When watching a show for entertainment, I rarely notice the effects that go into creating the emotion that I feel; I just feel the emotion. However, I find it very interesting that when you are looking for ways to evaluate a show, things that you never would have notice stand out. This episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer really supported my opinion on this because right away I noticed mise-en-scene, diegetic sounds, as well as non-diegetic sound. I also noticed than many of these elements occurred simultaneously or right after one another.

One example of mise-en-scene and diegetic sound that stood out to me occurred in the same scene at 2:23. During this scene, a girl is singing a song about death in a creepy looking hallway. The song would represent diegetic sounds because the voice is coming from the character. As for the lighting, it represents mise-en-scene because it is one of the characteristics that you observe during the scene. The reason the hallway gives off a creepy persona is due to the lighting. The beginning of the hallways is the darkest point with occasional lights leading down the corridor where the girl stands at the end. Where the girl stands, the lighting has an effect where half of her body is in the dark and half has a little light. In addition, there is a reflection going down the hallways which gives off the affect that it is night time with a bright moon. When the director shows this, you can make out the words that the girl is sing: “you are going to die screaming but you won’t be heard.” This contributes to the aesthetic of horror because this type of lighting has a persona of being scary, especially when there is a girl standing confidently in the middle of a dark hallway. When the design of this scene is combined with the diegetic sounds of a horrific song, it makes the audience feel tension and wonder what is going to happen next.

A good example of non-diegetic sounds occurs at 13:22. When the scene starts, you can hear spooky music that sounds like deep wind instruments being played slowly. I am not exactly sure why the music feels spooky but the same type of music occurs whenever something bad is about to happen. This type of music represents non-diegetic sound because the music is played to create tension for the audience. In addition, the music adds to the horror in the film because it builds up the viewer’s emotions to the event that is about to occur. This is crucial for a horror film.