PB 3
After a pitch presentation about my intentions and interest of study, I’ve came into further brainstorming thanks to the feedback from the panel. I’ve wanted to explore the emotions or reaction generated by different sub genres of horror and how they may have been a hybrid for a mixed emotion response. Inspired by pieces such as ballet performance film, Black Swan (2010) that also incorporates psychological thrilling elements and Into the Woods (2014), a dark fairytale musical, I was motivated to a boundary-blurring piece to sketch. Therefore in my pitch I thought I would experiment on a challenging and opposing genre such as a hybrid of horror-musical, a rare yet interesting genre collision. As Allan pointed out as a feedback that emotions associated with both genres are opposites, it got me thinking can horror be a musical? The panel also encourage me to think of examples in which however, it is difficult to think of a legitimate terror, suspense kind of horror that also include musical elements to it. Therefore, I’ve further retouched my idea of a sketch that instead, will focus of horror use of music/soundtrack and its affect on audience fear emotions. This sketch perhaps is a resemblance to a horror film with a lot of music within, as well as conveying sonic narrative, instead of experimenting a musical horror film.
EXEGESIS-
Video sketch “She Likes the Unknown”.
Genre serves not only as means of text grouping but also acts as the cinematic experience of emotions. Ishiguro (2015) in his interview talked about the genres boundaries that have been assembled and how sometimes those boundaries are taken too seriously. This strict classification of films according to set-values established through genre has caused the limitation and a lack of creativity in filmmaking. Like the pleasure of mixed emotions, the blurring of boundaries through alterations of conventions used allows to colour genre films, specifically in horror genre. Though, what exactly horror or scary films are those that are able to generate various fear emotions “most prominently terror, shock, dread and horror” (Hanich, 2010). These films should not adhere to just a specific emotion because responses can be of mixed emotion as horror films can be signified through the inclusion of several hues of fear emotions. Therefore, the main focus of this study is to investigate the experience of fear in various hues and experiment the mixture of these emotions through a horror sketch, “She Likes the Unknown” (2016).
As discussed in Hanich’s (2010) chapter on “the problem of category formation”, our lived bodily experience is defined as we form categories. Furthermore, the more recurring patterns of emotions (or tropes) within the experience, the more convincing these categories will be. For example, when experiencing a slasher scene with violent knife handling and blood, viewers usually associate that aesthetics with gruesome emotion. Hence, audience are encouraged expect what the film will incorporate when informed what genre does the film fall into. However, there comes the time when a film is classified to be a horror yet contain only a certain scare elements that a particular individual is not necessarily fearful of although others might. This grouping leaves some individuals to rather avoid the film because of what they presupposed the film to be. Likewise explained by Hanich (2010), individual viewers have expectations that are shaped and influenced by their own certain historical and cultural setting as well as specific life-world situation. Taking upon further readings, it is argued that genres has its benefits to allow judgment of encounter, a choice of what stories to be experienced or avoid and that genres are “helpful instruments of orientation, expectation and conventions that circulate between industry, film and viewer” (Hanich, 2010). Thus, categories formations may have indeed raises certain problem as an established system in which it should not be treated as a set-rule of filmmaking. Though, there is a significance of genre as mode of expectation for desired experience as well as an aid to organisation within film industry.
One of horror films’ popular tropes is the use of suspense and horrific sounds and music. Moreover, genre can be seen as a generator of emotions by exploiting music or sound score. After all, music significantly enhances bodily-responses to specific emotions as it is listened. Sarkhar (1997) discussed that the common use of film sound is “the expressions of emotion” in which music can generate through accessing the psyche and brought the emotion out through underscoring. The sketch uses a slowly build-up suspenseful avant-garde music (with off-key piano and violin) accompanied by gruesome high-saturated noises mixed together with ambient drone sounds. As shown within the sketched piece, this aural convention is designed to generate uneasiness emotion that also bring about connotations and perhaps a foreshadowing conclusion that something is off about an island that is visited. Film sound such as those of ambient is also used to establish the surrounding environment that purposes to locate the characters in material space (Sarkhar, 1997). Within “She Likes the Unknown”, environmental sounds utilised include a view cricket sounds, wooden doors or windows creaking, unexpected winds as well as still lake water to establish a somewhat creepy trapped isolating space in an unfamiliar “unknown” setting. The sonic narrative constructed upon the sketch aims primarily to inscribe genres as emotions. Hence, its sound score is highlighted through visuals edited according to the soundtracks instead of sounds edited according to the visuals. This reverse method of construction also positions “She Likes the Uknown” almost as a subjective song of fear as it is experienced. Shock tactic has been a prominent emotive component within horror tropes. The sketch piece is narrated with some silence with ambient noises and then as fast surrealistic action begins, changed to sudden high-volume gorging noises that horrified and shocked the viewer.
The goal of the sketch sound design is to create the sentiment of stress and the pleasure of fear experienced with a mixed feeling of terror, dread, suspense, uneasiness and shock. This mixture does not only incorporate specific horror subgenres such as thrilling generated by slasher film but has a blurred lines among different horror genres. As Hanich (2010) had mentioned, a new film can potentially blur the boundaries as it is not identical the definition. “She Likes the Unknown” is a psychological thriller due to the subject’s possible mental condition but it may as well be supernatural horror in the woods setting. The sketch itself is open to interpretation, being ambiguous of where it sits in terms of classification, which is intended to reflect the blurred nature of genre as experience of mixed emotions.
References
Gaiman, N, Ishiguro, K 2015, New Statesman, “Let’s talk about genre”, June 4.
Hanich, J 2010, Cinematic emotion in horror films and thrillers, “Pleasures and Counterbalances”, Routledge, New York, pp. 24-35.
Sarkhar, B 1997, Spectator: The University of Southern California Journal of Film and Television, “Sound bites: Fragments on cinema, sound and subjectivity”, vol. 17, edn. 2.