Horror Trope Research: Watching The Cameras; Closing The Door

 

One trope used in some horror, such as Five Nights at Freddy's, is the monitoring of cameras to watch where a threat is coming from. To test this, I have designed a series of spaces with the goal of seeing how each scenario's fear-factor (level of scariness) is affected by the room layout.

In Figure. A, the Player is in a small room, facing a monitor and a door (Room 1). The monitor enables the watching of a camera feed to Room 2, which allows the Player to watch a monster's approach to the room they are in. When they know the monster is getting closer, they can lean to the side and bush a button to close the door, resetting the monster's progress.

In Figure. B, the room layout is the same, but now they are facing away from the door and must manually swivel to see it and push the door button.

Figure. C improves upon Figure. A by providing more rooms. This means more camera feeds to check and more routes for the monster to travel through, increasing the risk that the monster could take a shortcut. The Player still has to lean to the side to push the door button.

Figure D. copies the layout of Figure. C, but incorporates the mechanics of Figure. B by forcing the Player to keep track of the camera feeds whilst having to turn around to shut the door, increasing the need for a rapid reaction to the monster's progress.

Figure. E is a copy of Figure. A, only Room 2 is now in low light to make it more challenging to see the monster. The Player must lean to the side to activate the door close button.

Figure. F is a copy of Figure. B, only Room 2 is now in low light to make it more challenging to see the monster. The Player must swivel to activate the door close button.

Figure. G is a copy of Figure. C, only all rooms but Room 1 are now in low light to make it more challenging to see the monster. The Player must lean to the side to activate the door close button.

Figure. H is a copy of Figure. C, only all rooms but Room 1 are now in low light to make it more challenging to see the monster. The Player must swivel to activate the door close button.