dairyofanobodydirector-blog

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RIPU

Audience reactions to Horror films, are they subconsciously employing CBT and Panic attack control techniques? 

As part of my Research in how Horror can help alleviate symptoms in Anxiety and Depression I’ve edited together a short video studying peoples reaction to horror scenes and how closely their actions mimic panic control techniques. The link here is how both horror films and Anxiety are targeting our Amygdala, the part of our limbic system that is connected to emotional memory and more importantly fear. I have no way to identify whether any of the people in the video suffer with mental health issues but find it very interesting that they are using many of the techniques that can be seen in this link.

 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-zen/201411/taking-control-panic-attacks

In the first and very last scene we see the woman on the right pulling her top over her face and another controlling her breathing whilst tapping nervously on her legs. It can be perceived that the first woman is doing so to create barrier between herself and the ‘danger’ but it does have similarities to ‘Grounding’ and panic attack control methods, techniques used to orientate yourself back in to the here and now and help calm the over active amygdala. Some of the ways to do so is to feel the fabric of your clothes and concentrate on the sensations of the different materials, another is stamping your feet/making a fist and feeling your nails dig into your palms, as well as control your breathing. I too pull my top over my face during a particularly scary scene as well as pounding my legs with the palms of my hands and I always notice the materials brushing against my beard/hands, my warm breath and the smell of the room once I’m feeling brave enough to pull my top down off of my face. I’m very aware of the space and that moment during such a scene. As a sufferer of anxiety and depression, the anxiety being a constant 24/7 deal, I begin to feel the tightness of my chest ease, my breathing becoming more controlled and regular through deep breaths and my mind concentrating only on the one problem, the scary film.

In the second/third and fourth scene we see members of the audience who in a split second go from terror to a burst of laughter. Horror is often theorised to be tightly connected to comedy, especially in the set up of a fright in a horror or a punchline in a comedy. Laughter is generally believed to have come from our ancestors facing grave situations. Jimmy the caveman would be on a hunt with his chums when a Wolly Mammoth spots them and begins to charge. Their eyes narrow as they prepare for an unprescribed dose of tusk to face medicine, when suddenly the Mammoth trips on a tree stump, falls over and knocks itself out. It was a release that indicated that a perceived danger was reversed and not a danger at all. Laughter will also induce two main chemicals into ones brain. Endorphines, which are, for want of a better word, a feel good chemical which also increases our tolerance of pain and affects our emotions. And Dopamine, which one of it’s role linking to motivation and our pleasure in things. Often Depressive sufferers will have a deficiency of Dopamine, thus lacking in motivation and pleasure in things. It asks the question if during a horror scene would it temporally relieve those symptoms in someone with depression and or anxiety?

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ASU1

The Woman in Black - How does it scare us?

So Harry Potter grew up, chucked his job in as a Postman, became an Accountant and thought his dealings with Voldemort were but a distant wand waggling memory. Like Carleone, just when he thought he was out... Up pops Voldemort’s wife to exact her revenge on her husbands death. 

The Woman in Black is actually a decent Gothic horror if you haven’t seen it, but what exactly are some the mechanics at play to  give us the heebie jeebies?

Scene 1 (Pictures 1-5) is a precursor to the confrontation with Sharon (Voldemort’s wife) seen later in the film, Scene 2 (Pictures 6-9) it begins a distrust in the audience as we ultimately don’t get to cathartically scream at the end of the scene, and so the dread continues. At the first time of viewing who are we to trust these manics trying to lift us off our seats in fright? Just like your big brother repeatedly pretending that he is going to hit you, all the signs are there that he is going to do it and you wish he’d bloody well would so you can carry on with a life free of the anxiety he is causing. The same is true in this film, we are looking at every clue presented to us, any hint when they will hit us and bloody well hope they just do it...But so the dread continues.

