Upon researching different genres, I decided to place my focus on the horror genre. I decided to choose this as it is one of my favorite film genres to watch.
Horror films are made to unsettle and frighten their audience - which are typically those ages 15-25 -and do so through the genre's distinct codes and conventions.
HORROR
GENRE CONVENTIONS - CONTENT
Horror movies generally focus on themes of death and murder, revenge, religious beliefs, survival, supernatural, etc.
The narrative structure of the genre is typically a standard chronological structure, often with heavy foreshadowing to create tension.
The setting of horror movies usually play on standard human fears like the dark and isolation. These settings typically include hospitals, insane asylums, churches, and isolated communities like ghost towns or cabins.
As for characters, these comprise of the hero/protagonist that fights the villain, the villain/antagonist, and the victims, often immoral teenagers, stupid beautiful young women.
Props used may include weapons, usually stabbing or cutting methods, dark costumes, blood, and repetition of red and black colors.
GENRE CONVENTIONS - PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
Cinematography and editing techniques are often manipulated to create a sense of urgency and fear. These include unnatural camera angles - very high, very low (to demonstrate dominance and innocence and power relations), extreme close-ups, long take with a sudden jump cut, point of view shot from the perspective of the villain, handheld (often shaky) camera shots, and a shallow depth of field, which makes whatever is behind the protagonist blurry to create suspense.
Sound and music may also add to this suspense. These include ambient diegetic sounds (footsteps, chainsaw, breathing), orchestral sounds (typically violin), synchronous sound, and silence used to build tension.
INSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS
The horror genre is typically marketed through social media channels, traditional methods like billboards, viral campaigns, experiential marketing, and trailers. The trailers used for horror movies typically only show a few characters and don't expose much of the plot.
FILM SAMPLE 1 - Paranormal Activity (2007)
This film centers on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The use of found footage is used to frighten the audience, as the people shown in the video are normal people like you and me. The footage also has very little edits and lacks a soundtrack, relying heavily on diegetic sounds. Once again, this creates a sense of rawness in the footage, as if the occurrences shown on screen are real and plausible in real life.
FILM SAMPLE 2 - The Blair Witch Project (1999)
This film tells the tale of three film students who traveled to a small town to collect documentary footage of the Blair Witch, a legendary local murderer. This movie relies heavily on its use of handheld camera, which allows for a personal feel (shakiness as the characters are walking or running) and extreme close-ups of their petrified expressions. Just like Paranormal Activity, the film footage is seen as "found footage."
OTHER EXAMPLES
Friday the 13th (1980) The Babadook (2014) The Visit (2015)
The Innocents (1961)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDYtZUj2sMk
Psycho (1960)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WtDmbr9xyY
