Within the first five minutes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is a showing of non-diegetic, diegetic and mise en scene. I’m not much of a fan who likes horror movies or shows because I get scared really easily from the suspenseful music or by visual popups and sound effects that go with it (diegetic).
Mise en scene was presented in this episode while the girl was having a bad nightmare. The nightmare consisted of a dark scene where it was kind of hard to see until the vampire showed up and the picture quality cleared to see the scariness of the vampire. The little girl singing before the vampire showed up was a distraction, until the man appeared and scared viewers and the girl. This was a smart choice of the directors to put this sort of mise en scene in this episode because it was definitely a surprise.
Next was diegetic sounds which are sounds whose source is visible on the screen. In the same scene, the girl’s singing got louder and louder as the other girl came closer to her. This voice nonetheless sounded creepy like in other horror movies. The diegetic sounds from her voice gave such suspense. The little girl was just standing there, sweet and innocently so viewers would assume that something bad would happen at that point, thus giving off suspense.
Lastly, the non-diegetic sounds occurred when the vampire popped up out of nowhere. You would think that the boy behind her would just tell the girl that she is safe, but nope. The man turned into a vampire somehow and scares viewers who are watching this. Before the vampire showed up, there was such suspenseful music rising with a stronger tone as the scene progressed. It harmonized the little girl’s singing at the same time, building such suspense so viewers would not know when something bad happens. But once the vampire appeared, the music all of a sudden got scary and loud, the opposite of the suspenseful music.
Hi, I am not a fan of horror movie too, and similar enough to you, I get scared very easily and can’t fall in sleep at night. When you mentioned that little girl who is singing before vampire appears was a distraction, I totally agree with you because I feel like this is how every horror movie does to scare people right after a “peaceful” action. However, I am a little confused why you said that sound is mise en scene while I would consider that as diegetic sounds since that sound is actual sound came from that little girl. Maybe what you meant was that part of background sound?
Hi Alinadang:
We ended up depicting the exactly same scene of the show. I think you made a very good point about the mise-en-scene the director used. The little girl’s singing was definitely a distraction from what was happening next and the appearance of the ghost was a big surprise. I remembered myself sitting in the library and screamed at that scene. I also chose the scary sound when the vampire popped up as the example of non-diegetic sound. The sound was definitely loud, scary and popped up all of a sudden. The big contrast with the romantic music going on when the couple kissed and this sound also served to surprise and scary the audience. Although the little girl’s voice was soft, but I still don’t think it was sweet since I noticed the lyrics was pretty scary. I remembered her singing someone will die screaming, but no one will hear. But like you, I just thought the scene was a general scene in horror shows and never expected to see the vampire.