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A Filmmaker's Guide to the Horror Techniques Used in 'As Above, So Below'

Study, Experience, and Analysis

By Annie KapurPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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(Note: this article will contain analysis on the film As Above, So Below and, in order to get the most out of the article, it is recommended that you watch the whole film at least once).

As Above, So Below is one of the newer concepts of horror cinema that plays on the fears of most people—claustrophobia. It is a tasteful horror film as it is quite unusual whilst keeping many original ideals included in most horror films such as: the supernatural and darkness. Let's have a look at the three films we'll be going through in this article then:

  • Claustrophobia
  • Religion
  • Darkness

We're going to go through the film, look at the themes and certain frames from the film in which these take place.

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is so well done in this film that in some cases, you could say that it does this better than most. The caves in this film are very effective yes, but it also depends on how these caves are filmed and depicted throughout the case of the film. It's highly effective as there are two different types of camera. We have the normal camera that is being carried by one of the people in the caves and then there's the camera atop of the characters' heads which give a better view of the sheer panic of claustrophobia by showing the closed up space. Let's take a look at the frame:

Frame

In this frame we get to see the claustrophobia from the POV of the man holding the camera. This heightens the image because of the way the camera is held; it is held to show us just enough of the inside of the tunnel in which the character is climbing through. It is also able to show us the light atop the characters' head and this shows us how deep and wide the tunnel is. This amount of sight is only obscured by the darkness inside the tunnel which adds a deceptive amount of depth to it instead of showing what may be ahead.

If you were going to use this in your own film then you would need to make sure your only light sources were focused. This is because if you had an artificial light source that flooded the area, your audience would see too much and you'd lose the space creation. You would lose the ability to show the amount/lack of space in the area by working with the way in which the characters and light sources are placed. You would also not use natural light as it cannot be controlled as easily and too much control would lead it to look fake and your audience would guess. You need to make sure the set is as dark as possible and the only light sources are minimal focused, artificial ones. This would give the best impact for the effect of creating width and depth.

Religion

Religion is always a big theme in horror, it is pretty much why the supernatural exists at all. The way in which religion is used in this film though is different. Instead of being irrational about things and having the characters gain access to the supernatural and demonic forces, religion is instead used to rationalise and methodologically work through puzzles. This makes it all the more frightening when this methodology decides to backfire and produces an irrationality (i.e. a demonic entity). Let's have a look at the frame then:

Frame

This frame is so religiously symbolic in the fact that it does both of the development phases of the theme at the same time. It first provides the answer and then arranges the next stage of irrationality. First and foremost we have the concentrated light source atop the character's head that focuses on the "light" section of the picture on the wall. This is religiously symbolic because if you pay attention to the film it is these three characters that survive: the two in the frame and the one holding the camera. The way in which it produces irrationality is by showing that it is a sign in which they will need to do something that could put themselves in danger, which is break through the floor.

If you wanted to do something like this in your own film you would first need to establish how religion and religious beliefs are going to be used in the rational process of the film, the act of discovering and answering is important to the way in which the characters progress on. Then, you will need to use the exact same things and produce a danger or irrationality out of them; find the answer and then put them in danger.

Darkness

Again, as we have discussed in most horror films, darkness is incredibly important for any form of horror. It always helps to dim the lights or have a nighttime atmosphere instead of the busy urban midday. As Above, So Below is no exception because it has an intense amount of darkness. The entire film is thrown into darkness as the team descends lower into the tunnels. Slowly, it becomes difficult to see key parts of the film and this obscurity leads to uncertainty. It is this uncertainty that the film feeds off in order to make the entire atmosphere uneasy through the use of dim darkness, focused lighting and then—pitch black.

Frame

The darkness is quite effective for creating space and ambiguity in this shot. We can see the rocks and where the tunnel is leading, but past this it is unknown how deep or wide this tunnel is. The thing that helps with this is the amount of darkness mixed with the focused light sources. The one character who has their head turned towards the tunnel gives the audience some sort of vision as to what it looks like and because of the fade into the pitch-black it not only creates space, but it creates ambiguity.

If you wanted to do this in your own film, you would want to make the space ambiguous. Show your audience some of the space and have it look a bit dangerous to undertake (as seen in the shot above) and then, have pieces of pitch black in the scene in order to create space and ambiguity. You may do this by having the scene fade back to black (as seen in the shot), or have parts of the shot that aren't lit up at all because the focused light source is not shining upon them.

Conclusion

As Above, So Below may not be the greatest horror film ever made, but it does succeed in creating something different for horror. It uses themes in many different ways (for example: religion is used in two ways) and it harbours a massive concentration on rationality vs. irrationality. This is basically The Blair Witch Project underground and has many of the same shots and themes. If you wanted to study this film for yourself and use some more themes, you may want to consider the following:

  • Normality vs. Abnormality
  • Colour Schemes
  • Large Space vs Small Space
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About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

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