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Conventions of horror

Sukhpal Singh

A2 - Media Studies

General facts about the horror genre

Horror Movies have been running since decades. The First known year of Horror films was in the 1890s.
Since the 1890s, there has been around 110,000 horror films produced but around 90,000 has been fully published
According to iMDb, 'I am Legend' (2007) is the most popular and up-voted horror movie of all time, while also making the top amount in the box office of grossing over $250m.
Horror Movies usually tend to cross over to other genres such as Action, Adventure, Mystery etc.... But the genre of 'Horror' is clear evident and prominent within Horror Movies.
Statistically, out of all the other genres such as Comedy, Adventure etc, Horror has taken 37% of the genre market share.
Predominantly and Statistically, the Working Class and Under Class watch and consume the generic Horror movies at making up 65% of the audience. Followed by 5% of the audience consists of being Upper Class and the remaining 30% are middle class.
40% of watchers are parents while 60% are children. This shows a evident contrast between which age group is most likely to consume movies of the Horror Genre.

Source: Types of Film that the General Public typically enjoy watching

Sub-Genres

There are many different Sub-Genres within the horror genre to meet the mass audiences needs and the niche audiences needs. Different Sub-Genres within the horror genre consist of:

Sci-Fi
Comedy
Body
Disaster
Holiday
Psychological
Slasher
Splatter
Supernatural
Natural
Gothic
Teen Horror
Found Footage

Camera work

Camera work such as the movement, angles and shot sizes all come under the generic Camera work to produce a horror movie. The camera work is important as it helps build up the pace, sets the scene and introduces certain elements within the movie to allow the viewer of the horror movie to be able to watch it in a viewable manner.

Extreme Long Shot/Establishing Shot:

is generically used to as the opening scene to present the setting and location of the horror movie. This will allow the viewer to easily identify where the movie is set. Moreover, a establishing shot can also be used at the end of a movie to present a ending to a horror movie.

Long Shot:

a long shot can be used to either present the characters or to allow the viewership to easily identify what the character is doing or the elements/objects behind them within the frame.

Medium Close Up:

can be used to show generic emotions of the character or to position the camera to allow the focus on a object of significance easily, while also keeping the character within the frame.

Close Up

a close up is used to signify a characters or objects face in a detailed manner to show clear emotions of a character and specific details of the object.

Extreme Close Up

used to show the specific emotions of a characters eye, nose, mouth or so on. Moreover, an extreme close up allows the viewer to see whats behind the camera through the eyes of the character.

In this clips of Paranormal activity, a close up is used, followed by a point of view (POV) shot.

As evidently shown within the 11 second clip, the clip starts of by showing the girls face, which is presented prominently a scary look as the sound dialogue suggests that the 'front door has opened'. This close up allows the tension to be built but easily.

A POV shot was used when the camera pans up to the youth. This POV shot allows me as the viewer to be more engaging as it allows me to get the perspective of the girl and her fear.

In these 3 clips from 'The Boy' it allows us to first identify where the film is be taken place, which is evident in the first clips through an establishing shot. Also within the first clip is a Long shot of the women coming out of the car facing upwards to the house, which we later identify someone watching from the window and she notices. This was then Followed by a POV shot in the second clip of the women's perspective of the staircase, which is significant as this is where the sound of the doll came from. This POV shot allows use to get closer to the sound. Lastly, in the third clip we see the women looking into the Doll and we are greeted with a reflection of her face in a 'Extreme Close Up' manner to allow us to identify the exact emotions and expressions on her face.

In this short clip of the 'Unfriended' trailer, we can identify an Extreme close up also of the women, allowing us to identify the extreme fear she is feeling and allows the viewer of this trailer to identify something is either wrong or is about to happen. This increases the tension of the trailer as the viewers automatically start to have a slight adrenaline rush.

Mise en scene

Mise en Scene is also an important but may also be the most biggest element within the Horror Genre. Mise en Scene consists of the 5 elements such of: Lights, Costume/Hair/Make Up, Facial Expressions, Positioning in the Frame and the setting or props of the scene.

Lighting:

is a variable used within a horror movie to suggest the mood of the scene and characters within in. Lighting is a evident binary opposition as high key lighting suggests good and low key lighting suggests bad.

Costume, Hair and Make Up:

these elements allows characters to be presented in a certain manner. As the viewer instantly formulates an opinion based upon the first impressions of the characters. These 3 elements ultimately allow the characters to be portrayed in certain manner.

Facial Expressions and Body Language:

these two elements allow the viewership of the horror movies to easily identify how the characters are ultimately feeling. This could replicate and influence the feelings of the characters to the audience.

Positioning in the Frame:

this element allows the viewership to acknowledge the relationship between two characters or the objects of significance dependant on the positioning of the frame. The positioning in the frame can also force the viewerships attention to the object or character within the frame in the horror movie.

Setting and Props:

these two elements can be predominantly linked to the camera work as the camera shot sizes and movements allow the occurrence of the setting and props to be introduced. This will allow the audience of the horror movies to be more engaging as the background setting is understandable by the audience and not just there for no apparent reason.

