Genre Conventions - Editing

Editing in a horror film is an important factors of a horror film. The editing has to be done to perfection to achieve the scares; the editing can make the difference of the film actually being horror or a laughing stock. Timing is also everything. Suspense is built on the audience’s anticipation. An editor can use the timing and pace of clips to build this anticipation and grow suspense. Pace is important when disorientating the audience, it is the key to building the anticipation and suspense needed to make it a good horror film.

The three key elements every editor should have at their disposal for any horror film is:
- Colour
- Sound
- Perspective
- Pace

Colour is key because this is what creates the core atmosphere for each scene; whether it be something with high contrast, or just dark enough for a creature to creep out of the shadows. The dark and dull colours are what people associate horror with. It the scenes filmed were bright and colourful it would take away that creepy effect that horror films aim to get. It would make the film a lot less suspenseful if the place they were filming appeared in bright and happy colours; people wouldn't be as afraid if in comparison to an eerie and dark setting.

Sound is extremely important for those people in cinemas who like to cover their eyes during particularly scary scenes. Even if you can’t see the horrific image, you can still hear the bones crack, the blood spray, and the victim let out one last shriek or a dying breath. Sound is usually the element used to create the jumpscares. Typically, there would be a complete cut off of sound, the only sound being the contrapuntal ones of footsteps from the character up until that character comes face to face with yet another threat and this is where editors would add a loud sound effect or start up the ensemble of suspenseful sounds to make the viewers even more scared.

This element tends to be less obvious but is just as important. Perspective plays a large part in creating a horrific landscape, or an uneasy tension. In some cases, the director will need the editor to adjust a scene or image to help intensify the scene. The easiest way to add tension to a plain scene is by rotating the image on a angle. By putting the perspective on an angle you subconsciously tell the viewer that “something isn’t right.” People like to see their world on an even playing field, and when you start to mess with that perspective, you begin making the viewer uncomfortable and on edge.

The pace of editing is also used to make an impression on the audience. A rather long clip without any cuts makes the audience tense as it focuses in on one subject for too long and evokes the audience to feel the need to look away or lets them focus on the detail in the shot. On these types of clips the audience expects to be scared however if a jump scare is placed at the right point in the scene then the audience will still jump as the tension builds and builds however if this cut is placed too late then the main tension will have been wasted. Then, fast paced editing/ shorter clips create chaos and disorientation, making the audience focus on lots of things in a short amount of time making them perceptible to the scares. On the fast paced shots a hand held camera is the best option to use as this makes it more messy. These shots might make the audience feel a sense of urgency and this could lead to strong feelings of panic.