Planning/Research: Soundtrack

Conventionally, supernatural horror films rarely, if ever have popular music as it's soundtrack and they mainly rely on incidental or specially created music which has been crafted specifically for the film's narrative or promotional purposes. This is because popular music is more suited for romance, drama or coming of age films as they target at the audience which listens to popular music the most. Also, using popular music would distract away from the ominous atmosphere that is conventionally created in supernatural horrors and this is why specific music is made as this creates the atmosphere which is needed to scare the audience. A few examples of some soundtracks from some supernatural horrors are below:

Insidious (2011)

This soundtrack features no vocals, also conventional of supernatural horrors as lyrics would distract away from the atmosphere that they are trying to create and it could make it come across quite cheesy. It uses eerie instruments like violins and pianos that create a dark and sinister mood which a soundtrack with vocals and an popular upbeat tune wouldn't achieve.

The Conjuring (2013)

Again, like Insidious, this soundtrack lacks vocals and focuses more on eerie sound effects and instruments to create atmosphere for the audience and to put them on edge. The pitch and volume of the soundtrack differs as it goes along and becomes higher and hints to the audience that something bad is going to happen and adds suspense. It's clear that supernatural horror film soundtracks are often like incidental music, with it's sole purpose to create atmosphere.

From looking at Insidious and The Conjuring and other supernatural horror soundtracks and music, it's clear that the style of them all are very similar and they all follow the same conventions. I will have to follow these conventions, creepy instruments and eerie sound effects with no clear vocals, to make my trailer identifiable for fans of the genre and to create the scary atmosphere that I want our teaser trailer to create. I will look on royalty free music and see if I can find any suitable soundtracks which I can use freely within my film, if not, I will look into using Soundtrack Pro and creating our own soundtrack that uniquely fits with our narrative and theme, whilst creating the exact atmosphere we want and specific times.