Horror: Zombie - Music and sound

Music and sound

In our media group we are considering making our own music for our sequence, using sound studios from our college, But first we must research the type of music that is used in horror and zombie films so we have an idea of the music that we can come up with and use effectively in order to create fear for the viewer.

Music

Music is an important aspect of the zombie genre as it helps to create a specific atmosphere within the film and adds a mood to the scene. If music is used effectively then it will allow for more emotion to be shown by the audience. There is a lot of diverse range in the music that has been used throughout different zombie films.
This includes things such as Isolated instruments being used, almost seeming out of place but they occur in parallel to key event within the movie which helps to link the audience to the fact that the characters are vulnerable. 
Longer more suspenseful notes of music are used in oder to help contrast short notes and this can come as a shock to the audience due to the difference in the notes.
 There are also extreme but intentional changes in the pitch of the music and this can make the audience feel tense. It is also common for a lot of these techniques to be added together, for example, low long notes can be changed to very fast high pitched notes to make the audience feel at threat.
An example of music in a zombie film would be the following clip from return of the living dead part 2, The music used helps to reflect the fear shown in the scene.

Sound

There are lots of sound effects which can occur in a horror film soundtrack, which could include: The classic sounds found in most zombie films and these are sounds that are related to the things that would frighten you such as Screaming, Church Bells, Evil Laughing and more. 

Voices and screams tend to be echoed as this helps heighten the audiences mood, sense and emotion towards the film which can give quite a fearful feeling. Lots of voices within horror films have been chosen to reflect fear, tensions and panic. An example of this would be another scene form the return of the living dead, In which music, sound and voices are all combined to create a fearful viewing for the audience, with a lot of strange screams and groans.