audience can get a sense of where the location is. it is an exterior shot where the camera movement pans downwards to show a tree and a large white house behind it. The audience now knows that the scene is set in a house and late at night. Most horror films are set at night because it increases the tension and makes it seem more scarier. The house and tree are very carefully framed-it is as if the tree is surrounding the top of the house which can hint inescapability. An iconography is the swing hanging from the tree. It appears to be swinging slightly which supports the assumption that someone is watching her.

Returning back to interior shots, a close-up shows the hob being turned on. The flames can indicate the danger of the situation. The woman places a pan of popcorn on the stove when the phone rings for the third time. A long length shot shows her walking around the kitchen table to reach for the phone. It is the mysterious man who had called wanting to talk. They begin to have a conversation about horror films, in which, the man asks what was her favourite. The use of foley was used when she pulls a knife out of the holder, making a sharp noise. The description of the movie 'Halloween' was 'the guy in the white mask who walks around stalking babysitters.' This is ironic as the woman looks like a stereotypical babysitter-babysitters are usually sensible female high school students. The framing of this shot was a set of knifes close to the centre whilst Barrymore is more to the left. This was intended to highlight and hint the coming events.

The camera cuts to another shot of the popcorn, using the rule of thirds to frame to kettle and popcorn. From what we see, the cooking of popcorn has progressed and the foil cover has expanded. The popcorn is an important iconography which is used as a visual interpretation for the build up of events.

Another long length shot is used to show her walking down a corridor. A tracking shot follows her whilst showing the many doors and windows that she passes, maintaining her vulnerability.

During the phone call, Barrymore mentions that the horror film 'sucked' which contradicts the weak and easily scared stereotypes of women. Throughout the phone calls, there are long length shots and lack of editing. This is intentional to build up suspense and gives a sense that someone is watching her.

The tension increasingly builds when she stops by her patio door. The mysterious man then says 'I want to know who I'm looking at.' It that moment, the camera zooms in on her face to express her fear and worry. Non-diegtic sound begins softly in the background as a low sustained sound which implies that she is now in danger.

There is again, use of foley where a dog begins to bark which suggests that there is an intruder in her garden. The audience and protagonist is now suspicious whether the person in the garden is the same man on the phone. An exterior shot shows Barrymore looking out into the garden which can hint that the intruder is outside watching her. The camera then cuts to a POV shot to show Barrymore looking all around the garden which limits the audience to see what she only sees. This keeps the audience intrigued as they would want to see what is happening outside.

She then begins to speak a bit frantically, emphasising her concern in the tone of her voice. There is shot reverse shot between her and the door to suggest that she is trapped.The framing of the camera shows the whole door and then cuts to a close up shows her locking the door. By doing this, she obviously knows that something is wrong and senses threat.

The background music of piano keys and strings gets increasing louder. The shot is an exterior shot in shallow focus so the audience draws there attention to the protagonist in the centre. Barrymore hangs up the phone just after the man tells her not to hang up on him in a threatening voice. As she leaves the room, the background comes into focus to show a painting hung up on the wall. It seems as if it is an image of a castle from a fairytale. Fairytales often are based around a damsel in distress which in this case, Barrymore is.

The scene switches back to the cooking popcorn which has now reached its limit and flames have erupted. This shows that the opening has reached climax of the events and also implies Barrymore's loss of control. It is a titled shot to show that something is not right.

The non-diegetic music is moving at quite a slow pace which builds up suspense and mirrors how the audience feels. A  long length shot shows her picking up the phone again to answer the persistent man and is followed by a tracking shot which is used to follow her movement. The young woman arrives back into the kitchen to take the popcorn off the hob which is now smoking but is then interrupted by yet another phone call. This symbolises that the chaos is never going to be resolved. The woman cuts off the man aggressively before he begins to talk, revealing her fierce and dominant personality which is then instantly contradicted when the man answers back in menacing voice threatening her. The non-diegetic clash of notes echos the audiences discomfort and fear. She begins to cower to the wall behind her and the man whispers 'Blondie' which confirms that the man indeed knows who she is. The music gets louder which represents the direction the scene is going to take, representing the danger.

