Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Psychology behind scares in cinema
Psychology behind scares in cinema
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
When you think of horror movies, what do you think of; blood, spooky faces, or spiders? Well the fact is that horror has really been developed and molded by two major “blockbuster” movies. Those being Psycho and Jaws. The two of movies are both classics and help push the horror genre by being similar in the score and soundtrack, the use of violence, the use of cameras, and the water as a symbol. In both the movies Jaws and Psycho they use specific sounds and music at the right time to give off a creeping feeling, that feeling you get of for example someone breathing down your neck. Or the shivers down your spine! In Jaws it's uses a deep trumpet or something to let you know that “jaws” the shark is nearby. Like at the middle of the movie when
tension, but, then there is a jump shot to a party on the beach where
The tension is constant, there are thrills, there are terrifying scenes, there is humour, there's even a cover-up. There are few horror films in which you'll so identify with potential victims. Jaws had all the conventions, the killer, the hero and the death sequences, the only convention it lacked was blood and gore, certainly when compared to modern day horrors. If you compare Saw (2004) to Jaws, Saw uses a multitude of special effects not available to Spielberg. As a result I think Saw is more intense and scary. I find Saw horrific and appauling, whereas I found Jaws tense and gory and still classed as horror genre.
One of the techniques used to promote fear and suspense into the audience is the use of the music. This technique makes the audience afraid of the shark, whenever the theme song is played the audience is to expect another horrific attack from the deadly shark, which adds a lot of suspense and build-up to the scences following. Spielberg uses this particular sound to build-up the scene, such as in the beginning when the shark attacks the girl swimming. Spielberg uses this non-diegetic sound which is only heard by the audience, not by any of the characters in the film. A non-diegetic sound defined by film sound says, a sound neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be prese...
The films musical score alerts the viewer to an approaching attack of the shark and they automatically build this association with the music in their mind. Horror films often make use of high string instrument notes that irritate viewers and increase tension. Music plays an important role in film editing and the editor must choose its placement wisely to ensure its intended effect on the viewer’s mind and
Steven Spielberg's Jaws and Ridley Scott's Gladiator The two films being examined are the thriller Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, and the action film Gladiator directed by Ridley Scott. Both directors create epic films; the films are momentous and are designed to manipulate the emotions. A thriller is intended to appeal to basic human instinct to the need of feeling fear and survival. Action movies are designed to appeal to our sense of danger: pace and experience is something we want but don't have in our everyday lives to this extent. Both films are examples of media, which manage to induce you into a certain way of thinking: Jaws into being scared and Gladiator into sympathising and rooting for Russell Crowe in his fight against evil.
The mystery of the shark was the focal point of the marketing. Movies at this time did not have plots as simple to comprehend, yet intricate with entertaining details which made them harder to advertise and create the anticipation similar to that of Jaws. “The studios didn 't quite understand the appeal of pictures like ' 'The Graduate, ' ' ' 'Bonnie and Clyde, ' ' ' 'Easy Rider ' ' and ' 'M*A*S*H ' ' and certainly couldn 't replicate it. (For that matter, they couldn 't even figure out how to clone ' 'Love Story. ' ') But ' 'Jaws ' ' was, on the face of it, entertainment of a type the studios knew how to produce” (Rafferty). The plot was for both adults and children. The terrifying plot leaves all viewers on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens next. The happy ending in which Hooper and Brody defeat the shark, is something that everyone can enjoy and they are able to end the film with a sense of relief. “What makes a horror movie more disturbing than other kinds of suspense thrillers and action movies -- police dramas, say, or the international intrigue Tom Clancy serves up -- is that the anxiety it generates is magnified by a sense of helplessness: you 're up against a force that can 't be mastered by reason”
Enhancing the sustained fright of this film are an excellent cast, from which the director coaxes extraordinary performances, and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score. Especially effective is the composer's so-called "murder music," high-pitched screeching sounds that flash across the viewer's consciousness as quickly as the killer's deadly knife. Bernard Herrmann achieved this effect by having a group of violinists frantically saw the same notes over and over again.
Film scholars around the world agree that all genres of film are part of the “genre cycle”. This cycle contains four different stages that a specific genre goes through. These stages are: primitive, classic, revisionist, and parody. Each stage that the genre goes through brings something different to that genre’s meaning and what the audience expects. I believe that looking at the horror genre will be the most beneficial since it has clearly gone through each stage.
A Film Review on Jaws [IMAGE]"Jaws (Style A)" Movie PosterBased on the novel by Peter Benchley, the film sees New York cop, Martin Brody (played by Schneider is investigating a series of deaths that bear all the blame. evidence of a shark attack. This was originally rated as a PG but when? re-released in a 12. A great opening scene showing Chrissy ‘the stereotypical blonde’. being devoured by the unknown killer, puzzles most reviewers in the question.
People are addicted to the synthetic feeling of being terrified. Modern day horror films are very different from the first horror films which date back to the late nineteenth century, but the goal of shocking the audience is still the same. Over the course of its existence, the horror industry has had to innovate new ways to keep its viewers on the edge of their seats. Horror films are frightening films created solely to ignite anxiety and panic within the viewers. Dread and alarm summon deep fears by captivating the audience with a shocking, terrifying, and unpredictable finale that leaves the viewer stunned.
Within the first five minutes of Jaws, a sense of worry and general unease filled the air – similar to the butterflies that attack your stomach before a large drop on a steep roller coaster. While Jaws isn’t necessarily branded a horror movie, per say, that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s one of the scariest movies ever conceived.
Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil.
One might argue that the scariest horror films are those films which horrors portray a sense that something of that nature might actually happen in the real world. The beauty of horror films is that anything could theoretically be possible, like Freddy Krueger sticking his tongue through Nancy’s phone as he says, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy” or a horde of zombies stampeding through the cities of the United States wiping out humanity in its path. If one thinks about it long enough, anything we can perceive could happen. However, there is a line between the pure science fiction and those horror films which attempt to tackle a more realistic, social, cultural, psychological, or political problem in society.
Would you rather be horrified beyond repair or thrilled to the point of no return? In horror, the main purpose is to invoke fear and dread into the audience in the most unrealistic way. Horror movies involve supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, teleportation, and being completely immortal. As thriller films are grounded in realism and involve more suspense, mystery, and a sense of panic. Though both genres will frighten the audience, it will happen in two different ways. Whether the horror thrills or the thriller horrifies, a scare is always incorporated.
Almost everyone has a favorite genre of film, but how everyone defines their favorite genre can differ greatly. Horror is one of the genres where its definition can be perceived differently by many people. Like all other genres, horror does have rules and traditions that must be included in order for a film to be considered a horror film. These rules and traditions include a protagonist, an antagonist, an escape or escape attempt of some sort, and very influential audio and visual effects.