I will admit Horror is a genre I have never watched. However, Thriller is my favourite TV genre. What makes these genres purely terrifying outside the story is the sound design and score.
One of the beginning features that helps is the initial key signature and chord progressions used. Commonly the use of a minor key signature with dissonant chords help with a feeling of unease (Siebert, J. 2018). A build-up of dissonance creates the expectation of a scare (Siebert, J., 2018). This makes the audience have a sense of uncertainty as dissonant chords has a feeling of loss of structure. These elements combined with tritone intervals create tension symbolising a marker I the scene (Karanam, K. 2016).
There are multiple small elements that help with the suspense of the score. Small things such as crescendos to revulsion and mimicking the heartbeat in tempo create height in the scene (Regan, P., 2017). Another key element is the use of pitch. There are multiple parts of pitch that are manipulated to create disturbance in the audience as horror has the most amount of pitch shifts out of all other genres (Derbyshire, D., 2010). It is common to use a non-linear sound to mimic screams (science claims it mimics animal distress sounds) to create an emotional impact (Derbyshire, D. 2010). An element that intrigued me was infrasound which is generally noise from 19Hz or lower, which although unheard can cause uneasiness, dizziness and discomfort (Siebert, J., 2018).
There are a few miscellaneous research notes I found which create unease. Sound effects need to be considered in the composition of the combined effect which the music (Siebert, J., 2018). Silence is also important as it makes room to be punctuated by sudden noise (Karanam, K. 2016). The bass also can be sped up and slowed down to create a movement in the peace similar to the tempo change (Karanam, K., 2016). Finally, multiple instruments that are commonly used includes pipe organ, strings (to raise tension) and synth (adds an eerie and artificial sound as notes last longer than normal) as well as layering of discordant notes (Karanam, K., 2016; Regan, P., 2017).
A few examples that create this suspense includes the infamous Jaws theme with the use of chromatic notes and mimicing of the heartbeat. Another few examples can be found in this 3 minute video with 10 different Horro Movie Theme songs. This video shows the keys playing to which shows many of the components mentioned above.
As I move forward in creating new work I am inspired by the elements and how they also work in creating fear. It was also interesting how film music differs as finding information varied on the film genre I was researching (also because ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson was the main search result). I am intrigued to learn more over time in the film score area.
References
AburameShino123. (2007). Jaws theme!! [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK_y4
Derbyshire, D. (2010). Ever wondered why the music in horror films scares us? The harsh sounds tap into instinctive fears. Daily Mail Australia. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1281385/Ever-wondered-music-horror-films-scares-The-harsh-sounds-tap-instinctive-fears.html
Duquette, A. (2016). 10 Horror Movie Theme Songs in 3 Minutes [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS7yNw0tyzk
Karanam, K. (2016). What Makes Horror Movie Music So Scary? [Blog]. Retrieved from http://syncproject.co/blog/2016/11/1/what-makes-horror-movie-music-so-scary
Regan, P. (2017). How to Use Suspenseful Music: Mastering the Film Score [Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-score-suspenseful-music/
Siebert, J. (2018). HOW TO CREATE TERRIFYING HORROR FILM MUSIC [Blog]. Retrieved from https://stockmusic.net/blog/horror-film-music/
"fear" by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0
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