There’s a slow, creeping, build up of tension deep in your body.
You know what you’re seeing isn’t real but the overwhelming terror becomes so strong
that you can’t help but to look away, turn off the sound, or even walk out of the cinema.
Everyone who has seen a horror movie knows this feeling.
So how exactly are filmmakers able to leverage our own psychology against us and induce feelings
of deep terror just by showing us a projection of 2D images in a cinema?
In this video I’ll breakdown how camera movement and framing create scary images by
going over the three stages of horror and analysing some terrifying techniques used
by cinematographers to create deep psychological dread.
Horror films are a cinematic dance between cinematography and editing.
Both have to align perfectly and support each other to produce terrifying visuals.
Although it goes without saying that there are many different ways to approach creating
a horror film, there are certain tropes which apply to most movies in the genre.
One trope is how they are structured.
I’d break down this structure of horror into three parts: down time, where there is
no threat to the characters, build up, where a sense of horror or anticipation of a threat
grows and finally, the scare.
This cycle of down time, build up and scare usually happens numerous times throughout
a film.
Of these, down time is clearly the least frightening.
This time is needed as a pacing device for the audience to take a breath and compose
themselves before the next onset of horror.
If a film is always scary it’ll either lose some of its impact or become overly terrifying
and unwatchable.
I would argue that the scare, what you expect to be most frightening, is in fact not as
truly terrifying as the build up to the scare.
A scare is like a plaster, if you rip it off quickly it’ll hurt but the pain will quickly
be gone.
Peeling a plaster off slowly, gradually, bit by bit, until you’re begging for the director
to just yank it off quickly is far worse.
This is the build up.
True horror.
So let’s go over some cinematic techniques used in the build up which create a terrifying
effect.
This classic trope involves cutting between a character and their point of view (or POV),
usually as they are approaching a threat which will lead to a scare.
To inject this moment with maximum anxiety and anticipation a slow push in, or moving
forward of the camera, is used to mimic the feeling of someone moving closer.
In Shutter, this very stable push in is accomplished by using a dolly, which is set up on tracks
and then pushed slowly by a grip during a take.
The low to the ground push in used to show the ominous light under the door could’ve
been done different ways, such as with a job arm or underslung on a slider, but the most
common method is to first ‘break the neck’ of the dolly, attach an extension bracket
to frame out the tracks, and then using an underslung head, such as a Cartoni Lambda
head, which allows the camera to be operated inches off the ground.
In It Follows, the POV push in is used often, in this scene it’s used in reverse, as a
pull back instead of a push in, but the effect is the same, as the camera is reacting to
the movement of the main character retreating from the threat.
The camera here has a slightly less stable, floating motion, which is a trademark of using
a steadicam.
This technique leverages a base, psychological human fear.
We feel safe when we are protected by a physical barrier.
This is one of the reasons people often position their beds, sometimes subconsciously, so that
their back is against the wall and they are facing the doorway.
From this position we are able to see and deal with an oncoming threat.
The Invisible Man takes this fear and translates it visually by using empty space.
In this scene the camera slowly pans and dollies around the empty space in the house before
finally settling on our character.
Again, smooth camera motion is used.
Although some horror films use rapid, handheld camera work successfully in the build up,
I feel this style excels more during quick scares.
Smooth movement is usually a more reliable method of gradually ramping up tension during
the build up.
The slow movement of the camera paired with the empty space in this scene introduces a
feeling of vulnerability, like an attack could come from anywhere.
It Follows also uses this technique in its opening shot where a wide frame pans around
a suburban neighbourhood creating a sense of invisible danger.
The film also uses background action in frames to build in a feeling of vulnerability.
It may seem counterintuitive but sometimes cutting to a shot without any threat in it
can be terrifying.
What we can’t see is more scary than what we can.
Building up a scene with off screen sound design such as this scene from The Wailing
and then staying on our main protagonist is fear inducing.
The character reacts to the threat but we, the audience, are unable to see what is being
reacted too.
The camera remains still, on a tripod, and objective.
Unlike the POV push in technique where we cut back and forth between the perspective
of the character and their point of view, in The Wailing director Na Hong-jin often
holds off on cutting to a POV scare shot until the last minute, building up tension before
the cut.
Us uses this idea too but in a different way.
In this scene, director Jordan Peele frames the threat in the same shot as the character,
but blocks the character so they are prolonged from seeing it.
They use a stable but more reactive camera, operated on a fluid head from a dolly, following
the motion of the character.
Just as in The Wailing we, the audience, are begging for Na to cut to the POV shot of the
threat, in Us we desperately want the character to turn around.
Both use this idea of the unseen threat to slowly build up more tension before the moment
of the scare.
The Invisible Man takes this a step further and literally creates a threat which we are
unable to see.
For a fight scene with an invisible enemy, DP Stefan Duscio employed motion control.
A motion control rig, such as a Bolt, is a robotic arm on a track that can move the camera
smoothly on any axis.
Software is used to track and program a specific move at a specific speed, which the rig can
then replicate as many times as necessary, frame for frame, so that each move is exactly
the same.
This allowed the filmmakers to shoot one take with a man in a green suit attacking our character.
Once they’d got the shot they ran the same move again without actors to get a plate shot
which was identical.
In post production it was then easy to mask out the man in the green suit and replace
the background he blocks with the plate shot.
The effect is a realistic feeling fight scene, where the character’s performance and interaction
with the invisible foe feel real.
These three techniques form the basis for just some of the creative camera movements
which can be used in horror films to amplify tension and terror during the build up.
Camera movement may serve as an important base for horror cinematography but it’s
important to note that it’s just one element.
It takes a combination of lighting, performance, VFX, make up, production design, music, editing
and many more elements to build up a high level of visual tension.
To truly manipulate the audience’s emotions, filmmakers need to add just the right touch
of each of these carefully measured ingredients to achieve a deep, unsettling build up to
a scare.
Thanks for getting to the end of this video I’d be interested to hear other techniques
you’ve found effective in horror films in the comments.
If you’d like to support this channel further, you can find a link to the channel’s Patreon
page in the description.
Until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.