Research - Editing and Sound in the Horror Genre

Editing

Effective editing is very important in the horror genre, chiefly because the main purpose of a horror film is to frighten the viewer. The pace of editing builds suspense, either by being fast or slow. Conventionally, fast paced editing (shorter shot length, more frequent cuts between shots) is used in horror films to convey a sense of urgency to the audience; the pace of editing may become slower afterwards with the use of more sustained shots, to build up to a particularly scary moment and a return to fast paced editing to shock the viewer. Editing like this helps the film achieve its primary goal of being scary by enhancing the impact of what is happening on screen. Editors do not often start with sustained shots in the horror genre as, although these shots can make an audience wary as they anticipate a sudden shock, viewers may lose interest if a shot is sustained for too long. By gripping the audience using more urgent editing, they will be sucked into the film by the time a more sustained shot is used. Editing can be used to create dramatic irony in horror, i.e. when the audience sees a glimpse of the antagonist that the protagonist doesn't see, meaning they know that the protagonist is in danger before he/she does, building tension in the audience. The Dark Voyeur perspective is used in the horror genre to give the impression that the protagonist is being watched. This is achieved by framing the shot as if someone were hiding, watching the protagonist, making the shot a POV. Shots can be framed with branches, curtains, or from within a darkened room. These editing techniques can be used in our trailer to scare viewers, meaning they would want to see the film if it were being released. The advantages of them are that they do not require a large length of on screen time to execute them, meaning they can be implemented into our trailer easily, without the trailer exceeding its running time and the audience losing interest.

Sound

Use of sound is equally, if not more, important in the horror genre. Often, it is sound that scares the viewer, not the on screen visuals. Diegetic sounds that usually feature in horror films are often loud and sudden, like screams and the creaking of floorboards. Outside from these sudden bursts of sound in the diegesis, there is not much noise to increase the effect of these loud noises. Long periods without noise in horror films can be used to put the audience on edge, scaring them more when a loud noise occurs. Non-diegetic sound in horror films is primarily made up of music which has sudden spikes in volume and tempo, building to a crescendo, greatly enhancing the shock of a scary visual. Examples of this in the genre include the Jaws theme and the music from the shower scene in Psycho. Sound is effective in the horror genre; a research team led by animal distress call expert Daniel Blumstein found that the irregular sounds like screams and dissonant chords typical of horror films trigger a biological response making people think their young are threatened. This shows that sound will be very important in making our trailer scarier, and that we will need to obtain appropriate music and sound effects in order to do this. We might need to edit our sound using software like Audacity, to make it more effective.