What scares us based on The Shining

There are many things that scare us in life and it is important that these are used in horror and thriller films to scare the audience and create a fearful effect successfully. This was shown in the film ‘The Shining’ that I watched during my previous Media lesson. Based on this film I learnt many important features that scare the audience and these where as follows.

QUICK AND RAPID CHANGES WITHIN A SCENE
Rapid changes within scenes happened throughout the film where there is a quick change whether it be changing to an object or a totally different scene altogether. These changes are unexpected and form a shock to the viewer creating a frightening atmosphere.


UNPREDICTABLE MOMENTS
During the film there where many unpredictable moments where the audience do not have the ability to guess what will happen next this makes the actions occurring a lot more alarming and more fearful as it is known that an audience feel secure when knowing what is to come and this film breaks that rule making the audience uneasy.


A BUILD UP TO A CLIMAX
The Shining featured many scenes that contained a build up of atmosphere to create a climax. There was one scene in particular where this occurred which featured a young boy being chased through a maze by the villain. The constant tracking used following both characters and the increase of speed creates a frightening atmosphere as the audience are aware that the climax is nearing yet they do not know how this will strike.


FAST DRAMATIC MUSIC
Music plays a major role in the film and this proves to be the key feature of thriller and horror movies that the audience find very scary as this sets the scene and gives the audience the knowledge of the atmosphere within the scene. The music almost tells the viewer how to feel as the style and pattern of the music whether fast, loud or up tempo is designed to make the audience feel a certain way resulting in them in this case afraid.