The scene takes a turn when fast paced tracking shots begin to signify her panicky state. As we follow her back down the same corridor, she locks all the doors. This portrays her as quite stupid and naive, suiting her stereotypical identity-the doors and windows are made out of glass so someone can easily break in without touching the lock.

She reaches the front door and there is match on action to show her from an exterior shot through the doors window. Another POV shot is used to show the outside of the house, not yet revealing the mysterious tormentor. Barrymore replies to the man by mentioning the police. This represents safety and security but hope is quickly lost when the man says that they are going to make it in time. He also says that they are in the middle of nowhere which conforms to the typical horror codes and conventions of horror. A mid shot is used and the protagonist is positioned in the middle whilst looking out into the window. We can now see that she is crying which supports the stereotypical idea that women are weak and proves that the assumptions about her were correct.

Mise en scene in Horror Films

Mise en scene: The visual information in front of the camera. It is everything within the frame and the arrangement of props and scenery.

The are several main elements of mise en scene which is the setting, props, costume and makeup, and colours and lighting. Other elements include the facial expressions and body language of the actors and also the arrangement of props and how the actors are positioned.

Setting

The location/setting play an important part in horror movie because it establishes the atmosphere of the movie. Typically in a horror film the setting would be isolated and away from civilisation. This increases the fear because it is harder to access help. Locations can include places like abandoned buildings and derelict areas.

The well known horror film, "Friday the 13th" is set in a forest to emphasise the danger. The lack of pathways and the similar surroundings make the characters (and possibly the audience) feel lost and cannot escape.

However, a lot of the horror films are set in comfortable places such as homes. The fact that it is set in a house relates the the audience, making it seem more realistic which increase the fear. It removes the safeness people have in their homes and turns it into something that is no longer a place of comfort.

Props

A lot of the time, props in horror films are used to suggest danger and can often foreshadow what is going to happen next. Props adds to the scene, making it more realistic. An example of an iconography is the set of knifes in the movie 'Scream'. The knives are placed in the centre and highlights the possible danger and trouble.

Other props are usually different types of weapons. These weapons are typically something sharp to emphasise pain and blood. For example,

Lighting and Colours

The majority of horror films are set at night. This is because it gives of an eerie mysterious atmosphere and increases the tension for the characters and audience. As it is set at night, it makes it harder for the character to see which also links to how the lighting is effective for jump scares. The place is likely to be isolated which increases the characters vulnerability. 

The colours in horror films are typically black to symbolise death. However, white is often used quite a lot show the contrast between the protagonist and antagonist. Whilst black is the dominant colour, the colour red is shown many times in a horror film.

 It could be because there is a lot of blood (maybe a slasher horror) or to emphasise and forebode what is going to happen next. Red signifies danger and is commonly associated with the devil which could link to the paranormal genre.

The colour palette in most horror films would be quit pale to suggest death and warnings. For example, in the woman in black, a variation of grey was used to shown the supernatural atmosphere.

Costume and Makeup

Generally, the protagonist would be dressed in regular clothing suited for that particular time period. In comparison, the antagonist would typically wear something that looks quite menacing. For example, a generic costume would be a little girl in a white dress with either blood or dirt it. The white dress symbolises innocence which is used as an ironic feature. 

Often, the antagonist would be wearing something black to demonstrate the threat they pose to the protagonist. Make-up also plays a large part to get a characters personality across. For example, a well-known character in horror films is Freddy Kruger in which their makeup is done to create a distorted face. 

As characters are likely to be injured a lot, makeup must be used to shown the damage such as bruises and cuts. This emphasises the difficulty they might've had and how they have been affected.

In conclusion, this research has influenced the mise on scene in my main brief. It has helped me understand what features I need to include for a good horror film.

Case Study of Distribution: Paranormal activity

Paranormal Activity is an American horror film produced in 2007 and is the first of the Paranormal Activity Franchise. It is a paranormal horror presented as found footage and recordings.

It started off as an independent film shown at film festivals in 2007. The budget of the film was quite a low number of only $15,000. The horror movie, directed by San Diego filmmaker Oren Peli, gained a large fan base following over a year ago after screening at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg. The director initially wanted to direct a big-budget remake of the film, using the original cut as a DVD extra. However, a turn was taken for Paranormal Activity when Paramount Pictures then acquired the film and kept the original footage but altered the ending. This film then rose up the box office charts earning a worldwide total of $193 million. It was first released in America, shown in 12 markets for midnight screenings. The majority of areas sold out and demands increased rapidly.

