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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 This is the reveal of The Witch in 2013's The Conjuring.
00:09 Compare that to this reveal of Jason in Jason Takes Manhattan.
00:14 [MUSIC]
00:16 The first one is much scarier, but don't just take my word for it.
00:20 Jason has certainly had his scary moments, but one of the main reasons Jason Takes
00:24 Manhattan is ranked so low is because it doesn't follow the rules for
00:28 making a movie scary.
00:30 And while there's no exact formula, there are certain time tested secrets you can
00:34 include to create a truly terrifying jump scare.
00:37 According to this woman.
00:38 >> My students kind of jokingly know me as Dr.
00:42 Horror.
00:42 >> Who has a PhD in horror.
00:44 >> So jump scares are based on kind of a theory of what fear is.
00:50 Fear is kind of the build up.
00:52 It's the time in between when you think something might happen to
00:57 when it actually happens.
00:58 [SOUND] You can usually tell when a jump scare is about to happen.
01:03 The lighting dims, the editing slows down,
01:07 things might start moving by themselves, and the music gets, well, creepy.
01:12 [MUSIC]
01:20 But those are the more obvious clues.
01:23 So what is the first thing that helps build to a jump scare?
01:26 I call it breadcrumbs.
01:28 You get some type of indication that something scary may be likely to happen.
01:33 The closet door opens slightly.
01:35 We see a window open.
01:36 There's a weird noise coming from the corner.
01:38 >> There are a few famous audio examples of this from classic horror.
01:42 In the Friday the 13th series,
01:44 you know something bad is about to happen when you hear Jason's.
01:47 [SOUND] Or when you hear the famous.
01:52 [MUSIC]
01:56 In Jaws.
01:57 But the breadcrumbs we're talking about are often more subtle.
02:00 Like in this scene from the 2002 film Below.
02:03 The character's reflection starts to lag in the mirror.
02:07 So you begin to get that feeling that something is very wrong and
02:10 that something even more scary is about to happen.
02:13 Now let's take a look back at that wardrobe scene in The Conjuring.
02:17 There are several breadcrumbs that lead us to the final witch scare.
02:20 We first have the sound of the closet door banging.
02:22 Then the visual of the girl walking in her sleep.
02:26 >> Cindy?
02:27 >> Notice the camera hardly moves and the wardrobe never leaves the wide shot.
02:32 And then we get the sound of even more banging.
02:35 Only this time, the girl is back in her bed, so we know it's not her anymore.
02:39 [SOUND] Cue the creepy music.
02:43 Each breadcrumb raises our level of anxiety a little bit more.
02:49 Like a balloon gradually getting more inflated until it finally pops.
02:53 [SOUND]
02:59 There are no specific breadcrumbs in the Jason takes Manhattan scene.
03:03 And in fact, we don't even hear the classic ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma,
03:07 until after we know Jason is already right behind them.
03:10 [SOUND] Once we see and hear these clues,
03:14 that doesn't mean the scare is gonna come right away.
03:16 In fact, for most great jump scares, the opposite is true.
03:20 You have to make the viewer wait by dragging out the scene until the tension
03:24 is too much to bear.
03:25 [SOUND] Alfred Hitchcock famously said,
03:30 there is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
03:34 >> Once the gun is fired, the fear is done.
03:37 It's over with.
03:38 There's nothing left to be scared of.
03:40 Once the gun is fired, the scene is over.
03:42 >> An effective jump scare can take time,
03:45 even the majority of the movie in some cases.
03:47 But if done right, the payoff will be well worth it.
03:50 One great example of buildup is this nurse station scene in The Exorcist 3.
03:54 The camera doesn't move at all for about three minutes,
03:57 while nurses and security guards shuffle around.
04:00 We know something is about to happen.
04:02 We just don't know when, and it takes its time to get there.
04:05 [SOUND] This scene in Insidious is another great example of building tension.
04:13 Only instead of a single shot, we alternate back and
04:15 forth between two characters for an extended period of time.
04:18 The conversation goes on for about two minutes before the demon finally appears.
04:23 And even though we know something is about to happen, when it does,
04:26 we're caught off guard.
