Sound

Zara

How it is used

Within the Horror genre, sound is mainly use to help build tension, create suspense, and on some occasions, create jump scares with the use of loud sounds after silence. Sound is a major concept in films because not only does it have good conventions to make the movie its genre, it helps build an atmosphere that the audience will become familiar with as well as getting them to relate to the characters within the film. It also, if it has an original sound track, can create a trademark sound that people are able to recognize when talking about the particular film.

Blair witch projectIn this film there isn’t much sound being heard as it is based off a recording that is being watched over, although the film uses silence to build the tension and suspense to get the audience off their seats into wondering what is going to happen to the characters in the film. The entire film is mainly based around diegetic sound because the footage was a prerecorded documentary about the Blair witch project. Because, according to the trailer, the film is mainly based around darkness so it is most likely that it is about things popping out to scare the characters involved in the situation.

There are no voice-overs except for the characters voices in the trailer, but the sound bridges are the black transitions of sound that is seen after each scene shown. This is the only sound that is not diegetic in the trailer, but apart from that. There is no use of soundtrack or music used throughout the trailer, except for the transition sounds that creates a tension and anticipation for the audience wondering what is happening to the characters and where they are. The confined spaces make it harder for the audience to know what is going on with the characters so they begin to feel the same tension as the characters do therefore enigmas begin to form making the audience want to know what else is going t happen an the only way to find out is by watching the film.

Like said, there are no narrators in the trailer except for the voice of one character in particular. At the beginning of the trailer the main character who is a girl apologizes to certain people for making a very bad decision. The sound of her voice also very quite and sounds like that she is crying and terrified making the audience wonder what she did and what happened. It is also as if she is speaking to the audience through the camera she was speaking through from the close up on her face. It then cuts to a text saying that three students disappeared and then footage was found a year later.

The text briefly explains to the audience on what has happened to the girl and the two other students and the trailer shows certain scenes on what has happened to them. The general voiceover in the film is the girl because she is the one who is holding the project and is in control fit therefore she explains what is happening and what their plan is in the project. The impression that the girl gives is the fact that after watching the trailer, she fully regrets in starting the whole project and that she is sorry to anyone who has told her not to do it and to the other two students she was doing the project with.

There is no music used in the film except for the diegetic sounds of the character sand the transition sounds. However, this trailer proved that you do not need music to create a good trailer because a lot of tension has been built just from the fast paced editing and the short transitions sounds that have been heard along with the progressing voices of the characters that slowly lead into chaos for them.

Target audienceI think that the target audience are targeted to teenagers and young adults aged 15-25 because the main characters in the film are students who look like that they are in university or college as they are filming a project for the school therefore the audience are able to relate to what they are experiencing. It also includes strong language so it is likely that the age is going to be 15 and over. The audience may also be able to have peer pressured other teens that are not fond of Horror films since teens usually peer pressure others into taking risks and getting them out of their comfort zone. Judging by the genre of the film, I think that the personalities of the audience, from an obvious perspective, are interested in Horror. This is because the film-included conventions such as dark settings jump scares and other conventions. Not only that, they may also be interested in the supernatural. The Blair Witch Project is a ghost who inhabits within the forest that the students are filming in. If they like ghosts, they may enjoy the film. Moreover, the film is about media students. Those who are interested in media or filming could relate to what they are doing when trying to create a project or movie in a short space of time. With it being based in the woods it may be also interesting to those who enjoy the outdoors. Although, this film may put that particular audience off into going into the outdoors due to watching the film and seeing the students being attacked and hunted by the Blair Witch.

ConclusionOver all, I think that the conventions in horror films attract their audience with the use of enigmas, this with keep the audience engaged with the film and teases the audience by giving the narrative and genre, but also leaving questions behind on what is happening in the film and what is going to happen next. Also, it creates excitement. The anticipation and tension created by the fast paced editing and crescendo in the music to leave them excited for the film. The accolades and reviews give the audiences an idea, from an opinion based perspective, to see if the film is worth seeing in the cinema and to know what others think of it. The more that people like it, the ore likely that audience is going to go and see the film.It conveys information fairly quickly so the audience doesn’t have quite a lot of time to process what is happening so to find out more, they must watch the film. One more thing is that it does not give a lot of the plot away. The audience is given a small piece of the narrative and what is going to happen but not all of it therefore they may want to know more about it so they must watch the film to find out what is going to happen. However, there are disadvantages that lower the audience going to see them films due to people spoiling the film for them or it is posted onto the Internet for them to see.

Overall, horror trailers are good for introducing a film because they give enough information for the audience to know what the genre is, but they still leave questions about what is going to happen and how the characters involved in the film are affected by the climax.