Horror movie footage can be very effective in making us feel scared, however I believe the music and audio stimuli of the horror movies have a bigger impact on us than we may realise. Horror music film scores have been around since the Hollywood Golden Age as a way of representing the main theme and characters of the horror movie. This often results in horrifying musical scores which can make our skin crawl, here I am going to explore some techniques composers use to make terrifying musical scores in horror movies which make us jump out of our seats.
Nonlinear Noise
Nonlinear noise is when an instrument or vocal chord exceeds the frequency range it is comfortable with, this creates a distressing sound which we can associate with: children crying, screams, and animal distress calls. Horror movies often use non linear noise in scary scenes to “exploit the human brain’s natural aversion to distressing sounds” (Nevada film, 2018), this is because it is our natural reaction to react to distressing sounds with fear or empathy. In horror movies sharp dynamic spikes of nonlinear noise cause fright within the audience as we instantly react to it as a form of threat. In Alfred Hitchcocks ‘Physco 1960’, Bernard Hermann (composer) uses a lot of nonlinear violin tones in the shower scene. The sudden nonlinear string strikes in this scene represent the slashing of the knifes blade on human skin, the non linear strings create a terrifying and violent theme within the music. The high pitch shrills of the strings represent a human scream, we find this sound distressing as we associate screams with danger therefore we react in fear.
Dissonance
Dissonance is caused when two or more notes with unaligned harmonics are played together. This causes harmonic friction between the wave lengths resulting in an emotional and distressing sound, horror movies use this technique to their advantage when creating horrifying scores. We find dissonance distressing because the wobbling harmonics caused by the friction of wave lengths sound distressing and unresolved furthermore making the audience feel uncomfortable when it is heard. One example of dissonance used in horror is the Bernard Hermman’s score for physco (1960, shower scene), in this score Hermann use the harsh and aggressive harmonics from the dissonance to reflect on the act of brutally murdering someone. The dissonance in this score is made up of a cluster of dissonant chords which make up a terrifying chord that boldly stands out in the movie, this makes the listener scared as the music has an aggressive element which sounds like it is directed at them. The fear the audience has from this score is also caused by the loud dynamics which can take the audience by surprise and shock them. In the film Insidious (James Wan, 2011) every time the demon is present on the screen you can hear a dissonant piano slam, this sudden slam suggests there is something evil present in the scene through the aggressive dissonant piano slam.
Juxtaposition
When you watch a horror film you may often realise that sometimes the music in the scene dramatically contrasts the visual stimuli on the screen. This technique is called juxtaposition, juxtaposition is used in many horror movies (Insidious 2010) (House of a thousand corpses 2003) to create unnatural atmospheres movies that have two contrasting themes, this can be disturbing because horror movies and their music most often have the same atmosphere within them that strongly suggests to the audience what to feel. Having music juxtaposing the scene can be unsettling as it can associate good with evil, this is why we find children’s nursery rhymes used in dark contexts disturbing. In addition we also find this unsettling as childhood memories are often the most fragile making us feel scared when that image is used in a dark context which may corrupt our images of childhood, nursery rhymes are made to sound even more natural through the using: minor keys, out of tune vocals and unnatural slowed down tempos which can create a creepy atmosphere. Comparing good and evil can twist our perception of an image into a darker and more sinister adaptation of it which can scare us. One famous use of juxtaposition can be seen in Insidious directed by James Wan, in the Dancing Boy scene the music ‘Tip toe through the Tulips’ by Tiny Tim is playing. In this song Tiny Tim sings with an unconventional tone which seems to be over exaggerated with happiness, this tone seems unnatural and insincere which creates a sinister theme to the song. This song sounds very unnatural , this is because the creepy and insincere tone of the singing juxtaposes the joyful and romantic major key the song is written in which makes it feel unnatural and creepy. In this scene there is a mother that spots a mysterious child playing in the house and dancing to the music, there is no context to where this child came from and therefore illuminates a disturbing presence over the scene. The ominous visual stimuli mixed with the creepy Tiny Tim song creates an unnatural and evil presence over the scene. Therefore juxtaposition can completely change our perception of a scene by giving the audience two contrasting themes.
Silence
Music can be very effective in communicating themes and atmospheres through the musical scores, however in many movies (Alien. 1979) (A quiet place. 2018) silence is used to build up tension in the audience in alternative to music. Silence is an effective scare tool because it makes us feel unsettled, this is because “we live in a saturated world with a constant bombardment of audiovisual stimuli and distractions” (Burgos D. 2018). As humans we listen to sound so much in our environment that we feel uncomfortable when we sit in silence for too long, this discomfort is the reason we feel often feel the need to fill in silences with laughter or speech. When the absence of sound occurs in music our senses become heightened and our brains wait for the sound to come back into the movie, knowing the context of the movie genre of horror we expect the worst which includes sounds of loud bangs and screams. Silences also engage the audience with the film as they become more self aware with their own movements making them feel uncomfortable. Therefore silences in movies are effective in scaring people as the unsettling silences because makes the audience expect the a jump scare to make up for the lack of sound in the silence of the film.
