The 5 elements in horror

The 5 elements in horror

There are 5 key elements in horror, examples of this are...

Mise en scene - these are the props, costumes and lighting used. this is important to get right in a film as without this films can lose meaning and the audience may become disengaged if they notice any inconsistences with costume from the time that it is set etc.
Mise en scene that is likely in a film is blood, ghosts, clowns, old items, spiders, cobwebs. costumes are likely to be dark colours and possibly old fashioned and the lighting is likely to be low key through out most of the scenes.

Special effects - Special effects can be used to shock the audience but without this event needing to take place, e.g. somebody being cut open.
This can be done with CGI, or the effects can be quite simple. For example...
-Lighting moved around the scene and cause different shadows to appear at different times, this may result in an effect that appears to look like the person is being hunted.

Sound - sound tells the audience how to feel, there are two types of sound...
Diegetic - sound that is visible on the screen, however it can also be off the screen but the sound has actually happened in the film (e.g. a car crash that characters have heard but has not been seen on screen). Examples of this are...
-Voices of the characters
-Sound made by objects in the story
-Music represented as coming from increments in the story space (from the source)
Non-Diegetic - sound that has not been visible on the screen or implied to be present in the action.
Examples of this are...
-narrator's commentary
-sound effects that have been added for dramatic effect
-mood music

An example of Diegetic sound in a horror films is heavy breathing when a character is scared.
An example of Non-Diegetic sound in a horror film is tense music to warn the audience that something bad is going to happen.

Camera - The Camera angle can change the feeling of a scene. If the wrong camera angle is used, this may distract the audience. Camera angles can be used to help build suspense, such as a close up on a weapon may be a enigma code.
Camera shots that can be used in horror are...
-Extreme wide shots
-Wide Shot
-Mid shot
-Medium close up
-Close up
-Extreme close up
Different camera movements can also be used, such as...
-Pan - Horizontal camera movement, the camera can move left to right
-Tilt - Vertical camera movement in which the camera points up or down from a stationary location
-Tracking - follows the point of interest, e.g. a camera travels along side a race car in a race
-Trucking - Similar to Tracking however this refers to side to side camera movement

Editing - Editing is a powerful too in a horror film, the way a film is edited can make the difference between a scary film and a unsuccessful film, Film maker often struggle to find a way to make the scene flow without anything braking the pace of the film.
There are may different typed of cuts that can be used in editing, these are...
-Over the shoulder shot

-Straight cut
-Contrast cut
-L cut
-Graphic match cut
-Match cut
-Parallel editing cut
-Jump cut
-Dissolve
-Iris wipe