Supernatural Horror - Sound (individual)

Supernatural Horror – Sound

Non-diegetic soundtracks are the most used and the best way in which supernatural horror can create the feeling of tension or suspense. It leads and somewhat manipulates the audience to feel nervous and cautious of what is going to happen, this can be contrasted with the use of silence to build the atmosphere. This can be linked to how the editing is used with the aspect of cinematography to make the audience guess what’s going to happen or where the spirit might be. From the sub-genre, the use of classical instruments in an orchestral piece of music makes a large impact on audience’s emotions and pop music won’t scare the audience. An old ‘classical’ song from a record may be played, however the sound will be warped and distorted to make it sound merciless, menacing and eerie. The way the rhythm and pace of the music is carried out can create fear, panic and reflect the mood of the characters. It can be disordered with added sound to juxtapose the image, this could be a sweet and innocent laugh of vulnerable child, this natural sound in the context of a supernatural horror can sound crazy. It can suggest that something bad is about to happen to the character if other uses of sound like faint whispers in song or rhyme are also implemented.

The conventions of Diegetic are:

• Screaming to present raw fear and the sense of an intensified reaction.

• Rapid breathing and whispers from the character.

• Banging or clunking sounds to show force when opening and closing things such as doors or lifting and moving props/furniture setting.

• Dialogue as if they’ve been crying or had a panic attack/shock.

The conventions of Non-Diegetic are:

• Fast heartbeats to represent the quick pace.

• A voiceover in the trailer of key dialogue from the film to get a sense of the film/storyline.

• Music specifically to important scenes in the film, this can help quicken the speed of the scene.

• Sounds that bridge two scenes together, e.g. – The sound of a note being scribbled on paper or a telephone operator.