Sound Design
When watching a horror film you may have jumped out of your seat in terror when you hear sounds such as windows smashing and loud door knocks, these audio effects are usually carefully edited and implemented into the movie through the process of sound design. This is when movies edit the sound they have gotten through Foley recordings and edit them in the context of a horror movie to make them sound more evil, threatening or shocking. Using sound design on certain audio effects is often used in horror movies to put emphasise on moments of supernatural activity such as slamming noises and scratches, in horror movies these sounds often have harsh harmonics and punchy impacts to make you jump out your seat. Punchy and loud sounds are used to scare the audience as our natural reaction to this sound is to flee, upon reacting to this we may jump out of our seats due to the movie triggering our fight our flight response through this sound. Many supernatural horror films and thrillers (The Conjuring. 2013) (Halloween 2018 )use sound design in this way to scare the audience out of their seats. An example of sound design being used to scare the audience can be seen in the Conjuring (2013) in the scene where all the pictures fall off the wall. This loud and sudden bombardment of noise makes the audience feel shocked and frightened, this is because it used in at a moment when the audience feels safe and therefore is vunerable to jump scares. Another element of sound design such as one shots are often used in horror movies such as the saw franchise, one shots are single notes of percussion or brass that put emphasise on a specific cinematic shot. The audience is often scared by this as they highlight significant cinematic moments such as seeing a monster, these sudden shots can make the audience anxious as the danger and severity of the movie has been highlighted by the one shot. The loud and sudden dynamic incline can also shock the audience into jumping out of their seat.
Instruments
When watching horror movies you might often hear reoccurring sounds that appear throughout the genre of horror, this is because horror film music composers often reuse instruments that give off haunting and disturbing sounds that are reusable within the horror movie genre. A few instruments you commonly hear in horror movies include: Theremin, Apprehension engine, Ondes Martenot, Blaster Beam and the waterphone. The Apprehension engine is a “musical instrument made exclusively for generating spooky sounds that would put you at the edge of your seat when watching a horror movie”, this instrument creates it’s harsh and evil tones through metallic friction of the instruments rods and metallic files. This instrument features in many movies such as: Saw franchise and The Conjuring franchise. The distorted and dissonant bass of the instrument creates an evil and distressing tone which makes the listener feel disturbed. Rapid bows on the instrument can create sudden loud and distressing noises which can shock the audience, this technique is used in horror movie to create shocking one shots during cinematic jump scares. The waterphone is another instrument that has been commonly used in horror films to create scary soundscapes, this instrument “creates sounds like those of dolphins and whales”(Karmran. A. 2019) which can lead eerie and and evil soundscapes that make the audience feel uncomfortable. The notes of this instrument rings out with a reverberant tone which ultimately creates an ambient and spacious environment through the instrument. Waterphones create haunting sounds which often reflect on untreated environments you may see in horror films such as Hostel and The Curse La Lerona.
Unconventional Methods Of Playing
In different horror movies you may recognise specific instruments such as violins that are being used to create menacing sounds, most of the time these sounds are created by the composer playing the instruments in an unconventional way. For example this could include plucking piano strings instead of playing the keys, this an unconventional way of playing the instrument that emits a different instrumental timbre than it does when the strings are played. Horror movies often manipulate the sounds of string instruments using unconventional techniques which create organic yet haunting sounds, one popular technique used in horror films is sul pontecello. This is the technique of bowing close to the bridge, this emits a disturbing screeching sound that has a nonlinear tone, this technique sounds horrifying due to it’s harsh tones and nonlinear frequencies which cause us to feel distressed. Along with sffz (sudden accents or notes in a chord) sul pontecello is used in Physco (1960) to create a distressing and aggressive sound through the violins harsh and nonlinear harmonics, this was successful in making the audience feel distressed through this unconventional method of playing the violin to produce terrifying music.
Reoccurring villain themes
In horror films we may often hear the same reoccurring theme play every time the villain is mentioned or appears on screen, this can be seen in films such as: Jaws (1975), The Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) and Friday the 13th part 2 (1981). Villain themes are always a personification of the villains character and main intentions in the film. In Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the increasing tempo and intensity of the music indicates that the shark is getting closer. This makes the audience feel disturbed as the music tells them the threat is getting closer, therefore making them feel more anxious and scared. The scores of the music are often written in minor keys with dissonant and nonlinear tones which can make us feel anxious and unsettled, many scores such as the main theme for Insidious (2010) make use rhythms that replicate heart beats to indicate the presence of the villain in the theme. As the heart rate increases in this theme the music becomes more haunting and terrifying as the increasing heart rate indicates that the enemy is nearby. Just hearing the theme for the villain can scare us as it instantly alerts us to the presence of the villain, this makes the audience feel on edge, worried and scared. This is because they know the threat is near, however they do not always know where the threat is. This makes the audience all the more concerned because they will try and find the villain on screen to spot the danger and be more aware of it.
Conclusion
In conclusion of this essay horror movies use miniplate images and themes we associate with happiness and manipulate them into dark and twisted images. Therefore the horror movie genre likes to play on our nostalgia and positive images to make us feel venerable and scared, examples of this a from the use of children’s nursery rhymes and turning beautiful instruments such as the violin into instruments of horror. Horror music also uses distressing sounds such as dissonance, nonlinear noise and sudden dynamic increases to shock us and make us feel disturbed. Sound Design and Silence’s in horror are also just as important as the musical scores when making the audience feel scared, this is because it the silence makes the audience feel distressed and builds up tension. Sound design provides the audience with scary sounds such as door slams which can shock the audience as well as one shots which highlight specific cinematic moments. Horror movies also use villain themes to alert us to the presence of the villain on the screen and therefore making us feel anxious or disturbed. These are only a few out many more techniques composers in horror films make us feel scared, anxious or on edge through techniques of music and sound design.
Reading List
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