In the horror genre sound is a key convention in the horror genre as it can be used to express the suspense and tension in a scene. Sound is also used to scare the audience either through the use of a sting (a loud high pitched sound/piece of music) or through the lack of sound such as an ambient silence which confuses the audience as they wonder what is going to happen next.
Sting
A sting like a said previously is a loud high pitched sound or loud piece of music, it is normally created with the use of string instruments such as a violin as they can reach very high pitched notes that can create an ominous atmosphere which further creates tensions as it scares the audience. On the other hand a music sting doesn't always have to be a piece of music it could also be a diegetic sound from within the film which can be useful as they allow the film to show the characters reactions to the sting as well. These types of stings can vary in most cases they are a loud scream usually a woman's as they are stereotypically shown as the victims in the horror genre. They usually occur when a character is being a killed and the sting acts their last words which alerts the other characters in the film so that they know something is amidst. In contrast, the sting may also come from the antagonist of the film when they try to scare the protagonists catching them off guard. This is also normally seen if the antagonist is a woman most likely because stereotypically women can reach higher pitches than men so a woman would find it easier to replicate the sound of a sting. this scares the audience as stings act in the same way as jump scares coming from out of nowhere usually after an ambient silence which will catch the audience of guard, these can also occur after a false scare as the audience would not be expecting another jump scare immediately after a scare.
Character themes
Arguably the most iconic things about a horror movie villain, excluding their appearance, the song that plays when they are on screen hunting down their victims. A good character theme is important for any character in a film as audiences should be immediately able to recognize who is about to appear by the song that is playing which then builds hype which builds up until we see them appear on screen. Character themes are not only limited to the horror genre even appearing in other forms of media such as video games. Arguably the most well known character theme in film history is the Imperial March which belongs to the tyrannical sith lord Darth Vader first appearing from the critically acclaimed Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Even in the first few seconds you can straight away tell whos theme this is even if you haven't seen a star wars film as it has been referenced countless times in the media. The theme starts of quiet but quickly gets louder as the iconic them begins to play. Below I have created a list of key parts within the song:
0:00 - 0:09: The initial build up the same notes are repeated, which starts to build up suspense and tension especially with the use of percussion instruments (cymbals) just before the notes repeat which may symbolize something approaching getting nearer and nearer as they sound very similar to footsteps.
0:10 - 0:28: The main motif starts this is the part that is always associated with Vader with this motif being played most times when he appears on screen. It can easily be recognized by the many brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones that appear in this section as the noises that they make overpowers the rest of the instruments being played as brass instruments can produce a very loud sound this will also make the audience feel weak and insecure as they feel like the other instruments being weak and powerless.
0:40 - 0:46: The motif reaches its pinnacle more instruments are used to make the theme sound more intense and intimidating the theme immediately becomes quiet afterwards. At this moment the brass instruments are overpowered by a multitude of other instruments yet they can still be heard which makes the song sound that much more louder making the audience feel weak as they bask in the songs glory.
0:47 - 1:48: The theme becomes quiet with very few instruments being used as if it was the calm before the storm. However, we slowly start to hear more instruments begin playing the main motif with the theme slowly getting louder and louder until it is back to what it was before it went quiet the them then repeats one more time. This shows that even when all the over instruments become quiet the main motif still continues to play emphasizing how powerful the motif is.
As I mentioned earlier character themes appear in almost every form of media and one of those that I previously mentioned was video games. Much like films these themes are also meant to be recognizable so that fans of certain characters and can get hyped for their appearance. However, unlike in films most villain themes are only heard by the player when they are fighting them in a boss fight so they usually made to set the atmosphere of a long, thrilling battle. The theme that I going to analyse is One Winged Angel the theme song of Sephiroth the final boss of Final Fantasy VII (1997).
0:00 - 0:09: The initial build up the same notes are repeated, which starts to build up suspense and tension especially with the use of percussion instruments (cymbals) just before the notes repeat which may symbolize something approaching getting nearer and nearer as they sound very similar to footsteps.
0:10 - 0:28: The main motif starts this is the part that is always associated with Vader with this motif being played most times when he appears on screen. It can easily be recognized by the many brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones that appear in this section as the noises that they make overpowers the rest of the instruments being played as brass instruments can produce a very loud sound this will also make the audience feel weak and insecure as they feel like the other instruments being weak and powerless.
0:40 - 0:46: The motif reaches its pinnacle more instruments are used to make the theme sound more intense and intimidating the theme immediately becomes quiet afterwards. At this moment the brass instruments are overpowered by a multitude of other instruments yet they can still be heard which makes the song sound that much more louder making the audience feel weak as they bask in the songs glory.
0:47 - 1:48: The theme becomes quiet with very few instruments being used as if it was the calm before the storm. However, we slowly start to hear more instruments begin playing the main motif with the theme slowly getting louder and louder until it is back to what it was before it went quiet the them then repeats one more time. This shows that even when all the over instruments become quiet the main motif still continues to play emphasizing how powerful the motif is.