In Pictures 1 and 2 we see extreme close ups of a Victorian children’s toy, specifically a rather realistic clown toy. This is accompanied by  a child like ditty created by a wind up box. There could be several reasonings for why this starts to creep us out. As children we don’t have as much as a grasp on reality and often make believe with the toys and object at our disposal, we bring them to life. Albeit that we are in control and project our little world on to them, but what if they are alive and they move at their own will? What forces are at play that would control a seemingly playful toy that could attack our innocence?

It’s also the fact that clowns should be a portrayal of fun and entertainment, however this clown has sharp, angular shapes on it’s face and looks inherently macabre. There is a juxtapose there. It’s that Juxtaposition linked with the child like tune playing in a dire situation for Potter that begins to un ease us.

Talking of unease, the uncanny valley factor comes into play. The toy is life like but our brain will always question it as a true human and as the hypothesis states, it confuses and can create an unnerving feeling in us.

In pictures 3 and 4 the filmmaker is framing Potter to one side, using Negative Space. Normally we want our wizards front and centre, making sure the audience is only paying attention to the boy who lived. What the Negative Space is doing then is suggesting to the nowadays film literate audience that there is enough room for another character to enter on screen. What’s particularly interesting in picture 3 is the amount of objects that are reflecting light back at us. There is a mirror, picture frame and glass cupboard all reflecting Potter’s magic fire wand. It’s diverting our attention, our eyes are desperately flittering to find any evidence of the super natural suggested. We begin unnerving ourselves, ‘is that a flame?’, ‘Was that the woman in black?’ ‘Is she going to pop up in that mirror?’. She does not.

The next use of negative space seen in picture 4 has a lot less going on in the mise on scene, bar a rocking chair seemingly moving on it’s own. There is now evidence that something super natural is in the room and the lack of distractions on screen must mean she will make her presence now over his shoulder? Nope and we begin to die inside a little.

It would seem that the filmmaker is constantly playing with our expectations, they know this isn’t our first rodeo and that we will naturally try and fill in the blanks to that that isn’t there. Our amygdala, the part of our brain responsible for fear (It stopped your ancestor wearing that brightly coloured nibbly snake as a scarf after the first encounter with it.) will constantly try and work out where the danger will come from and what actions we can take to alleviate the situation.

With this is mind picture 5 is particularly jarring to the viewer. It’s an unusual angle, not fitting with the framing we’ve seen up to this point. It’s more omnipotent, it gives us a real sense of the whole space and is much more voyeuristic. It would suggest we are looking through the eyes of the apparition and Potter will not find the elusive 9th Horcrux. Though there is a small scare within this scene, we still do not see what exactly is haunting Harry, and so our brain is continuously preyed upon with the fear of the unknown, unable to relieve our over active amygdala with any sense.

Scene 2 (pics 6-9) continues the troupes used in scene 1 with the use of extreme close ups and negative spaces. This time the sounds focus on the diegetic mechanical whirrings of the child’s toys, Harry’s footsteps and the wind. Non Diegetic music is sparse at this point and focus’s your brain to put yourself in the characters shoes. It’s in picture 6 that we also see from the point of view of the character. We are now only seeing what he can see, it is also incredibly claustrophobic as he peers round the door slowly to see the hallway. We no longer have the luxury of omnipotent framing, we can only imagine what is offscreen and begin to build a horrific picture outside of the space shown.

But don’t worry, our old framing friend is back, negative space. It’s been used a lot to no resolve so we should be ok....JOHNNY ON A BIKE SHE’S IN THE CORNER! The sound is sucked into a vacuum moments before she lounges at Harry. We are greeted with a bombastic horrendous distorted scream, she floats violently at us, practically, we jump/scream/grip the chair, we begin to laugh in relief we are still alive and start to process what just happened. Thankfully, just as we pull ourselves together or unhide from behind our hands our big filmic brother deals a second punch we weren’t expecting. (picture 9) shows the woman in black in a close up of her face, we no longer can trust the filmmaker on how they will torture us for the last 30 minutes and I begin my apologies to the third row for chucking my coke 13 rows in front of me.