04:27 [SOUND] The wardrobe scene in The Conjuring takes place over about two
04:32 minutes after the first breadcrumb.
04:35 Director James Wan lets the scene play out very slowly with a creeping sense of dread.
04:40 The scene in Jason Takes Manhattan is also long, about two minutes.
04:44 But Jason is revealed so early on in the scene with no buildup,
04:48 about one minute after it starts.
04:50 So the only thing we're waiting for is for the couple to see him 30 seconds later.
04:54 For us as the audience, there's no tension, no anxiety.
04:59 It's during this period of buildup when the best horror movies will use
05:02 a distraction to further amp up the tension.
05:04 >> No!
05:05 >> Jesus Christ.
05:07 [SOUND] >> Think of this part like a magic trick.
05:12 You're encouraged to look in one direction, while the real threat is
05:15 happening elsewhere.
05:16 [SOUND] >> [SCREAM]
05:18 >> In this famous scene in Jaws,
05:20 we're distracted by the discovery of a tooth, and we're expecting to see a shark.
05:24 Instead, we get a corpse.
05:26 [SOUND] In the sixth sense, when Cole and
05:30 the audience is focusing on the closet, an arm shoots out from under the bed.
05:34 [SOUND] One common and
05:38 often overused form of misdirection is the mirror trope.
05:41 [SOUND] Where the protagonist opens a medicine cabinet, for example.
05:45 Alone at first, when it shuts, something is standing behind them.
05:49 Surprise.
05:50 [SOUND] The technique was first used in Roman Polanski's 1965 film Repulsion,
05:56 and can be found in numerous other films to this day.
05:59 [MUSIC]
06:03 In The Conjuring, both the camera and girl are focused on the closet.
06:07 We think something is inside of it, ready to jump out.
06:09 But in reality, the threat is actually on top of the wardrobe.
06:13 Jason Takes Manhattan doesn't even try to fool us at all.
06:16 The main characters have a false sense of security.
06:19 >> It's over.
06:21 >> But we as the viewer already know where the threat is the entire time.
06:25 This brings us to another visual trick with jump scares,
06:28 making the audience feel more anxious by limiting what they can see.
06:31 [SOUND] >> Anything that you can do to limit
06:35 the character and through that the audience's frame of vision
06:40 will always increase the anxiety and the scare of it.
06:44 >> There are two ways of accomplishing this, camera and lighting.
06:47 Let's take a look at lighting first.
06:49 Some common tricks are to use a camera flash, like this scene in Mama.
06:53 Or a device like night vision goggles in The Descent to narrow the characters and
06:57 our scope of vision.
06:59 Notice how much of the scene is obscured in these shots.
07:02 We have very little space to feel safe.
07:05 All of these things have what we call in lighting a hard fall off,
07:08 meaning there is a very sharp line between what you can see and
07:11 what you can't see.
07:12 >> That being said, you can still have jump scares during the day, but
07:16 these require a bigger build up, as we mentioned earlier, for
07:19 them to be effective.
07:21 Just look at this terrifying moment in Mulholland Drive.
07:24 We don't see the creature outside the diner until after an entire
07:27 three minute long build up of conversation inside the diner.
07:31 [SOUND]
07:34 >> The Conjuring limited how much we can see by having only one small lamp by
07:39 the bed in an otherwise dark room, far away from the wardrobe.
07:43 Jason, on the other hand, is standing in a brightly lit Times Square,
07:47 where the only time he's obscured is when two people pass in front of him.
07:51 The other way to limit view is by using the camera.
07:54 >> It is very common in horror films to limit the characters kind of vision,
07:57 their frame of reference, where they're looking through keyholes.
08:00 They might be trapped in a closet and they're looking out slats of a closet.
08:04 And really kind of limit how much they can see.
08:07 And with that, you are limiting how much the audience can see as well.
08:11 >> Let's take a look at this scene in The Shining.
08:13 The camera is following Danny, so we as the audience can't see around
08:17 the corners of the hall until he does, when it's too late.
08:21 [SOUND]
08:22 >> When Arbogast is walking up the steps in Psycho, the camera is focused on him.
08:27 So we are also blind to what's around him and what's about to happen.
