Jaws: The Best Techniques Used In Horror Movies

One movie that comes to mind is Jaws, a movie directed by Steven Spielberg and sound by John Williams. The movie is about a shark that terrorizes a beach in new england, the main character teams up with two other men and tries to fix the problem but they later realise that the shark is bigger than they thought. There is one scene that shows the aspects of music in a perfect way. The scene has become famous because the main character says the line “we're gonna need a bigger boat”. The scene starts out with no music and just relays on dialogue and sound effects. Then, as the main character throws meat into the ocean, the shark appears and when it appears the music bursts out. At this point the music is composed mostly of string instruments that

(106) insert shot: In Into the Wild(2007) an insert shot of the pages in the book about botany is used when Christopher McCandless is trying to see what plants are edible or not. The audience is able to see his anxiety trying to find

In both the excerpts "Jams" and "Swimming with Nightmares" by Peter Benchley, the author creates suspense in many ways. The author utilizes descriptive words, character's choices, and dangerous situations for creating suspense.

Steven Spielberg, the creator of Jaws, uses many different techniques to draw in the suspense of viewers and to capture their imagination. These techniques include special effects – to create tension, different camera angles – to show facial expressions and group shots. The classic Jaws music, known by millions of people, also helps build up tension, to let us know when the shark is approaching. He uses colours, so that we can associate signs and symbols to forthcoming events, e.g. the colour red is associated with danger. We will be using all of the above devices to help analyse different parts of the film.

During the film Steve Spielberg uses music, a mysterious shark and camera techniques such as simultaneous track and zoom, long shot, close up shots and medium shots to build suspense, tension and scare the audience.

For instance, in the intro of Edward Scissorhands when Kim was telling her granddaughter the story of Edward, they were in a room filled with warm light from the fireplace. This technique gave the audience the effect to become suspicious and watch more. Just like in The Big Fish when his Edward was telling the story of how he “caught” his wife with the fish swimming in the water. The lighting of the water made the viewer wonder if something good or bad is going to happen. Some of the viewers may not have noticed it but the camera framing plays a big role in establishing the mood.

Lighting and filming through the movie is applied creatively causing people to be interested in not only the plot but the aesthetic . Lighting gave the movie a mysterious ambiance. They also use the lighting to create a contrast of characters, they manipulate the lighting in a scene with Harvey Dent to show the dark side Of himself. Doing these

Lighting as we know, creates the atmosphere for the setting, it establishes the overall tone for what the audience sees. Lighting is key in filming, as it can change tones from scene to scene to create a certain subliminal meaning. For instance the contrasting light from character to character to allow the viewer to understand the differences. Throughout the movie “The Dark Knight” we are able to see how the lighting allows for the directors subliminal meaning to seek through; darkness within. As the name of the movie suggests “Dark Knight” the movies overall tone is set in the darkness. This dark atmosphere allows for an eerie feeling, tension to build up and an anxiety feeling for the viewer. To understand the underlining meaning behind the lighting choices within the film, it 'll be shown by the protagonist, antagonist and the overall atmosphere within the movie.

Tim Burton, in Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children, uses mysterious music, lighting, and angles in orders to show something bad might happen in the scene. This is interesting because it makes the viewer want to know what is going to happen. This is important because suspense in a movie is better for the viewer than the viewer knowing what is going to happen. The viewer being about to know what is going to happen would just ruin the movie.

Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.

Another example is when Arbogaust gets killed and when Norman is taking his mother downstairs, we watch over this scene from the top corner, as the birds do in Norman's office this implies that Norman is haunted by something watching over him. These examples foreshadow the ending of the film and the real situation between Norman and Mother. The music builds a lot of tension and suspense in psycho, it tells us that something is going to happen very soon and we get prepared for it, the lack of music can make a scene seem calm and normal, which then contrasts with the loud scary music that starts quickly as the scary part happens. The audience are unprepared and scared.

In 1928 ground-breaking technology made it possible for movies to have sound. This revolutionized horror films because sound gave an extra dimension to terror. Noise built suspense and signaled the presence of a threat. (Wilson) Instead of a monster suddenly making an appearance without warning, music would signal that they were near. Growls, Snarls, footsteps, and screams allowed the audience members to feel like the victims of the movie.

Lighting was a key cinematic technique that Well's used to project a character's persona in the film. He used shadows to hide or mask the faces of the seemingly corrupt characters, like the reporters who are trying to find the meaning of rosebud. He also used backlighting, when light is cast onto the characters from the opposite side of the camera, to create silhouette's .Single source lighting was another technique used to focus the viewers attention on a important prop or action that was taking place. For example, when the reporter is allowed to see the book of Kane there is one window through which all it's light is focused on the book emphasizing its importance.

What make a scary movie scary would be the Music, Actors/Actresses, and Scenery. Music plays a big role in Scary Movies with the Sounds and effects. Music in a Scary Movie can make a person get chills, jump or even scream. A second huge role would be the Actors/Actresses. The Actors/Actresses make or break whether the Scary Movie is good or bad. Not only the Actors/Actresses, also the producers and moviemakers. They decide what Actors/Actresses say, the only question is. Can they play their role? Finally it comes down to the Scenery. Without having Scenery the Movie would just be one black screen. Having Scenery gives the audience a chance to use their imagination, like “What’s over there?” or “Where did they go?” and lastly “How’d she disappear?”

Horror films are known for their ability to scare audiences, to get the audience’s hearts racing, their blood rushing. A good horror film will cause viewers to be on the edge of their seats and having their perception of reality distorted as they attempt to understand the unraveling plot of the horror film. The tone of the film aides in the amount of suspense that a horror film produces, since a much darker film will create a more suspenseful atmosphere than one that is more focused on campy monster makeup. But the tone of a film is determined by the sound of the film, or in other words, the score. Sound or music in a horror film, or the lack thereof, make the intense scenes and without the addition