How does the bus shot effect create fear for the audience?

Proposal

For my specialist subject documentary, I have decided to talk about the evolution of jump
scares throughout the years. I will specifically be talking and researching the method of the
bus shot effect and why it is still as effective even to this day. Although I haven’t been taught
this technique of jump scares directly, but I am very interested in this technique as I enjoy
watching horror films. For my interview I have two lectures I could ask who are very
interested in horror films and the bus shot technique. Overall, I want to make a
documentary that is full of interesting information that people who are interested in this
sort of things like me would enjoy.
After watching some of the examples that was shown to us in class there is a few ways in
which I know how I would want to share my information and I want to do it in a similar way
to them. Throughout this documentary I will be looking at different films that use that
technique specifically and some of the most famous jump scare films which most of these
are from quite a while ago. Throughout the documentary I will be playing some famous bus
shot technique clips and lots of photos that are relevant to what is being said at that time. I
am going to be talking about the history of jump scares however I will mainly be focusing on
Cat People and the Bus Shot Technique that was created by Val Lewton this is because I
have done the most research about Val Lewton.

Treatment

Introduction to horror films

In the introduction I will be answering the question, what is a jump scare? For this I will
explain why companies use jump scares and the reason why we use it in the film industry. I
am not sure if this will be included in the introduction but I want to ask and answer the
question why did the Val Lewton 1942 surprise the audience.

Brief History of Horror Films

In this section I will be answering the question, when did the bus shot effect first come
around? I will be explaining who created this effect and how it was introduced to the film
industry.

How technology has improved it

When talking about how it has improved, I want to have a timeline on the screen so it’s
more visual and I want to compare a few films as the main film I will be talking about
throughout this is the film called The Cat People. So, I will have some of the original posters
come up on screen as I am speaking about them. Throughout this as well I will be speaking
about how the way films were filmed has changed massively due to cameras also improving.

Key People In The Industry

For this I will speak about Val Lewton and his history in producing films and how. He got
such a success from his film The Cat People which made his other films that he produced get
some success as well. I will talk about the fact the budget for the film was quite small and
the money they made from it shows it was a success and that the audience enjoyed it. The
budget was $135,000 and they made $4 million.
Mark Robson edited The Cat People.

Key Techniques Associated with the subject

When talking about key techniques I will probably link it with how it has improved over the
years as when talking about the film The Cat People that is a very old film and films now are
probably filmed very differently. The main technique that I want to talk about throughout
this whole documentary is the bus shot effect as that is what has inspired me to do this
project when watching it in The Cat People, I think it was a very good shot that was created
especially in the 1940s. This technique inspired other films creators to have jump scares like
this one and because of the success that the film had when no one really thought it would
have that much success made lots off people want to use jump scares more in film.

Throughout my documentary I will be showing lots of images and maybe some clips of
different horror film posters and mainly screen grabs from the film The Cat People. For the
background music at the moment, I am thinking I am wanting something very subtle and
quiet as I don’t want it to be overpowering but I want there to be something that can be
heard. When there are small breaks from me talking, I want there to be something there so
there isn’t just silence as I don’t want to put the audience off by the silence.

Interview
I asked my lecturer Michael Bush these questions.

What is your all-time favourite Horror Film?

Why?

In what way do you think jump scares are an important part to a Horror?

In the film Cat People did you think the bus shot was effective to the audience?

What is the best effect for scaring an audience, is it was we see, what we hear or a
combination?
Script: Audio: (script being narrated/additional sounds heard. Visual: (what will the audience
Write ROUGH timings in here where possible) be seeing?)
Intro: Hi my name is Chloe and throughout this documentary I
will be talking about the history of jump scares and Throughout this whole
where it all began. Jump scares are normally used in
films such as Horror or Thrillers when somethings
documentary I want to
happen unexpectedly without warning which may have subtitles.
frighten the audience.

Brief Val Lewton’s 1942 film surprised many, But why? on - The film poster
history Christmas Day a film was released called Cat People - Picture of Val Lewton
which included a jump scare which is famously known
as the bus shot. This was in fact the first ever film to
have a jump scare and this left the audience amazed.

Another film that used jump scares in a slightly - The film Poster
different way was The Tingler which was released in - Picture of William
1959 this is where they made some seats in the theatre Castle
have an electric shock on to it so they would get
shocked when the ‘Tingler’ appeared
Technology Even back in the 1940s, film directors were using the - Video clip of the
same techniques to scare an audience as is still done jump scare from Cat
today – a combination of what we see in the visuals,
the style and pace of the editing and the use of sound,
People
which might be music, dialogue or in this case of Cat
People, sound effect. What we see scares us which is
also linked to what we hear. Val Lewton uses these
cinematic techniques to scare the audience into
believing there might actually be a giant black cat
following a woman at night, and it’s the jump scare of
the bus crashing into the shot at the same time as we
think the woman is about to be attacked. This has been
set up in the sequence and suggests this will happen.
The fact it doesn’t turn out to be a giant cat, but a bus
gives the audience feeling of suspense and then relief
that it is just a bus. But the scare has been successful
because of what the audience was anticipating. This
technique is still used in today’s horror films. So why
does it work so well?

One horror film that I really enjoyed watching was a - Screen shots from
film released in 2010 called Paranormal Activity 2 as it paranormal activity
looks like a home film as the camera quality isn’t great - A Video clip from
this is because they made it look like the footage was Paranormal Activity.
from security cameras or from old video cameras, but I
think that what makes the film even better as it looks
so real. This makes the jump scares throughout the film
work so well as it makes you think it could happen to
you.

Key People One Key person who was in the film industry was Val - Picture of Val Lewton
Lewton he produced many films whilst producing for - All his film posters
 RKO Pictures including Cat People and I walked with a - Amount of money in
zombie. He made a huge success from the film he text
produced Cat People which made his other films he
produced get some success as well. The budget they
had for Cat People was relatively small of $135,000 and
they made over $4 million.
Another key person is William Castle as he directed the
film The Tingler, William Castle was also the first person
to have smell-o-vision and shock chairs in theatres. This - Picture of William castle
made the audience excited and made them feel as if - Picture of the chair
they were there, this was really effective however after - And Theatre
a while audience didn’t really care about those factors
and just wanted to watch the horror films.
Key A key technique used within the film Cat People was -
Techniques the bus shot. This was really effective to the audience
as they weren’t expecting that noise to be a bus and
therefore, we received a jump scare. Because this film
was created in the 1940s if we were to make it today
then there was probably be some massive changed
because of how technology has changed. Additionally,
because this was the first film to create jump scares
other films after this one was released were inspired by
this and the success it received.

Conclusion: write the script that you will be recording for your conclusion here. revisit your initial
question or statement from the introduction, recap some highlights of the things you’ve studied for your
question/statement and suggest whether the statement is supported or what the answer to the question
was.
In conclusion, as you can see the quality of jump scares have improved over the years as
when you compare the first ever jump scare within Cat People which was released in
1942 and compare it to a jump scare within a horror film that was made recently you can
see the difference in that way the films were edited but they are both equally as effective
to the audience.