08:30 It creates an added sense of anxiety in the viewer.
08:33 [SOUND]
08:36 >> The tighter you are and the more confined you are and
08:39 the less information you have about the situation, that's when it's scary.
08:44 >> And camera movements can also force you into areas you wouldn't normally
08:48 choose to go.
08:49 >> If the closet is slightly open,
08:50 the camera may start pushing into the darkness slightly.
08:54 The filmmaker is forcing you as the audience to get closer to it,
08:59 whether you want to or not.
09:00 Or sometimes the camera will hold perfectly still.
09:03 And that in itself can be equally anxious,
09:05 cuz we're used to movement and cuts and things like that.
09:08 >> And when a scare finally appears, it's typically accompanied by a loud sound.
09:12 The sound is known as a sting.
09:15 [SOUND]
09:17 >> A good example of a sting can actually be heard in the opening credits of
09:21 Insidious, a film that is full of effective jump scares.
09:25 The crash accentuates the moment we are supposed to be scared.
09:28 [SOUND]
09:30 >> There's certainly a sting when the witch appears in The Conjuring,
09:33 accompanied by a camera push in.
09:35 [SOUND]
09:37 >> And there's actually two in Jason Takes Manhattan.
09:39 [SOUND]
09:43 >> But these are both ineffective, since we've already seen Jason.
09:46 There's no peak moment of anxiety that is elevated by the sound.
09:50 A sting can only work so well without a good build up.
09:54 There are numerous examples of this in horror films,
09:56 where the jump scare and the loud sting come completely out of nowhere.
10:00 Sure, you may be startled, but this fear won't last.
10:03 Deep Blue Sea has a memorable jump scare with a sting, but
10:07 there's no breadcrumb and no build up.
10:09 And so while the scene is certainly violent and unexpected,
10:12 there's also no real fear after the shark eats him.
10:15 And the absurdity of it all might just make you laugh instead.
10:18 [SOUND]
10:20 >> And after all of the work to build up this scare,
10:23 the threat needs to hold up as well.
10:24 [SOUND]
10:28 >> In a lot of movies, the threat isn't real, but it can still make you jump.
10:32 [SOUND]
10:34 >> My gosh, the closet door's opening.
10:36 We're getting closer, closer, closer.
10:38 The music's swelling, the camera's pushing in, and then it's a cat.
10:42 [SOUND]
10:43 >> Cats have had more jump scares in horror history than any monster ever had.
10:48 >> Like in Amityville Horror, when one just appears outside the window.
10:52 [SOUND]
10:55 >> One of the most famous fake scares, it's actually not a cat,
10:59 was this bus in the 1942 film Cat People.
11:03 [SOUND]
11:06 >> In fact, this scene went on to inspire other filmmakers to mimic the fake scare,
11:10 and has become known as the Luton bus technique,
11:13 named after the film's producer, Val Luton.
11:15 Another famous example of this is the Pop-Tart scene in Silent Hill.
11:18 [SOUND]
11:21 >> While it might make you jump,
11:23 there's nothing terrifying about a Pop-Tart unless you have a gluten allergy.
11:27 Horror movies are littered with these types of cheap scares,
11:30 which ultimately hurt the movie as a whole,
11:32 because they haven't been earned and don't move the story forward.
11:36 [SOUND]
11:37 >> The best way to use a jump scare is to not overuse it.
11:41 Too many jump scares takes away from the impact of them, and
11:44 sometimes you don't even need them at all.
11:46 [SOUND]
11:47 >> In fact, best picture winner The Silence of the Lambs
11:50 doesn't even have one jump scare in the entire movie.
11:53 And the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre only has two.
11:56 >> If you're just up here the whole time, you go flat, there's nowhere else to go.
12:01 And so it's all about kind of taking an audience on a roller coaster ride of hills
12:06 and loops, but not trying to keep them suspended in the air the entire time.
12:10 >> And when a jump scare does work well, you'll know,
12:13 because you'll see it pop up again and again.
12:16 Replicated in newer films as a tribute to its original success, and
12:20 the work that went into crafting it.
12:21 [SOUND]
12:23 [MUSIC]
12:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]