Sound in Horror

QUIET/LOUD

Soft, calm piano music introduces a new beginning to family life. Quiet voices between family members. A children’s toy sets a soft tone, but has a rather creepy vibe to it as there is no evidence of it being controlled by anyone. Tranquil singing of ‘Merrily, merrily…’ through the baby monitor which sets a rather disturbing atmosphere. This is followed by another song ‘Tip Toe Around the Window’ which is again quiet and sets a troublesome mood. The peaceful/quiet tone rarely gets interrupted by any loud noises, which makes the trailer that much more effective. ‘He’s got your baby’ is repeated numerously towards the end of the trailer in a rather silent, yet shaken, voice but this gets interrupted with a deeper, louder voice, repeating the same thing.

CRESCENDOS

Due to the set calmness of the trailer, the crescendos rarely happen but when they do, it causes a shock for the audience because you’re not expecting it.

CHAOS

There is no ‘chaos’ when it comes to sound and music of the trailer, which is juxtaposing their situation (it’s obviously chaotic).

HOW IT AIDS THE BUILD UP OF TENSION

Because its continuously so quiet, one would expect something to eventually jump out or something major to happen and this causes tension. However, its not until the ending when we find something ‘supernatural’ appear out of nowhere.

HOW YOU MIGHT LIKE TO INCOPORATE SOMETHING SIMILAR/DIFFERENT INTO YOUR OWN FILM AND WHY

I found the peacefulness and silence of the trailer effective as it was disturbing and uncomfortable. The composer of the soundtrack said “silence can create a listening space, where rather than give you something else to listen to it enables you to hear things.”

QUIET/LOUD

Opens with loud thunder signifying some sort of disturbance. This is juxtaposed with the quiet voice of the girl speaking: something is clearly not right at this point and the sound proves this. As the intertitles come in, there is use of a ‘thud’ that happens once the words come in. The speaking is very quiet which suggests that something will follow that that will make the audience jump. Towards the end of the trailer, someone is singing “we’re gonna get you, not another peep, time to go to sleep,” in a quiet, subtle voice but there is again use of juxtaposition as its followed by the girl running up wooden stairs  and as they break, the thunder matches the step.

CRESCENDOS

Though there is not much music at the start, towards the middle/end, the music rapidly increases and it begins to sound more like  ‘dance’ music which I find makes it harder to take seriously.

CHAOS

There is some chaos in the sounds (which are indicated through the use of thunder and ‘dance’ music). Its different from Insidious 2 in the sense that while they made the situation seem calm, in this trailer, it’s obvious that something has gone terribly wrong.

HOW IT AIDS THE BUILD UP OF TENSION

I would argue that the chosen music and sounds do not build up tension as you can tell that something bad is going to happen due to the constant use of thunder – there’s too much sound while in the Insidious 2 trailer, the silence is abnormal and you wouldn’t know what to expect.

HOW YOU MIGHT LIKE TO INCOPORATE SOMETHING SIMILAR/DIFFERENT INTO YOUR OWN FILM AND WHY

I think if I were to use fast-paced and dramatic music, I would use it within reason and not too much as that gives away the idea of danger.

QUIET/LOUD

It starts off with country music which gives a sense of reassurance. As the little girl goes on her bike, the music starts to become fast paced and ‘swept away.’ This is then followed by a somewhat quiet piano sound, suggesting that something is approaching. During the montage of scenes, the music becomes louder and more fast paced.

CRESCENDOS

Piano music slowly increases as the little girl talks about her dreams implying that this is when the plot is about to unravel.

CHAOS

The music does seem to suggest chaos after the country music stops playing, however, its done more discretely than it was in the Evil Dead which made the fact that danger was approaching more obvious.

HOW IT AIDS THE BUILD UP OF TENSION

It builds up the tension through using music only at certain points in the novel which means that they do not give away too much of the plot.

HOW YOU MIGHT LIKE TO INCOPORATE SOMETHING SIMILAR/DIFFERENT INTO YOUR OWN FILM AND WHY

While I think their use of music is good,  I would argue that they use too much dialogue which takes away the ‘scariness’ of the trailer and makes it rather anecdotal – they’re not letting the music speak for itself.