Mood and Tone

Horror films have a dark tone, a tone that sets the audience on edge and draws them out of their comfort zone. A dark theme with shadows and greys that keeps the audience wanted light, wanting to be able to see the complete picture and feel secure, this creates anxiety because the audience feels as isolated as the characters do. A dark tone can often be created with sparse lighting and with having dimly lit areas of the frame.

In this scene from the conjuring 2 trailer we can see a room lit solely by moonlight and filled with shadows, we do not know what lurks in the shadows and can only see the girl and what she can see, this puts us in the same boat as her as a viewer. The dark tone and shadows means that we are kept in constant suspense because we are only aware of certain parts of the frame, this can be used to confuse, alienate or point the viewer towards a specific area.

In this shot from when a stranger calls we are focused on the character, often it is just the character and/or the things they are interacting with that are visible. This makes us focus our attention on how strange, fast paced and rough the situation, the characters and the veiwer are basically running on the minimum, only what is at hand as there because there is no time to think.

In this scene from the don't breathe trailer we can see how they have done interior lighting, there are only two lights that illuminate the scene parallel to the moonlight. The indoor lighting creates a silhouette effect on the villain and makes him stand out in the scene, we are drawn towards him and the surrounding moonlight focuses our attention on him and makes the difference in light and dark stand out. Colour wise the lights stand out in the frame a lot, the characters silhouette works in the negative space to stand out against the subdued oranges and moonlight blue.

In this shot from the Babadook trailer the only light once again comes from the indoor lamp. This creates long shadows over the moon and especially on the characters face, fhiding part of it and making it look darker, the long shadows also create a gradient from left to right of dark to light, this emphasizes how little light there is. The tone of this shot has a very depressive and graphite-esque look, this makes the scene seem cold and distant.

In this shot from The Others, warm lighting is used here but is only shone directly onto the front of the character, this illuminates her face and partly of the direction she is looking at while the rest of the frame remains in the dark. This works well to exxagerate the contrasts between dark and light and good and evil,visually the shot is reminiscent of a gradient. The light in the scene draws the viewers to look at the characters face not her surroundings, the rest of the frame is very dimly lit making the character seem far more isolated than she actually is.

For our trailer we can create a warm atmosphre for the first act, for the street scenes natural daylight can lure the viewer into thinking that the neighbourhood and location is normal and for indoor scenes warm lighting with an orange tinge can create a homell feel just intching to get disruptred. Scenes can then be shot with cold lighting, blue and whitish, this makes the house seem cold more distant and hostile and is good for unnerving the veiwer and presenting the house as unwelcoming. For darker scenes like in the shadows or from the street a vague black and white feel is good for emphasizing the darkness and reducing view favourably, it can also make what ever bright or white there is stand out.

In our trailer we can create a dark tone well because the majority of shots will be in a house, meaning we have complete control over the lighting as compared as if we were in public or outside. We can fully control the lighting with filters and gels and whatnot and create the atmosphere we want.

NP