Date

5-2026

Document Type

Capstone Project (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Music & Performing Arts

Major

Music

First Advisor

Violet Cavicchi Munoz

Second Advisor

John Wineglass

Abstract

With this paper, I aim to explore the history of horror film soundtracks and discover the various compositional techniques that are used to trigger physical responses from a viewer. I also intend to describe how horror scores have adapted and changed over time as our social and political climate continues to evolve by examining several different kinds of sources including academic studies, articles, and film reviews. While every viewer is different, a film scorer can properly build suspense by using specific compositional methodologies to briefly alter responses of the human mind and body.  This type of research would provide useful information for aspiring filmmakers, sound designers, and composers to better understand how to effectively impact a viewer in unique and memorable ways. I reference a number of films in this paper including Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), and John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), and go into detail about the choices the composers made regarding instrumentation, texture, tonality, etc. Additionally, I describe my own personal experience with scoring a short film titled Moon, created by fellow CSUMB student, Ivan Garcia. The score was created using the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), Reaper.

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