2. SETTING
• Normally set in a suburban or isolated location such as a large residential
building, or a dark space such as a forest for example. More specifically, it’s
the protagonist's house that they have recently moved into. This will
promotes fear of the unknown and unwanted and intruding of personal
space. There is also little or no escape from these settings for the characters
when the situation starts and begins to escalate.
The setting for Dario Argento’s
Suspiria takes places within a
mysterious dance academy
run by witches, hidden away
in the confines of the Black
Forest in Germany.
3. NARRATIVES
• The narrative will normally centre around the protagonist trying to work out
why the previous owners had died. Characters who move into a new
environment full of hope are there only to find that it is bewitched by some
sort of supernatural entity, or the narrative will focus upon characters going
into a haunted place to investigate. This may also involve a trigger that
causes a spirit to continuously haunt someone (e.g. a curse). The audience
may also be believe led to believe in a trustworthy character although it
turns out that they are the cause of the haunting.
The 1981 film, Evil Dead, focuses upon
five students who go camping in the
woods for vacation, accidentally
unleashing a legion of deadly spirits.
4. MAIN PROTAGONIST
• The protagonist appear to be normal and will most likely be a female,
possibly troubled by something from their past which leads other characters
to not take their supernatural experiences seriously until the last minute. If
female, they are considered to be the “final girl”, one that will survive to the
end of the film. It is necessary for the protagonist to be female, because she
must experience a lot of terror, and many viewers would dislike a film that
showed utter terror on the part of a male.
Scarlett Marlowe is the main
protagonist for As Above So Below,
and survives all the way through the
film.
5. CHARACTERS
• Other characters will normally form part of the main protagonist’s alliance in
the film, unless a plot twist occurs and it’s revealed that one is the cause of
the misery occurring. One by one, eventually they die from the hands of the
situation unfolding. Female characters will normally get more gruesome and
dramatic death scenes as males find pleasure in seeing them helpless and in
pain.
One of the characters other than the
protagonist in Inferno (1980) is his
sister. She ends up being guillotined
by an unseen creature.
6. COSTUME
• The main character is likely to wear casual costuming in order to give a
strong sense of normality. As the horror progresses, we see the character
looking erratic and untidy. Their hair may be a mess, and also covered in
blood, signifying that they have been through or currently going through a
very traumatic situation.
Here we see a character from The
Descent covered and also
submerged in blood. Her hair is also a
mess.
7. LIGHTING & SOUND
• Profile lighting is used to create a sinister look on a character, along with
back lighting to display shadows and events in silhouette form. Under lighting
is also used for scenes of desperation.
• Orchestral music is implemented to fit the scene narrative, with empathetic
sound to suit the mood of characters in fear. Contrapuntal sound is also
common, along with the use of amplified diegetic sounds such as screams
for an effect and reaction from the audience.