The focus of it was to sell Paranormal Activity as an experience rather than just a film. The strategy was to avoid any tesears or TV spots showing the most scariest parts in order to build up interest. This worked quite well as the film grossed more than $500,000 on the fist weekend of October 2nd , after being shown exclusively at midnight in 12 areas across the U.S, including five sold-out screenings at Los Angeles' ArcLight theater. This encouraged Paramount to expand Paranormal Activity to a regular showtime schedule in 170 cinemas in the last weekend.

To promote the film, Paramount decided to add to the typical marketing campaign. They started an Eventful page for the film by asking fans where to show the first releases. Fans were able to demand screenings in their area and the area with the most demands  got to see it first.

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on Decemeber 29th, 2009. 

Following the success of the film, Paramount then produced the sequel in 2010 called Paranormal Activity 2. This had a budget of $3 million and the box office performance turned out to be $177.5 million. The franchise then continued to produce 4 other films based on the high profit that they have earned.

The other films in the franchise has also made a very high profit, each over $50 million, demonstrating their success.

For the main brief, we have decided to market our film by setting up an online campaign to vote for their city. The film would then be released first in the city that gets the most votes. There will also be sneak previews and trailers on T.V channels such as Film 4 to get people excited for the film.

Users and Gratifications Theory

Blumer and Katz suggested that the audience plays an active role in media, in opposition to how media uses the audience instead. It is an approach to understand why people seek out specific media and focuses on how people use the text.

Pleasures and gratifications include:
Diversion/escapism - To escape from everyday issues.
Information - To find out important information such as the news or the weather.
Identification - To recognize a specific person, perhaps because of aspiration to be like them (role models).
Entertainment - For enjoyment, relaxation or emotional release. For example, a person would choose to watch a comedy because they want to laugh.

For the main brief, the audience is likely watch it for entertainment as people like to be scared when watching horror films.

Stuart Hall-Encoding and Decoding

Stuart Hall's encoding and decoding theory is how messages in media are communicated to the audience, in which it can then be interpreted by the viewer. Decoding is to translate from the original form. He believed that institutions encode a message within to suit the social, economical and political society. It can be interpreted in three different ways:

Dominant reading: To interpret the the information as how the institution intended.
Negotiated reading: This is when the audience may agree on some of the content but disagree on some part.
Oppsitional reading: The audience may interpret the text differently and have conflicting ideas. They would disagree.

In conclusion, for the main brief, we hope that the message will be interpreted in dominant reading. This is because we want the audience to have similar views on how the main brief is communicated.

The Bobo Doll Experiment

An experiment was conducted in 1973 by Bandura to investigate whether social behaviours can be learnt through observation and imitation.

The Process:

• Some children were brought into a room to watch a video of a model behaving aggressively to a an inflatable toy called the 'Bobo Doll'. Another group was shown a video of non-aggressive behaviour.
• All children was then brought to another room and shown toys that they cannot play with.
• They were then taken to a room with more toys including the Bobo Doll.
• Many children who witnessed aggression reproduced the violent behaviour towards the doll. There was almost no aggression from the other group of children.

The Findings:

•  Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive group.
• 88% of the children who viewed the behaviour imitated.
•  8 months later, 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour.

Evaluation:

Bandura's experiment therefore shows how the media can affect people, especially children as they can be heavily influenced by what they see. This study has important implications for the effects of media on children as they are likely to imitate the violent behaviour that they see on T.V. 

However, seeing as the experiment was set in an artificial environment, it may lack external validity as the children may not react the same way towards a person in a real life situation. This can argue that the media does not influence the audience in any way. 

In conclusion, this experiment demonstrates that children would imitate violent media content. This also links with retention as to how well they remember the behaviour in order to reproduce it. Seeing as children are often heavily influenced by their surroundings, it supports the fact that children copy what they see. Consqeuently, media such as games, films and T.V shows have age certifications to prevent younger children from viewing the content.

