Category: Unit 6

The article that I decided to write about comes from a website named constructing horror and was written by Michael McGlasson. As the name points out this is an article about how the world of horror is constructed both in print and in film. The article discusses a college professor and his work in class to decide what exactly it is that makes horror so scary. The article discusses how the telling of the story is the most important part. There is a bit about how the current generation is so highly distracted due to being raised on television, but the main premise of the article is to point to the fact that in order for the audience to be scared they must feel a connection to the main character. The other main focus is on suspense. To the college students it was vital that the story have suspense from beginning to end and that the object of terror not be given away fully in the beginning or it would ruin the story.

This article echoed much of the same ideas as the reading. To Noel Carroll it was the fact that the story hides from the audience at least some of the features of a monster in order to create that suspense. Or, in the case of monsters that are revealed early in the movie, it is the fact that one by one the characters will discover the monster that allows the audience to connect to the members of the cast in order to feel that sense of horror and eventually pleasure from the defeat of the monster. It is then important that the narrative allows for this to happen. “Thus, in order to account for the interest we take in and the pleasure we take from horror, we may hypothesize that, in the main, the locus of our gratification is not the monster as such but the whole narrative structure in which the presentation of the monster is staged” (Carroll). In that long drawn out explanation is the idea that it is not the monster being scary that brings us pleasure, but instead it is the connection that we feel with the characters in the story that makes us happy. This is an extension of the ideas proposed by McGlasson that it is more important to the story that there be suspense and not just a bunch of scary scenes.

The article by McGlasson furthers the idea that as a story unfolds the audience connects with a part of that story. Whether that be the main character or some other form of connection in the narrative there is a feeling that the story is something that the audience can relate to. “Which indicates that true horror entertainment must contain elements of anticipation, dread and uncertainty, the three key traits of suspense” (McGlasson). It is these traits of suspense that allow the audience to feel what the characters are feeling and when the problem is finally solved, being a monster killed or escaping from a dangerous situation, then the audience feels that same sense of joy along with the characters of the story.

 

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 17). New York, NY: Routledge.

McGlasson, Michael. “THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF HORROR SCREENWRITING.” Constructinghorror.com. Constructing Horror, 2007. Web. 10 May 2014.

 

The first scene that I decided to use as an example from the show comes about halfway through the show. This is a scene that depicts the ideas of mise-en-scene. There are two images shown in the scene, as this is a cut between two areas to add to the intensity of the scene. The image begins zoomed in on a large clock on what appears to be a church or similar building. The camera then backs out at a very low angle showing the building in a dark sky with shadows. This, combined with the low angle of the camera, gives off an ominous feeling about the building and through connection, the time of night as well. Then the scene shifts quickly to a high angle looking down at a doorway. The doorway has a light shining through and the high angle of the camera creates a sense of suspense while looking downwards. The door slowly swings open and a set of feet hovering above the ground float out of the room. The tactics of the shots in these scenes together form a sense of suspense and a wary feeling as the door swings open. This mise-en-scene does well to add suspense to the show and does a great job of adding to the sense of horror.

The second scene in the show that I chose to describe was the scene where Buffy is fighting the monsters in front of a tree. In this scene through the use of diagetic sound the fight comes to life. There are many moves of Buffy hitting and kicking the monsters that are trying to attack her. With each kick and punch there is an equally powerful sound effect that makes the audience feel the hits. As Buffy throws her attackers to the ground there is also loud smashing noises that let the audience hear just how hard this fight is for Buffy. By adding in this diagetic sounds to the scene it adds to the realness of the scene and makes the audience feel more like they are there with her hitting the attackers.

The final scene that I chose represents the non-diagetic sound of the show. As the monsters are making their way through town someone looks out the window to see them floating by. There is a very quiet music playing as the young woman looks out her window with curiosity. As she is looking out suddenly a monster floats by with a sinister grin on his face. As soon as he enters the scene there begins a loud and scary music playing through no connection to the objects on screen. This music shows the audience that this is a time to start to worry as bad things are coming. By only starting the music as soon as the monster enters the view of the screen it adds to the shocking effect and the horror.