Horror {Discussion}

1)  When Buffy and her friend walk amongst the town and everyone lost their voices is an example of a mies-en-scene:

  • Production Design: They made the set look sad and depressing.  Now that everyone has lost their voices, people cannot communicate, or run businesses, or have jobs.  They reflected that in showing stores that are closed, and a man holding his briefcase like he lost his job because he can’t talk.  There’s a man selling white boards which shows another way that people take advantage of a bad situation.  There’s also buildings destroyed, little fires, fire hydrants broken, and trash everywhere. All these things add to the mood of the scene.
  • Colour: The scene is especially dark, the clouds are over the town, and they use a darker tint to portray the mood.
  • Lighting:  Like I said above, they use clouds to darken the lighting since gray skies represents dreariness and distress.
  • Performance: Everyone in the scene portrays a certain mood.  There’s the man sitting on the side of the road with his briefcase looking sad.  There’s Buffy and her friend looking sad as well, but they mainly look concerned and confused as to what is happening.  They use their body language and facial expressions to portray what they are feeling since they can’t use their voices.

2)  When Buffy is dreaming and hears a little girls voice, we know that it must be coming from a source in the hallway so this is an example of Diagetic sound.  When we first hear the voice, we can’t see the source, but Buffy reacts to it so we know it has to be coming from somewhere in the scene.  Once she turns in the hallway we see a young girl standing there singing in a monotone voice.  Young girls singing in a monotone voice and standing so proper and not moving tends to be on the creepy side for some reason.  I think it gives viewers a feeling of suspense and wonder so it makes them tense up.

3)  When the “men” are gliding through the city, come into the hallway of the dorm rooms, and find the guy they are going to attack, there is creepy music playing in the background.  Since the source of the music is not in the scene, it is an example of non-diagetic sound.  The music is composed in a way that gives us a feeling of suspense and adds dramatic effect to the scene.  If the scene had no music it wouldn’t quite be as scary because we wouldn’t know something bad was going to happen.  Also, when the boy opens the door, the music jumps to try and scare us by adding the element of surprise.

3 Comments on Horror {Discussion}

  1. sabrina
    November 8, 2014 at 12:00 am (10 years ago)

    Hi Madison, I really enjoyed reading your post on this weeks “Horror Discussion”. This is first time for me to look for horror movie in artistic ways and I like your description on the example of Diagetic sound. “Young girls singing in a monotone voice and standing so proper and not moving tends to be on the creepy side for some reason.” You used the word “creepy”, exactly describe the diagetic sound, which contributes to the aesthetic of horror for the video because it brought the scared to the peak. Besides, do you think the music jumping when the boy opens the door is scary? I think it just follow the development of the plot.

    Reply
  2. Fisher
    November 9, 2014 at 11:00 pm (10 years ago)

    Hi Madison,
    During this weeks assignment we had very similar opinions regarding our example of mise-en-scene. Do you think the opening set in the begginning of the film represented mise-en-scene in a supportive way? When creating my blog post from earlier this week I could not decide between the very opening scene of the show, or the scene that you discussed in your blog. In your opinion what do you think is more fitting? Another point that another student brought up to me that I found very interesting and I wanted to share with you was watching the film without any sound. You discuss in your post “3.” that the music is creepy and adds a dramatic effect. What are your thoughts on watching the film with no sound? Do you think it would still have a dramatic effect due to the scenes. Let me know your thoughts =]

    Reply
  3. Fisher
    November 9, 2014 at 11:00 pm (10 years ago)

    Hi Madison,
    During this weeks assignment we had very similar opinions regarding our example of mise-en-scene. Do you think the opening set in the beginning of the film represented mise-en-scene in a supportive way? When creating my blog post from earlier this week I could not decide between the very opening scene of the show, or the scene that you discussed in your blog. In your opinion what do you think is more fitting? Another point that another student brought up to me that I found very interesting and I wanted to share with you was watching the film without any sound. You discuss in your post “3.” that the music is creepy and adds a dramatic effect. What are your thoughts on watching the film with no sound? Do you think it would still have a dramatic effect due to the scenes. Let me know your thoughts =]

    Reply

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