Saturday 8 December 2012

Research: The Importance of Sound in Horror Films

The sound in horror films plays a huge part in what makes the film scary. This can range from sound effects to emphasise the terror or creepy music that creates a feeling of suspense. For example a person walking down the street could either be made into a relaxing and uplifting stroll or a sense of "something bad is going to happen" just by the choice of music. There are many variations of sound used in horror films but below are some of the most effective.

An example of some techniques dates all the way back to the classic horror film, Dracula. Strong dark chords and unsettling tones are one way of creating a scary piece of music for a horror film as shown at the beginning. But the use of high pitched, screechy sounds are just as effective as shown at 0.50 seconds in.



Below is a famous scene from the horror film Psycho in which it is compared with and without music. This portrays just how important the music in a horror film is, without music it lacks the build up of tension that is vital in any film in the horror genre. Use of high pitch sounds created by string instruments is very effective here as it portrays a negative mood for the whole scene. Also in this clip there are several sound effects used which make the whole thing a lot more effective.



Another iconic piece of music that creates tension is from Jaws. Only two notes are mainly used which is simple yet effective as it has become so well known. The two notes begin long and heavy gradually increasing in pace which has been said to naturally change people's heart beat to match the pace. This results in an increase of the audience's adrenaline meaning more enjoyment. Also the build up of irregular beats and high too low pitches creates a feeling of heightened suspense and impending doom. This use of change in pitch can be seen clearly below as I have used soundcloud to present the sound clip. Prof Daniel Blumstein reported that horror films commonly have a extremely high amount of abrupt shifts up and down in pitch compared to any other genre, this shows that change in pitch is likely to have a big impact on the audience.

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