This post will act as an evaluation Following my group presentation regarding the analysis of the short animated film “Scaredy Cat” by Zombie Studio and Temptation productions.

 

For the presentation, I decided to focus on the sound design of the film as that is the main aspect I noticed in the film and how it accompanies the narrative perfectly. On top of this, I believe that sound design is just as, if not more important than visuals when it comes to horror films. My reasoning for this is that, although sight is one of our key senses, I believe that hearing is a form of peripheral vision that is often overlooked. Because it cannot only sense what is remotely visible but also what is invisible. This tendency draws back to our primal instincts and even to this day, certain frequencies can stimulate our fight or flight response as a way of protecting ourselves from threats without having to necessarily see the opposing threat, we have often used our hearing to anticipate what may be in the areas we can’t see and whether there is a threat or not present. Because of this, I believe that sound design plays a massive part in creating atmosphere, especially in Horror more so as it can allow us to potentially foresight any threats as well as put us in a state of shock or stimulate our fight or flight response.

 

This film was immensely successful at using its sound design in both its use of Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound within the film. when it comes to the use of Diegetic sound the entire film is full of sounds that are typical staples with horror cinema. You have the likes of: Thunder, Rainfall, White Noises etc.

 

But it’s how the film uses all these sound simultaneously which makes the Diegetic sound design so effective. throughout the entire film, each of these sounds begin to pile up with the progression of the narrative. For example, the film starts with the only noticeable sound being the rainfall outside. But as the film’s narrative progresses, more sound is added, adding more information for the viewers to process, which may cause the viewers more stress trying to process everything that is occurring, causing more fear and discomfort in the process without the initial realization from the viewers.

 

The use of Diegetic sound design works hand-in-hand with the use of non-Diegetic sound design and this is especially the case with horror films. In this film, two major sound design techniques have been used to increase the emotive power of the film and induce feelings of anxiety and dread within the viewers and stimulate their fight or flight response.

 

The first noticeable technique used in this film is a sound design technique referred to as “the Drone of Dread” which was first made a staple of horror cinema in Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 horror film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” published by Paramount pictures. This technique refers to an unidentifiable constant frequency that grows in intensity progressively with the narrative and culminates with an outcome in the narrative. The frequency itself is usually unpleasant and creates a sense of anxiety and dread that constantly builds up as the narrative proceeds.

 

This ties in perfectly to the next technique used that is usually present at the end of the drone of dread. This method is referred to as a “Musical Stinger”, a technique famously used in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 Horror movie “Psycho” published by paramount pictures. This technique refers to using a sudden short and high note suddenly to cause a sudden jolt of adrenaline and shock following a build-up to an outcome. This is where the drone of dread would build up to an outcome and the outcome would be suddenly revealed with a musical stinger for a massive emotional impact with the scene.

 

Both techniques work extremely well together within this film and one aspect I noticed during the analysis is the fact that it is also used to separate the film into its three respective acts. Each of the acts start with the drone of dread which will cause the viewer’s anxiety to continuously increase and their sense of dread to intensify before being suddenly greeted with a musical stinger which then gives the viewers a sudden bout of shock. It is then that each act reveals that the build-up was leading to a false climax that wasn’t a threat like it had been interpreted and thus was completely irrational, excluding the third act of course.

 

Only then, the cycle repeats with the same outcome twice before revealing the true climax following the end of act tree.  It’s this use of sound design techniques simultaneously to misdirect the viewers’ attention and lead them to a false climax while building on their anxiety before revealing the true climax, that delivers a much more emotional impact through the sound design being used to enhance the narrative.

 

Overall, I found this analysis to be quite interesting and has helped me be more analytical when watching films and media and has taught me, what I should look out for while analyzing films, for the purposes of gathering skills in developing animated films of my own and how multiple aspects that may seem subtle, play a massive part in telling an interesting and compelling story.

 

This coursework has also allowed me to investigate the use of sound design and how it is extremely important to enhancing a story and immersing the viewers within the narrative, as well as look more in-depth into some major sound design techniques used and how they functioned in the narrative and why they worked to enhance the experience of the viewer. If I were to do anything differently, I would have tried to find more examples of other media that use the methodology which is applied in this film and compare their similarities, while also pointing out their differences and how they use these techniques to achieve the same impact.