Creating a Mood of Suspense
Using the Reflective Critique Model I've analysed a
sequence from Sid's Room in Toy Story 1 to look at how a mood of fear
and suspense can be created.
In summary I felt that the
director, John Lasseter, was successful as the sequence was genuinely creepy
(thought at a level appropriate for an animated film aimed at a young
audience). A number of techniques were used which are common to scary sequences
across film and TV.
Analysis:
Visibility and
Vulnerability:
Overall, watching the
sequence I got the feeling that making the hero appear vulnerable is one of the
key factors in creating fear and suspense and a number of ways in which this is
done are outlined below.
One technique that has been
used really effectively to make Woody seem vulnerable is his exposure and
visibility. He is very visible whilst threats lurk unseen in the shadows and
has a large open space in front of him that he needs to cross to get back to
safety. In crossing this he would be in clear sight for whatever’s lurking in
the shadows, but wouldn’t be able to see them. Woody also uses a torch:
unfortunately whilst this only illuminates a limited field of vision for him it
makes him far more conspicuous to anyone watching. Overall, we get the sense
that the hero is very visible and exposed, whilst the monster has the advantage
of watching things unfold and this seems an important trick when trying to
generate fear and suspense.
This sense of visibility
when your opponents remain hidden can also be found in a sequence from
Hitchcock's Psycho.
Here Aborgast, the detective,
is permanently at a disadvantage when it comes to visibility. He treads the well-lit
path to the house, which is in shadows, and his opponent always has the better
vantage point in the form of a house on a hill, a clear view of the door as
Abergast enters the house, and a room at the top of a staircase.
Another thing that both
sequences do to emphasise the hero’s vulnerability is to plays on the idea that
we don’t know exactly where the danger lies. This is done extensively in Toy
Story, sinister noises come from all angles, a dark shape flits in front of
camera in one corner of the room, and a yoyo rolls out of the shadows from
another.
Hitchcock uses a similar
technique, though to a lesser extent, when Abergast enters the house and his
gaze flits from hall, to doorway, to stairs as he tries to decide where his
quarry might be lurking.
Finally, both sequences use
camera angle and physical positioning of the protagonists to generate fear.
Hitchcock makes extensive
use of high camera angles to make his hero appear small and vulnerable, and
underscores this by placing Aborgast physically below the threat at all times
(the house, the front door and the bedroom where “mother” hides are all up
flights of stairs).
This approach is also
evident in Toy Story, though to a much lesser extent. The shot where the yoyo
rolls out is filmed from Woody eye level and, when combined with clever set
dressing, emphasises his small stature and vulnerability. Later, in the
sequence where the mutant baby rises up in front of Woody the vertical position
of the baby has been cheated in the reverse shots to make it look as though he
is towering over Woody, increasing the sense of threat.
Other techniques for
inducing fear:
Having discussed different
ways to make the hero feel vulnerable I will now go on to outline some of the
other techniques that I noticed which all combine to create a sense of threat
and fear.
Lighting: The Toy Story sequence is
shot with low light and “noiry” shadows – a classic ploy which plays on our
instinctive fear of the dark
Environment:
The environment is full of
creepy things, which hint at macabre and sinister goings on. Lasseter draws our
attention to these with a long POV shot which not only showcases the scary
environment but also puts us into Woody’s shoes, making us emphasise with his
fear.
Sound:
The sound effects are
typically scary, full of creaks, squeaks, and shrieks. Sound is also used to
disorientate both the viewer and the hero: threatening noises seems to come
from a number of different angles, creating a sense of vulnerability and
suspense as we wonder where the monster lurks.
The music is a combination
of suspenseful and action-packed, and moments of shock are marked by a
crescendo of noise. The use of a nursery tune in a creepy context is also a
classic ploy to generate fear (e.g. Omar, a stick up artist in The Wire,
announces his presence before a raid by whistling the nursery rhyme The Farmer
in the Dell).
Character design:
The design of the scary
characters is brilliant; full of stuff that we innately find creepy –
disfigured babies, spiders, disembodied limbs and strange modes of ambulation.
Cameras:
Shot where yoyo rolls into
view shot from Woody’s POV and set dressing emphasises his small stature and
vulnerability. Shot of mutant baby rising up: vertical position of mutant-baby
has been cheated in the reverse shots to make his look as though he’s rising up
to tower over woody, increasing the sense of threat.
Suspense:
Woody is lured into a false
sense of security when he first sees the mutant baby, which exaggerates the
shock of the reveal when he turns and shows his full face.
Overall the action builds
over the course of the scene starting with a couple of noises and a stray yoyo,
and building up to mutant toys emerging from all angles in quick succession.
Monster’s eye view:
One trick that the Lasseter
didn’t choose to make use of was the POV shot from the viewpoint of the
“monster”. Often in a scary or suspenseful sequence you’ll have a couple of
shots that look like they could be from the POV of the monster who is observing
the hero. This definitely adds to the sense of vulnerability and the feeling
that the odds are stacked against the hero and may be another thing to consider
including in my piece.
Relevance to my practice:
Analysing the creation of
fear and suspense in the Sid’s room’ sequence from Toy Story has given me much
food for thought when going back to my own piece. A couple of things that I’d
now like to try to work into my animation are listed below.
Lighting: dimming the
lighting (by having a cloud pass across the sun?) would help change the mood
from innocence to one of suspense.
Environment Design: I’ll
look at including some more macabre elements into my environment design, such
as leaning buildings, creepy signs etc.
Threat-from-all-angles:
I love the way that Lasseter
disorients us (and Woody) by making it feels as though the threat could come
from anywhere. I’d love to include a sense of this, and may play with things
such as sounds coming from different angles, pub signs beginning to swing for
no reason, glimpses of dark shapes flashing past etc. A darting POV shot as
these things happen would encourage the viewer to empathise with the boy’s
anxiety.
Monster’s-eye-view:
One thing that neither Lasseter or Hitchcock used was the
monsters-eye-view, making it feel as though the hero is being watched my a
concealed enemy. However, I think that this is a really effective technique,
and will experiment with including this when I get to the 3D blocking stage.