As I mentioned earlier character themes appear in almost every form of media and one of those that I previously mentioned was video games. Much like films these themes are also meant to be recognizable so that fans of certain characters and can get hyped for their appearance. However, unlike in films most villain themes are only heard by the player when they are fighting them in a boss fight so they usually made to set the atmosphere of a long, thrilling battle. The theme that I going to analyse is One Winged Angel the theme song of Sephiroth the final boss of Final Fantasy VII (1997).
The version that i'm analysing is from the game Kingdom Hearts (2002) as the it is an updated version of the original making it sound more powerful when listening to.
0:00 - 0:18: The initial build up you can immediately hear the beat created by the cymbals and the eerie piano which was used to strike as much fear into the player as possible by making Sephiroth sound more intimidating.
0:19 - 0:32: The main chorus kicks in with the most noticeable thing being the ominous chanting which is a actually in Latin and translates to 'Burning inside with violent anger, Burning inside with violent anger, Sephiroth Sephiroth!' This has been done to further scare the player as they will most likely be unable to understand what they are saying except for when they chant Sephiroth's name which creates a fear of the unknown effect.
0:50 - 1:05: The second part of the chorus occurs with different chanting which is still in Latin and translates to 'Fate monstrous and empty, Fate monstrous and empty' and by reading the lyrics in English you can see how sinister they have tried to make the song as this chorus can also be interpreted as saying that there is no hope making Sephiroth appear to be an almighty force
1:22 - 1:48: The final part of the chorus and like before the chanting is different but before I talk about that the first thing that I notice is that the instruments change as before the chanting begins you can hear a loud drum beat which continues to get louder a violin is also used in unison with the drums to make mini stings which I believe has been used to replicate a heart beating very fast which can occur when a person is terrified which intern will make the player become scared. Now looking at the lyrics they translate to 'Come, come, O come, Do not let me die Come, come, O come, Do not let me die' now this could be interpreted in many ways the come, O come part could be Sephiroth challenging the player to attack perhaps trying to intimidate them and the do not let me die may be Sephiroth mocking the player as he is a very difficult boss in the game so a player would always be telling themselves not to die.
But I've been digressing from my original point how is sound used in a horror film? So I will now look at the theme of an iconic horror movie villain. The villain whos theme i'll be analysing is none other than Jason Voorhees the iconic killer from the Friday the 13th film series i'm using his theme as I believe that it truly captures the fear and tension that a horror villains theme should have.
This theme is used in many of the older films in the series however certain parts of his modern theme may homage the original theme (similar instruments) this plays when Jason is attacking his victims.
0:00 - 0:17: Right at the start of the theme we here a sudden music sting created with a violin which plays throughout the song this can also scare the audience as it starts so suddenly they would never see it coming. Listening to violin it sounds disoriented and erratic which may be symbolism for how Jason kills as he is unpredictable killing whoever he wishes whenever he wishes with no visible pattern or order.
0:18 - 0:20: We here Jason say his signature 'Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma' chant while an eerie sound can be heard in the background at this time there are no other instruments playing which makes the theme much more unsettling to listen to
0:21 - 0:25: The violin is played making sharp sounds in quick concession this may be reference to one of the more common methods that Jason kills his victims as he uses his machete to stab them quickly and repeatedly
0:37 - 0:40: A piano is used to create a sound that starts off slow and low pitched but quickly becomes high pitched which is repeated three times I believe this has been used to create the effect of insanity as the repeating sound may make the audience feel like they are in an never ending nightmare and they are slowly using their minds.
0:53 - 2:27: Personally I think that this is the most interesting part of the theme as in this large section the music becomes much more calm and quieter despite the same instruments still being used almost making the theme unusually soothing. However it still manages to keep the tension high as eerie sounds can be heard throughout this section which when combined with the faint sounds if the instruments creates a very ominous atmosphere. Furthermore Jason's chant can be heard multiple times in this section (0:53 - 0:57 and 1:43 - 1:45) this creates the idea that we are place in the characters shoes and are hiding from Jason and whenever we think we are safe only to hear him voiding us of all hope we had to survive.
2:28 - 2:34: We hear a trumpet in the background which slowly gets louder but then stops this could of been done to build up the rest of the song which helps creates suspense for the rest of the song. The rest of the song repeats themes that I have already discussed essentially going back to what it sounded like before the song became quieter.
Silence
The final type of sound that i'll be analysing is the lack of sound otherwise known as silence. In most cases silence in a horror film is used to build up fear and suspense which usually leads to a jump scare. This were silence flourishes as it makes jump scares much more effective as it goes from a dead silence which makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next to a sudden loud noise which will shock the audience as it occurs in an instant. This makes it a very effective tool to use when scaring the audience.
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