Lighting In Horror Films

 

Most horror happens during nightime, the lighting is always low key. The darkness creates a sense of mystery and therefore effects the audience. The horror always takes place at night time because they try to take the audience out of there comfort zone. Therefore they can easily spook the audience and create fear. The use of natural light in scenes suggests safety and comfort, so when there is no natural light the audience can recognise a change in mood. This change of mood allows the audience to anticipate, by creating this anticipation the characters can scare the audience as they are vulnerable.

 

In horrors shadows are very important, seeing things through reflections and shadows creates mystery. Also this creates doubt for the characters because they are unaware of what they have seen and therefore panic. Dramatic irony takes place when we can clearly see a shadow and the character cannot. This creates anxiety and fear for the audience because they can see exactly what is taking place.