Sound in Horror/Thriller Films

Sound in Horror/Thriller Films

Music in horror movies allows to create unforgettable atmosphere which will make the movie being even more enjoyable and breathtaking. The atmosphere is very important to create good overall experience for the audience. Soundtrack helps to build-up certain feeling which is contributed into movie success. The feeling can be related to the specific moment which will stay in audience minds as a key part of the movie.


Music helps to highlight specific parts and fragments of the movie to make this scene stand out and being different from others. Even if the music started before we saw something on the screen, we can assume what it will be. Sometimes in the horror movies, only music is able to describe the intensity of the action taking place on the screen. Music can describe the pain of the character, the fear or any different action taking place on the screen. By the music, director of the horror movie is able to highlight how powerful the movie is.

Examples:

JAWS:

Jaws soundtrack is one of the most iconic movie soundtracks ever made. The composer , John Williams mainly used string and wind instruments to create this masterpiece. As we can hear, the tone and speed are gradually increasing and becoming intenser. Once the tone and speed is very intensive, we can predict that something is going to happen! Once we can hear this soundtrack in the movie, it creates the excitement and fear about what's going to happen next. The use of string instruments highlights the power of the movie which is allowing us to experience it more deeply and emotionally.



 
Woman In Black:


In this clip, we hear lots of diegetic and pleonastic sounds used. For example, at the beginning we hear lots of distant background noises such as spooked horses and distant screaming, along with the natural sounds we’d typically hear such as heavy rain and footsteps. These natural sounds add realism to the scene and therefore immerse us into the story more; whilst the distant screams heard in the background are a typical convention of a horror, so the audience feel on edge about these sounds. Furthermore, the protagonists heavy breathing is a pleonastic sound that has a massive impact on the audience: as we see his fear for what will happen next, we connect with that character and therefore feel the same way as him. In simple terms, his heavy breathing makes the audience breath heavily and feels the same fear as him.


I noticed that there is less non-diegetic sound used. The majority of the clip is diegetic that adds familiarity and realism, which is what spooks the audience – as we realise that we hear these sounds all the time and therefore this could happen to anyone. However the non-diegetic sound such is also very effective. Non-diegetic sound used in this clip is the quiet instrumental string music. This is mainly one long note, which creates tension - as it makes the audience feel uncomfortable.




In addition to this, I noticed another clip used a lack of sound, which is also extremely effective in horrors/thriller films. In this clip, there is very quiet non-diegetic sound, which fades into complete silence. This makes the audience feel very uncomfortable and on edge as it’s unnatural to have complete silence in the world. (In a way, the audience actually find the tense instrumental music comforting compared to complete silence – as complete silence is used before a major jump-scare)


The lack of sound also creates an anti-climax: as the audience have been expecting a scary climax through the tense soundtrack, the silence allows them to relax a bit, right before the sudden non-diegetic boom which is the predominate jump-scare. However this technique has been used so often in thrillers/horrors that it has become a genre convention. This means the audience know that there will be a jump-scare coming and so will react to it less effectively.