When filming and editing, we have to be very aware of all the possible imitable behaviour. We will try not to include any extreme violence. To prevent children from imitating, our horror film will be targeting at 12a. The certification rating is typically lower than the majority of horror films, however, our horror film will not contain any extremes.

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle theory is based on how the messages in the text are injected into the audience by the media. It shows the power and impact it can have on an audience. Therefore, the message within the media is almost like a drug which is being injected into the audience, hence the term 'needle'. This theory suggest that the media can be a dangerous means of communicating because the audience is powerless to resist.

Based on this theory, the main brief will not include any messages which can have a negative impact on the audience.

The Effects Theory

The Effects Theory is when the consumption of media texts has an effect or influence on the audience. This covers how media can affect and change the audience, in which the audience is passive and powerless to prevent the influence. The Effects Theory is considered mainly negative but in some cases it can positively affect an audience.

This can be seen in the recent 'Killer Clown Sightings' after images were first published online to promote the release of Stephen Kings remake of 'It'. The images consist of the famous fictional character of a killer clown called Pennywise played by Bill Skarsgard. The craze originated from the US, in which, many people have started to dress up as killer clowns whilst roaming around in the streets in attempt to scare people. However, this was not an arranged marketing ploy, but has merely started based on published photos which has started the craze. It has now spread to many parts of the world including the U.K. 

As people tend to conform to others, more and more people are being influenced by others, particularly through social media. This has implications because social media may not have accurate reporting. Due to this, it is almost encouraging the craze and affecting the society negatively.

Additionally, there are implications linking with the Effects Theory. For example, there have been 'copycat murders' based on fictional murders such as the game 'Manhunt' which was banned from the U.K due to a murder in a similar style by a teenage boy in 2004. An implication is whether the institution is responsible from the actions influenced by their product or not. Should they take action or ignore the problems?

Chosen Actors

After discussion, here are our final casting choices:

Kirstie

Kirstie will be played by a 16 year old girl. This is appropriate because the age is similar to what we intended the character to be. It was a convenient choice as well as Emily goes to the same sixth form so contacting her was easy.

The Demon

The Demon would be played by Izzy Martin who is also 16. We have made this choice as the face would not be seen so it would not affect the main brief. The Demon would also make little appearance during the opening sequence. We have decided for Izzy to play the role based on her height. She is quite tall which would make The Demon seem more daunting. 

Officer Smith

The police officer would be played by Martine Smith who is 17 years old. This is because Martine has a suitable appearance to play the role. Her schedule is quite open which would make it ideal.

Casting Choices

Kirstie

For the role of Kirsty, we found two people who would be ideal.

Emily, 16 years olf

 Emily is suited for the role because she is a proffesional actress. Therefore, her performance would be seen as quite realistic and believable. She is also the same age as Kirstie and has a siliar appearance to what we thought Kirstie would look like. However, a downside is that Emily has quuite a busy schedule which could be problematic as there might not be times where she is avaiable to film.

Chelsea, 16 years old

Me and Izzy considered for me to play the role of Kirstie as it makes it easier to arrange filming dates. I also am a similar age to Kirstie which is advantageoud. However, I am not a proffesioanl actress so my performance would not come off as believable.

Officer Smith

We found several people to play the role of Officer Smith. To decide who would be allocated for the role, I've compared them against each other to decide who would be suited.

Isabel, 16 years old

Again, we have considered casting someone who is already in the group. We have decided that Izzy  is suited for the role. We thought her appearance matched Officer Smith. Her personality is quite confident which makes her ideal. Also, Izzy's schedule is quite open which would leave us a lot of time to film. However, it would also be difficult to film as there is only two of us in a group.

Martine, 17 years old

We thought that Martine met the requirements for the role of the police officer. This is because she is quite tall and confident (which is what we described Officer Smith in the script), therefore, she is qutie suited. She has also had some experience in acting and will also be available most of the time as this particular scene would be set in school.

Emma, 17 years old 

Emma is suited for the role because she suits the appearance of Officer Smith. She is also an experienced actress as she takes A level drama. However, in terms of availability, she has quite a busy schedule which may not be ideal.

The Demon

As The Demon does not reveal it's face during the opening and does not have any dialogue, the character has a very open specification. Therefore, a wide range of people can be considered for this role. The only requirement is that the person should quite tall to match the profile of the character.