Goals

• Explore the psychological and emotional curiosity for and impact of horror art on individuals and society
• Analyze the unique aesthetic qualities of horror art.
• Understand and utilize some basic principles of film and television analysis.

ARTIFACT: THE AESTHETICS OF HORROR

Enjoying Horror Discussion

Non-diegetic sound

At around 16:45 in the episode a man gets off the phone when you first hear dramatic sounds like something is going to happen.  When you see him get off the phone you see a man tied up with strings and the music seems to get louder for dramatic effect.  As the episode gets to 17 minutes the music picks up again and you see two men walking down the stairs where they make eye contact with another person, but say nothing as the dramatic music picks up.  When music like this occurs especially in horror films you think that there is something big, or even scary that is about to happen.  The use of non-diegetic sound helps keep the viewer interested in the horror film, and also on their toes for something is about to happen.  I experience the non-diegetic sound all of the time because I enjoy watching horror films that uses this trait in order to keep the viewers interested.

Diegetic Sound

At around 17:30 in the episode there are a lot of diegetic sounds especially because during this time in the episode there are no words that are actually being spoken.  When the two men are on the elevator when they start going up you hear the elevator as it goes up, which is the sound of an actual elevator going up.  Also when one man has to open the keypad and enter in a code when he presses each button it makes the noise of what a button would make when being pushed.  From the scenario of what is going on in the elevator these sounds are actually crucial in setting the mood of the scene and showing how serious the matter really is.  I think that without these diegetic sounds in the scene, it would not seem as serious to the viewers, which would make people less interested in watching.

Mise-en-scen

I think a great example of this is at around 14:30 after everyone shown had a white cloud coming out of their mouth symbolizing there voices, you see all the clouds go to a box that is shut by a vampire.  This is a great example of Mise-en-scen because they show the vampire for the first time in the episode and the costume he is wearing.  The vampire is very creepy and sets the mood of a horror episode.  His eyes and teeth depict a very aggressive and angry vampire, and in some ways how you would depict a vampire in a horror film.  Even the box is considered Mise-en-scen because it is a prop that is used to store voices, which is pretty creepy in a horror standpoint.  I would say that both the vampire and box are great example of Mise-en-scen and helps set the horror mood.

Reflection:

I think that the video of Buffy and doing the analysis of non-diegetic  sound, diegetic sound, and mise-en-scen was something I had never done before.  The fact that I was looking at horror films in a new perspective then I normally do was interesting and worthwhile.  I never really took into consideration all the different aspects that go into scary movies.  I think that all the different sounds although I didn’t realize it before doing this assignment really make horror films what they are.

I decided to choose this assignment as part of my artifacts because I have always enjoyed watching horror films, and really enjoyed doing this assignment.  I think that people don’t actually realize the different aspects that go into a horror film including myself, so this assignment taught me a lot about something I enjoy and didn’t look out for.  Lastly I chose this assignment because I really enjoyed doing this assignment.  This isn’t normally an assignment that you get to do everyday, so I really liked the change of pace from all the other usual assignments I did.

Future Intentions:  

This assignment of looking at different aspects of horror films has made me think of horror films in a different ways.  Every time I watch horror films now I will try and relate different sounds and aspects to the terms we learned above.  I think horror films are something that I enjoy and will continue to enjoy because of how different these films are from any other film.  I think that this assignment gave me crucial tools to properly analyze scary movies in a way that most people can’t.