HORROR RESEARCH: BERRY
Conventions of a Horror Film
Horror films usually involve a codes and conventions that will give the audience the idea that they are horror films. The more you watch horror films the more you will notice things that are displayed in most horror films.
So let’s start…
In some horror films there will be a lead character or should I say protagonist that ends up being the survivor in the film. This convention is usually displayed in horror films that consist of groups of teenagers. It’s not a surprise that the survivor will be the one that didn’t want the booze, didn’t want to go ‘that way’ and was just simply the goody two shoes.
There’s the popular convention of the group of loud and bubbly teens that get killed one after the other, a popular example of this is final destination or Nightmare on Elm Street. In horror films with teens some often get killed after or during sex e.g. in Halloween (the scene when Michael comes in with a bed sheet over his head).
We have the teen running away helplessly at full speed which is pretty hilarious seeing as though the killer is moving extremely slow (Halloween). Not forgetting the really annoying silly teenage girl who is running up the stairs instead of out the door. This convention is displayed in a lot of Horror films (Scream 1). And when the victim is hiding in a place such as a closet and the killer is only steps away and the victim is making ridiculous amounts of noise. I mean, you might as well where a sign saying kill me if you’re going to hide and scream at the same time. Teenagers eh?
Another popular convention is when the killer seems almost invincible although sometimes the killer is just simply a human wearing a mask. No matter how many times you give it a right conk over the head it just doesn’t seem to die. The killer always has a trademark way of killing his victims or even a trademark weapon for example in scream or chainsaw massacre. The killer is also usually solo and will be seen lingering in the background of his victims in places of darkness.
Horror films also usually display a lot of bad weather; you rarely get a killer stabbing its victim in broad daylight on a sunny day. That’s neither cool nor believable.
Now to look at the more technical side of things…
Camera angles and movement in horror films usually consist of low or high angle shots with extreme close ups to display facial expressions (usually of fear), extreme long shots and point of view shots. The lighting is usually low key whilst the sound consists of sound that could provoke fear or uncomforted such as nursery rhymes or maybe sinister music.
Last but not least we can’t forget the editing. Nearly every horror film has the good old sharp cuts that keep its audience on the edge of their seat, long takes to build suspense and fades.
The Horror Genres
Horror Film Directors
Conventions of a Horror Trailer
The conventions of a horror trailer don’t really differ much from that of a horror film but some main things that most horror trailers consist of are thing such as fast and quick paced imagery with bits of infliction or pain and close ups of facial expressions. They also have lots of jump scenes of gore or things that will shock you. In horror trailers not a lot of story line is given away and they usually end with a noise of some sort such as a bang or maybe a line e.g. ‘who are you?’.
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