Non-diagetic sound: My example of non- diagetic sound comes right after Riley kisses Buffy on the table and the lights go out. I’m not talking about the mumbling/singing of the child but the music behind voices. You can’t really hear it at first but as it gradually increases you can feel the mood of the clip start to shift. As buffy walks closer and closer to the child’s voice this non-diagetic sound crescendos until it finally peaks as Riley puts his hand on her and his face turns to that of a skeleton/vampire ultimately “scaring” me. I chose this example because I thought it was a good illustration of how quickly a setting can be changed with simply the changing of sound. At one point everything is fine as they kiss and before you know it, as the sound changes and gets louder and louder, you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to see why this random girl is singing in the hallway after the lights went out. This sound definitely contributed to the aesthetic of horror because without this ascending background music the mood wouldn’t have been right and it wouldn’t have drawn out the suspense for the audience watching it.
Mise-en-scene: My example of mise-en-scene comes again right after Riley kisses Buffy. However, this time it was the position of the camera angle that I felt, enhanced the portrayal of horror in this particular scene. As the Buffy started moving towards the sound the camera solely focused on her rather than on riley or her and riley at the same time. Then the camera zooms out slightly and we see Riley’s figure in the background with him reaching out his hand. Instantly I can tell something is going to happen because up until this point he hadn’t been in the camera shot since the kiss. Then before you know it he touches her shoulder and he turns into a skeleton/vampire. If he had been with Buffy the whole time throughout the scene then the entire scene would have had a different feel. It wouldn’t have felt as suspenseful because we would have been able to see both characters with no sense of where the other had gone. I chose this scene for mise-en-scene because of the way the placement of the camera changed my view of the scene. If the camera had showed the vampire behind buffy originally rather than flashing to it then it wouldn’t have been as suspenseful. However, due to the camera placement the scene was able to build up suspense which ultimately lead to the surprise/fright of the audience when it flashed to the vampire.
Diagetic Sound: My example of diagetic sound comes when Riley breaks open the box and releases everyone’s voices. This allows buffy to gain her voice back and scream which ultimately destroys the vampires. I chose this example (buffy screaming) because I thought this diagetic sound brought slight closure to the horror that had been built up throughout this current scene. In addition, I feel that this current example did not contribute to the aesthetic of horror and rather took away from it because this voice destroyed all of the vampires, effectively bringing the horror out of the scene. However, there were many other diagetic sounds throughout the video that enhanced the idea of horror. I just chose this one because it seemed to do the reverse affect and I found that really interesting.
The three examples you used to represent mise en scene, diagatic, and non diagetic sound were well done. The example that you used to represent non-diagetic sound gave the audience an idea of the set mood for the remainder of the episode. The reasoning behind why this specific scene was important to the aesthetic was interesting, I to agree without the sound the suspense of the scene would not have been as strong. But don’t you also think that the set undertone for the episode or mood would still be capable of being portrayed with the sound present? The camera angles during this episode helped increase the suspense, as shown in your example for mise en scene. As an audience we were able to make a connection that something was about to happen at the moment when Riley’s arm was reaching towards Buffy but we didn’t know exactly what. I too agree that if the camera were not fully focused on Buffy in the section the ambiance would have altered the understanding to the entire opening scene.