Before this assignment, I had never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer which made me confused through some scenes and character roles. While I was watching this episode, I wrote down memorable scenes and how the music would play an important role of how it would play into the outcome of the scene.
Non-diagetic Sound
In the beginning of the show Buffy has a dream that she was in a building or house I believe and she sees a girl holding a box. During this, there is a heavy tone of mood music that is setting a mood that Buffy may be in danger. In this example, it plays a crucial role not only because of the box that was in the dream is of importance later in the show, but because it is the opening scene of the show and sets a mood for the show entirely.
Diegetic Sound
Towards the 2nd half of the show, all the civilians in the city go mute and are unable to speak. This part of the show, it all becomes a diegetic sound. An example that stood out to me, was when the men in suits are chasing Buffy through the dorms and campus. She’s unable to speak, but uses sounds to attempt to alarm people to be alert. I chose this example because it was at about the climax of the episode when all sounds are more ambient and people are unable to speak.
Mise-en-scene
I don’t have an exact example, but would like to talk about the scenes where the men in the suits are around the city to collect hearts. The camera angels and displaying visuals for the viewers to view are critical to set to set the mood. The horror that the men in suits instill is due to the visuals. The actors performance are parallel to this as well as they are to be afraid and acting terrified. During these scenes, diegetic sound is present as well and helps to amplify the scene.
I too haven’t seen any episodes before this assignment so I was confused myself as well, but I was able to understand the characters situations and connections with each other a certain extent. It is incredible how well they utilized the effect of diegetic sound in the second half of the episode; it seemed like they were talking the entire duration when in fact they weren’t at all. That being said, my question is what effect did the gentlemen’s appearance have on you? Muse had stated himself that the art of horror accumulates from curiosity, and that “monsters are [the] natural subjects for curiosity” (Muse 281). But because they appeared human, and wore nice clothes, it almost takes them away from a stereotypical monster appearance, although it had just as much of a horror effect. Also, it’s interesting to note that this episode was released around 18 years ago. However, nowadays, horror movies tend to hide the ghost or monster until the very end of the movie, rather than the beginning as this episode has portrayed. Do you believe that there is more horror applied when you don’t see the mise-and-scene of a movie till the very end, as opposed to showing it in the beginning so that you have a sense of curiosity and fear already built from the start?
Ankit, tt is interesting that you bring up the gap between the type of “horror” we tend to experience in new movies or shows we have today. As Carrol states in his novel, “Why are horror audiences are attracted by what, typically should repel them?” (carrol 275). I would argue that the horror movies tend to utilize the sound and dramatic camera angles as well are to bring the audience back to attention. Movies today, utilize the specialty of suspense and bring in the monsters or killers towards the end. I believe that it comes down to the storyline and what type of horror film it will be.
Alfredo, like you, that was my first time watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well. I did not realize how big of an impact Buffy’s dream at the start was going to have on the rest of the episode.
I also noticed the music at the beginning of the episode while the girl was holding the box. This music was an excellent example of non-diegetic sound because it really helped to set the mood for the rest of the scene. In addition, I noticed a trend that whenever something bad was about to happen there would be a change in music.
I am curious why you think the angles that the director used in the scenes with the men in suits helped to set the mood? I definitely agree with you that the camera angles are very important but why did this contribute to making the show scarier and draw people into watching it? Carroll discusses the topic of people watching scary things when she writes, “It is something that we would ordinarily seek to avert. So why do we seek it in art and fiction? How does it give us pleasure and/or why does it interest us?” (Carroll 276).
George, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to have been familiar with the show as well. It seems that throughout the show, since the people were silent, I all depended on the sounds and music of the show to capture the “feeling” for the audience. And the reason that I believe the camera angles were vital were because when the men in suits became apparent, they never said anything about their origin or what they wanted. The camera angles are used to capture their persona and effect of the scenes. I would agree with a question that Carrol questions the readers, “How does it give us pleasure or why does it interest us?” (carrol 276).
Hi, I also pay much attention on the beginning of the video. You noticed the music when Buffy looking at the girl, you choose it as the example of non-diegetic sound. For this scene, I choose the sound of the girl’s sound as the example of diegetic sound. I think this could contributes more than your example on the aesthetics of horror for the video. Because the song could make people feeling curious and people want to kown why she is singing. As Carroll argues in her article, “the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages its audience by being invloved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation” (279). Therefore, I think if the sound could make people feeling curious it must contributes the aesthetics of horror for the video.