Abbreviated Arguments It Follows is a chilling and suspenseful horror film due to its excellent cinematography, editing, score, and writing. The cinematography and editing work in harmony to create a chilling atmosphere. The film often lingers on wide shots, allowing the audience to take in the background, where the creature often lurks. However, in many shots, walls, plants, and other structures block the audience’s view of key portions of the frame. This blocking creates suspense because previous unobstructed shots trained the audience to watch the background for the creature. The contrast between the obstructed and unobstructed shots creates suspense, as the audience is trying to look for the creature but may be unable to see it. Furthermore, the lighting is effectively used to enhance the tone of certain scenes. In most scenes, the lighting illuminates the main focus of the shot, allowing the audience to focus on the focal points of the scene. However, though the focal character is emphasized by the lighting, the lighting never allows the background to become so dark that the audience cannot clearly see movement in the background, …show more content…
By holding on these wide shots, the film gives the audience more time to inspect the frame, thereby conditioning them to observe the background. The film essentially conditions the audience, so the audience provides the suspense for themselves. In this way, the film’s writing is not solely responsible for the tension of the film. Scenes that utilize shorter and closer shots, due to their contrast with the wide, long takes, give the audience breathing room in between portions of horror and suspense. However, this contrast allows the superficial casualness of certain scenes to become horrifying. In these scenes, the film uses wide and long takes, thus eliminating the relaxing effect the scene’s writing might have otherwise