Most of us have a unique relationship with the horror film genre – some of us hate it, freaked out by watching films such as IT and the Amityville Horror long before we ever had any right to do so. Then there’s another group – those who adore the feeling of being terrified. There’s a very important commonality between both of these groups, however – neither would exist were it not for the classic cinematography techniques used in horror films.
The best films of the horror genre immediately convey a deep feeling of unease – they put the viewer in a feeling of immediate danger, and much of this is performed using clever cinematic techniques. With four months to go before Halloween, you’ve got more than enough time to craft your own horror short to scare the wits out of your friends with… so why not do it?!
Classic Techniques First up, if you’ve never tried to make a horror video before, you’re going to need a little helping hand – jump over to fxhome before you start to get yourself a grounding in what all of this is about! You might also want to take a look at a few lists of the best classic horror movies of all time, then spend an evening watching a few of your favourite picks. The knowledge you can learn will be invaluable.
Shadows Shadows are much more interesting than they seem – they are the only thing in the universe that can move faster than light. That’s cheating slightly though, as a shadow is an absence of light rather than light itself! Anyway, I digress – shadows play into our primal instincts, the fear of the unknown, and what could be lurking in the darkness. They are one of the most common tools used by horror filmmakers for these reasons, particularly when casting your main villain as a silhouette; light the backdrop, not the subject, and give our film a dangerous feel whereby the subject appears not to belong in the scene.
Awkward Angles Many movie genres use uncommon angles to generate weird and wonderful effects, but this applies more to horror movies than most. An off-kilter ‘Dutch angle’ shot is a common technique that will give your viewers a direct feeling of unease whilst watching a scene, creating an effect where the world h as been turned on its head. Using bird's eye views for certain shots is another common horror movie trope, but don’t discount good old point-of-view style shooting, which can convey a feeling of frantic urgency better than any other.
Unusual Lighting Whilst most movies require subjects to be well-lit, horror has no such qualms! Horror directors will frequently choose to light their subjects with much more… intricate lighting setups, perhaps from below, using a flashlight to shine a single beam of bright light – conveniently missing the most important detail of the shot! – and flickering lights work incredibly well too.
Modern Techniques Where modern techniques take over from classic ones is hard to discern, but there is no question that the way that horror movies are made has evolved significantly over the years. Horror films use different shots, angles movements, and other techniques to progress their narrative in unusual ways that just wouldn’t seem in character for most other types of film.
Editing One area that you can immediately identify as having advanced dramatically in recent decades is editing – the widespread availability of high-end editing machines is a relatively new development within the film-making industry, and it really shows – sometimes in a bad way, with poorly created CGI, but more often than not it’s the use of clever editing techniques to control how the audience perceives the action on screen.
For example, starting a movie with a shot of a victim will keep viewers on the hook throughout the plot as they seek to discover what happened to the character from the opening scene.
Audio Everybody remembers the off-key notes of the Jaws theme tune – in fact, I’d wager that most of us can play it if a piano is put in front of us (tip: it's just two notes located directly next to one another!). Of course, there are many more ways to create suspense and tension when creating an audio track for a horror movie, and this has become an art form all of its own in recent years.
Many horror films utilize dynamics to their full potential – music will be used to build tension, but it will never become too loud… headroom has to be left for the ‘jump scare’, which always needs to be accompanied by a huge scream, clang, or full on violent soundscape. This technique allows filmmakers to control the emotions of their viewers in the critical moments right before the scare.
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Most of us have a unique relationship with the horror film genre – some of us hate it, freaked out by watching films such as IT and the Amityville Horror long before we ever had any right to do so. Then there’s another group – those who adore the feeling of being terrified. There’s a very important commonality between both of these groups, however – neither would exist were it not for the classic cinematography techniques used in horror films.
The best films of the horror genre immediately convey a deep feeling of unease – they put the viewer in a feeling of immediate danger, and much of this is performed using clever cinematic techniques. With four months to go before Halloween, you’ve got more than enough time to craft your own horror short to scare the wits out of your friends with… so why not do it?!
Classic Techniques
First up, if you’ve never tried to make a horror video before, you’re going to need a little helping hand – jump over to fxhome before you start to get yourself a grounding in what all of this is about! You might also want to take a look at a few lists of the best classic horror movies of all time, then spend an evening watching a few of your favourite picks. The knowledge you can learn will be invaluable.
Shadows
Shadows are much more interesting than they seem – they are the only thing in the universe that can move faster than light. That’s cheating slightly though, as a shadow is an absence of light rather than light itself! Anyway, I digress – shadows play into our primal instincts, the fear of the unknown, and what could be lurking in the darkness. They are one of the most common tools used by horror filmmakers for these reasons, particularly when casting your main villain as a silhouette; light the backdrop, not the subject, and give our film a dangerous feel whereby the subject appears not to belong in the scene.
Awkward Angles
Many movie genres use uncommon angles to generate weird and wonderful effects, but this applies more to horror movies than most. An off-kilter ‘Dutch angle’ shot is a common technique that will give your viewers a direct feeling of unease whilst watching a scene, creating an effect where the world h as been turned on its head. Using bird's eye views for certain shots is another common horror movie trope, but don’t discount good old point-of-view style shooting, which can convey a feeling of frantic urgency better than any other.
Unusual Lighting
Whilst most movies require subjects to be well-lit, horror has no such qualms! Horror directors will frequently choose to light their subjects with much more… intricate lighting setups, perhaps from below, using a flashlight to shine a single beam of bright light – conveniently missing the most important detail of the shot! – and flickering lights work incredibly well too.
Modern Techniques
Where modern techniques take over from classic ones is hard to discern, but there is no question that the way that horror movies are made has evolved significantly over the years. Horror films use different shots, angles movements, and other techniques to progress their narrative in unusual ways that just wouldn’t seem in character for most other types of film.
Editing
One area that you can immediately identify as having advanced dramatically in recent decades is editing – the widespread availability of high-end editing machines is a relatively new development within the film-making industry, and it really shows – sometimes in a bad way, with poorly created CGI, but more often than not it’s the use of clever editing techniques to control how the audience perceives the action on screen.
For example, starting a movie with a shot of a victim will keep viewers on the hook throughout the plot as they seek to discover what happened to the character from the opening scene.
Audio
Everybody remembers the off-key notes of the Jaws theme tune – in fact, I’d wager that most of us can play it if a piano is put in front of us (tip: it's just two notes located directly next to one another!). Of course, there are many more ways to create suspense and tension when creating an audio track for a horror movie, and this has become an art form all of its own in recent years.
Many horror films utilize dynamics to their full potential – music will be used to build tension, but it will never become too loud… headroom has to be left for the ‘jump scare’, which always needs to be accompanied by a huge scream, clang, or full on violent soundscape. This technique allows filmmakers to control the emotions of their viewers in the critical moments right before the scare.