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THE HORROR MONTAGE | PROJECT BRIEF 2 | AUDIOVISUAL RESPONSE

 

As asserted by academic Julian Hanich, horror is so effective in engaging and enhancing viewer absorption largely due to the ‘paradox of horror’ – horror films terrorise the viewer, and both because of and in spite of this, they are enjoyable. The horror film simultaneously suspends our functional perception of fear, whilst demanding our attention as our primal instincts refuse to let us look away. By virtue of transfixion, it may be argued that there is nothing more immersive than horror. In my piece I endeavoured to explore this. I was drawn to Ed Hirst’s audio piece, as it had the capacity to offer an immediately emotive experience, which was well suited to being guided towards horror. As the visuals manipulate and give altered meaning and context to the sound, so the sound develops the vision.

Throughout the video, I employ the tropes of horror cinema. I used the audio to enhance the visual material, set the mood, build pacing, and recontextualise otherwise harmless footage, whilst furthermore creating scaled ‘jump scares’ throughout. The sound and vision work together to build the horror world which engulfs the viewer. Moreover, I utilised visuals that were graphic or a part of classic horror iconography in order to reaffirm the video’s genre and immediately impress upon the viewer the emotions that should be felt whilst watching. Simultaneously however, testing the limits of the horror film, I included animated images and a variety of source material, which varied in style, aesthetic and texture, thereby disturbing the usual visual continuity of the horror film. Despite these potential disturbances in immersion, I believe that the viewer, in the capacity allowed by this brief video, is still allowed to believe this piece as a cohesive horror ‘world’ in which they may become immersed, as they accept, and become engaged in what is presented on-screen, despite its visual disparities. This reaffirms Hanich’s belief in the immersive capabilities of the horror genre, and furthermore supports the claim that immersion is contingent upon the suspension of disbelief; without which, horror could seem utterly fantastical, or truly terrifying. 

 

Hanich, J 2010, Cinematic Emotion in Horror Films and Thrillers – The Aesthetic Paradox of Pleasurable Fear, Routledge, USA.

Perron, B 2009, Horror Video Games: Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, McFarland & Company, Inc, USA.

 

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