Lighting Techniques
Low key lighting uses lots of shadows and contrast which creates a dark and gloomy mood, and it is common to use low key lighting in horror films to imply danger, mystery, and terror . Uplighting casts shadows on the face while also emphasizing specific features, and to get this look in your horror scene, place a single light source beneath your subject . Backlighting is a technique in which a light is placed behind a subject, creating a halo effect around their silhouette, and this technique can be used to create a sense of unease and to isolate the subject from the environment around them . If you put the main character in the light and surround that person with shadows, the audience instinctively wants to know what’s going on in that darkness . The shadows made on faces when lighting from below don’t usually occur in nature, so it creates instinctive alarm to those who view them .
Sound Design and Music
Music can enhance the emotional impact of a horror film, but diegetic sound is just as important, and when the protagonist moves down the dark hallway of the farmhouse, the audience will expect to hear the nerve-tingling creaks of old floorboards . Orchestral scores are a familiar, unnerving presence in horror films, and dissonant chords and demonic whispers help create the unsettling atmospheres . Psycho is one of the earliest examples of the jump scare using what’s called a stinger or scare chord . Diegetic sounds are the sounds that emanate from the world of the film like screams, knocking doors, ghost sound effects, flesh being wounded, and whispers, while non-diegetic is placed there by the filmmakers in post-production and can include music, foley sounds and other designed sounds . A Quiet Place meticulously uses sound to build tension, utilizing silence to amplify the fear of making any noise .
Mise-en-Scene: Props and Costumes
The most common prop we would see within horror films is the murder weapon, varying from the basic slasher weapon like the machete, chainsaw and knife to the more complex weapons like the voodoo dolls and the insane, disturbing traps from Saw . There are other props that may not always be used for killing, but mainly to build the horror in the scene, and things like the rocking chairs, paintings and balloons all create this creepy effect within the setting . Masks are common in horror films as it hides the killers identity, adding mystery and fear of the unknown, and examples of this include Jason Voorhees, the Scream killer, Leatherface, and Michael Myers . The usage of black and white is mostly used, and the symbolism of these colors transcends the horror genre itself and is used in film as a whole to portray the contrast between good and evil, hero and villain and pure and lost .
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Settings and Color
Settings include isolated locations that are abandoned and often have a hidden past . The mise-en-scene in horror tends to be dark, rural deserted locations, places that are abandoned and isolated, and props include weapons such as knives, axes and chainsaws as well as supernatural features such as castles, graveyards and haunted houses . In a slasher film, the color red is predominant as in a slasher movie, a lot of blood is used, and the dark is also a common fear among many people so the usage of it is a play off of the common fears of people . In a horror a directors goal may be to set a eerie tone and haunting feel when choosing a location .
Camera Work Examples
Close ups are used of characters faces to get across their fear, and point of view is another main frame a range of horror films use because the audience watching can only see what the character is seeing so when there is a scare scene happening the audience won’t know what is going to happen . Many horrors use close-ups to emphasize a characters scared emotions or extreme wide shots to create isolation and distance from a character, and horror uses unique and unusual angles to create confusion and unsettling feel with the viewer . Over the shoulder shots can be used when the director wants the audience to see something before the character does . Editing in horror often tends to have a fast pace and many cuts to make the audience feel distressed, uneasy and builds dramatic tension for perhaps a jump scare .
Sources:
- https://www.colborlight.com/blogs/articles/horror-film-lighting-techniques-and-tips
- https://theasc.com/articles/terror-through-lighting
- https://nofilmschool.com/2018/04/5-lighting-techniques-you-can-use-your-next-horror-film
- https://www.colborlight.com/blogs/articles/low-key-lighting-in-horror-films-basics
- https://nofilmschool.com/2016/10/8-spooky-lighting-techniques-you-can-use-your-horror-film
- https://media-studies.com/horror-genre/
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