Non-diegetic sound inspiration

American Horror Story soundtrack.

The non-diegetic music in the opening sequence for American Horror Story season 3 (Coven) is parallel to the images on screen.
The loud, static sounds support the 'shock factor' of the images that the audience sees.

• The melody is played on a plucked string instrument in minor key, which gives it an overall negative, 'creepy' tone.
• Furthermore, the melody is played very quietly, so that when the volume suddenly increases, it has an effective impact on the audience (e.g makes them jump).
• These sudden increases in volume can be heard at 0.07 and 0.22.
• Throughout the track, static sounds can be heard.  They come across as unnatural and are a key feature of the disturbing atmosphere of the overall soundtrack.
• At 0.47, many of the sounds become silent.  The audience would interpret this as a sign that the music is coming to an end.  However, at 0.49, the loud, static sounds begin again, after the audience has been lulled into the false sense of calm.  This has the effect of shocking the audience.

I believe that this soundtrack will be a helpful reference when creating a soundtrack for our opening sequence.  The method of using quieter sounds to create suspense and build up, and then using louder sounds to shock the audience is a technique that would be effective in our soundtrack, as the killer will be leading up to a murder and we need to create suspense.
Furthermore, the use of unnatural sounds would be effective in our soundtrack, as it fits with the psychological horror genre.