How Do Horror Films Create Suspense

Tim Burton, in Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children, uses mysterious music, lighting, and angles in orders to show something bad might happen in the scene. This is interesting because it makes the viewer want to know what is going to happen. This is important because suspense in a movie is better for the viewer than the viewer knowing what is going to happen. The viewer being about to know what is going to happen would just ruin the movie.

Sound is extremely important in films, and the types of sound used differ between genre. Sound is important in all films. Without sound, films do not possess as much power compared to if they did have sound. In ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, multiple soundtracks are used throughout the film. Two fantastic soundtracks in the film are ‘This is Halloween’ and ‘The Oogie Boogie Song’. Both use orchestral instruments and the lyrics are sung with deep voices. Diegetic sounds used in these soundtracks and throughout the film include bats squeaking, bugs crawling, and pumpkin heads being chopped off using a large metal blade. The effect of sounds, including soundtracks, is to enhance the feeling experienced from the visuals. Deep voices and multiple orchestral instruments create suspense and fear. As the music crescendos, the suspense increases as well. Loud, sudden sounds like a scream or crash create sudden fright. Using different sounds, films are more exciting and can be used to determine a genre.

The very intro of the film begins with a score of fast-paced and spasmodic music, and the very atmosphere of the film already comes off as apprehensive. The music in the beginning sounded a lot like violin music, and violins are known for producing either soft, delicate tones or screechy and high-pitched cacophony. However, Hitchcock chooses to use the screechy violin sounds to corporate into music because the violin’s

Another example is when Arbogaust gets killed and when Norman is taking his mother downstairs, we watch over this scene from the top corner, as the birds do in Norman's office this implies that Norman is haunted by something watching over him. These examples foreshadow the ending of the film and the real situation between Norman and Mother. The music builds a lot of tension and suspense in psycho, it tells us that something is going to happen very soon and we get prepared for it, the lack of music can make a scene seem calm and normal, which then contrasts with the loud scary music that starts quickly as the scary part happens. The audience are unprepared and scared.

It is intriguing how something simple as sound waves affect our emotions deeply. Igor Stravinsky’s famous ballet score “Rite of Spring” had a massacre theme with very disturbing images and surprisingly, the audience responded with a bloody riot with people even hitting Stravinsky. The second time the audience heard the music, they applauded him and to a greater surprise, the same music became Disney’s music. This transition of people’s dislike of a music to greatly appreciating piece is done by the brain. As the music repeats, the brain has the capacity to tune into to it and even adjust to that sound. When we hear unfamiliar noises that are dissonant or unpleasant, auditory cortex’s role is to differentiate the plethora of sounds and find

Uncanny music is common throughout multiple movies Tim Burton has produced. Music tends to provoke emotion in viewers and Burton’s films capture these emotions efficiently. Typically the introduction to Burton’s films are filled with mysterious music. In “Alice in Wonderland” the introduction has loud music the varies from happy to eerie while containing a dark scene. Then in “ Edward Scissorhands” Peg (mentioned earlier) is driving up to Edward’s mansion, loud and dramatic non-diegetic music.

Horror films must tap into people’s deepest fears if they are to effectively scare people. There are many ways of doing so. Certain horror films employ so-called jump scares to frighten people when they least expect it. Others make use of lighting, shadow, implications and sound effects in order to hint at something that may or may not be there. Films like Robert Eggers’ The Witch is a good example of the latter kind of horror film.

Suspense is a crucial ingredient in the making of horror and thriller films. The significance of suspense in horror films is to bring out the “twist or unexpected moment of realization that makes someone scream and one's heart race. In the film industry, there are various types of genre, but as different as films may seem, they all have one element that links them all together. That element is known as Mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a French phrase that means “putting into the scene.” Mise-en-scene includes elements such as setting, lighting, costume, and figure movement and expression (acting).

In 1928 ground-breaking technology made it possible for movies to have sound. This revolutionized horror films because sound gave an extra dimension to terror. Noise built suspense and signaled the presence of a threat. (Wilson) Instead of a monster suddenly making an appearance without warning, music would signal that they were near. Growls, Snarls, footsteps, and screams allowed the audience members to feel like the victims of the movie.

Horror films are known for their ability to scare audiences, to get the audience’s hearts racing, their blood rushing. A good horror film will cause viewers to be on the edge of their seats and having their perception of reality distorted as they attempt to understand the unraveling plot of the horror film. The tone of the film aides in the amount of suspense that a horror film produces, since a much darker film will create a more suspenseful atmosphere than one that is more focused on campy monster makeup. But the tone of a film is determined by the sound of the film, or in other words, the score. Sound or music in a horror film, or the lack thereof, make the intense scenes and without the addition

(Mulvey, Nov. 2, 2017) Our society today is engrossed in the visualization of gore, horror, and violence. In the infamous scene where the murderer is unveiled, an orchestra plays a staccato melody that rises in tempo. “Incorporating music into your own films can not only make your final cut more interesting, but it also allows the audience the ability to connect emotionally to your characters and their situation, and you, the filmmaker, to reinforce your story and/or message.” (Bell, Nov. 2, 2017). Nevertheless, this would explain why a viewer's interest would peak at the moment of each murder. The music being played pre murder builds suspense and creates the feeling that the viewer knows what is going to happen before it even happens. For example, a creepy tune plays every time the mysterious murders carriage drives around the town. The viewer is left to assume that a murder is about to occur, but is left at the edge of their seat wondering if their assumption is a correct inclination of where the plot is going. Music not only builds suspense by allowing the viewer to have freedom of their own foreshadowed outcomes, but it keeps their interest as well.

For the second time in almost 4 years, over 350,000 Chicago Public School Students may not be able to go to school because of the CTU Strike that is currently in progress today (The Washington Post). The issue between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools has not been solved yet due to disagreements about the income received. The Chicago Teachers Union has made offers to school administrations; however, the responses were not in their favor. The union has been in progress of agreeing on a contract “since November 2011, [and the strike that occurred at the time] was the first to hit the Windy City in 25 years” (Liebelson). The issue must have erupted due to a misconception or a realization of problems occurring. Chicago Teachers Union choosing to strike does not affect charter schools since they are not a part of Chicago Public Schools. The issue of school strikes can be fixed by increasing the budgets and providing useful resources to teachers in order to improve the level of education.

The music by Bear Mccreary begins with an orchestra of instruments which starts off forte and decrescendos and crescendos in certain parts of the intro giving the audience a feeling of urgency, which is the feeling most of the show has. The music chosen is the perfect accompaniment to the slideshow of images and clips shown, because it gives the introduction just the right touch of eeriness and mystery that it needs to scare the audience but still captivate them at the same time. While this is a show about zombies and death with many gory scenes to prove it, the audience it attracts isn’t always people that like horror film, the show is intended to attract anyone who is curious enough to watch one episode, because once you’ve seen one episode of this show most people get hooked whether they like horror films or not. With its last season finale having more people watching than the number of people watching the NFL there are bound to be some scaredy-cats among all of those people.

This manipulates the audience because they know something is going to happen, but do not know exactly what. Music is also used to manipulate the audience during the trailer. Bernard Herrman composes the main theme music used in Psycho. This music is very sinister,

What drives a scene in a movie, television show, or video game is the music in the background. Movies and television shows often share the same element when using an orchestra score as background music. “Music adds to the emotional quality of the film. There is some empirical evidence to support this: fast and loud music arouses, slow and soft music calms. Motion and emotion are often entwined”. (Schaefer, 1998). The audience feel more emotional as you hear the sad melody of a violin during a dramatic scene. For some films that have