Within this trailer of 'Don't Knock Please' we're instantly introduced with a object of significance, which of being the 'Cross' symbol on the door. This is evidently a object of significance as the way it has been positioned within the frame of being 'dark and mysterious' suggests significance. Furthermore, the dialogue also states in the trailer that the cross shouldn't be touched otherwise bad things will occur, evidently allowing us to acknowledge that cross is the main focus in this scene/film. The lighting within this trailer/film is promptly quite low key to add to the horror effect and tension as the low key allows the extra touch of tension, horror, and fear to be implemented. Also this lighting corresponds to the normal tradition of horror films generically being of a type having low key lighting

Within this trailer of 'Raw' We're evidently presented with a red type of lighting fitting within the low key light category. The red lighting has been used in this film to symbolise the blood, as this films is regarding cannibalism. Furthermore, the red lighting also connotes back to the 'costume hair and make up' used as they're also red, which is blood related. Furthermore, due to this film being cannibalistic - there is a clear object of significance such as the fish, chicken, human meat and brain. This is evident as the objects positioning within the frame evidently shows the objects in a close up and prominent manner. Lastly, throughout the trailer we can evidently see the facial expressions of the characters as being evil, scared but tensed.

The setting is evident within the clip as the establishing shot allows used to identify the setting and location of this horror film to be within a huge mansion, will mainly consists of being alone to the doll and the women (caregiver)

The predominant prop within 'The Boy' film is the doll, as the doll is seemingly being presented and included within the majority of the shots and is always positioned within the frame in a easily viewable manner. This allows the viewer to identify that the doll plays a significant role withint the movie.

Editing

Editing is used within Horror movies to edit scenes with each to showcase the smooth transitions and the transparency with the clips to form a overall movie. There are various different uses of editing techniques used to create a horror movie within the genre such as:

Jump Cut:

when the scene instantaneously 'cuts' to another scene or shot within the same scene.. A prompted jump cut creates suspense and pace within the horror movie.

Fading in and Fading out:

is a simple method used within movies to transition between scene.s if a new setting or location arises. Furthermore, this editing also allows smooth transitions to set the calm mood at the start or ending of a horror movie.

Shot Reverse Shot:

is a clear use of editing when one character identifies another character and the shot reverses between frequently. This can also be used when a object of significance is implemented.

Within this short clip from the ‘Shining’ horror movie, we can identify that the camera is tracking behind the children’s scooter and then suddenly stops. This is because there are two young girls at the end of the hallway. Then there is a sequence of shot reverse shot between the child on the scooter and the two girls at the end of the hallway to show the contrast of emotions from the child and fear on the face.

This short clip of the Annabelle 2 trailer has a smooth implementation of fades and transitions between each scene. The fades start off fairly smooth and slow paced and then suddenly when the child is run over by the car, the transitions are even smoother but however, the pace is built up to prepare the viewers for a jump scare. In this scenario, the fading transitions and jump cuts allow the viewer to identify the separate clips easily without any gaps within the trailer to allow a smooth viewing.

Within the ‘Quiet Ones’ trailer, there is a seemingly fast pace jump cuts between 5 to 6 different scenes. These jump cuts are also very fast paced as each jump cut evidently builds pace. In conjunction with the sound and the fast pace jump cuts, evidently it adds the speculation of building up fear and tension of the viewers, followed by this effect causing anincreased level of adrenaline rush for the viewer.

Sound

Sound is an important element to horror movies as it predominantly creates the sole suspense and tension for the viewership of the horror movie. There are evidently different elements of sound with examples which include:

Diegetic Sound:

is a natural occurring sound which is easily viable and identified from where it is coming from. Ultimately, the source of the sound is easily visible within the frame

Non Diegetic Sound:

is a unnatural occurring sound which isn’t visible from where it is coming from. There is no prominent source. Non Diegetic is formally added and edited onto the clip creating suspense and tension in a more ideal but unnatural manner.

Contrapuntal Sound:

is sound which doesn’t match the series of events within a trailer or movie. Contrapuntal Sound can both be non-diegetic and diegetic but predominantly is easier to be non-diegetic as it can be edited in. For Example, having a funky sound over a depressing clip is a clear form of contrapuntal sound.

Parallel Sound:

Is sound which fits within the series of events within a trailer or movie. Again, this sound can be in both forms of non-diegetic and diegetic sound. However, due to parallel sound fitting in within the scene, Diegetic sound will be the most suitable and easy method to be presented as parallel sound due to it being natural.

In the ‘RAW’ trailer, there is a evident usage of Non-Diegetic Contrapuntal sound as the clips are overtaken by a moderate paced violin sound to match the pace of the characters within it. For Example, as one foot step is taken, the sound also indicates that the foot step is taken. The reason why this sound is contrapuntal is because it is quite relaxed and ‘poppy’ for a horror movie. Towards the end of this clip when the character is sent to prison or a certain camp due to cannibalism, the sound is then suddenly held up and ends in a Non Diegetic ‘bang’ sound. This evidently shows that the character is trapped and the movie will now start to get ‘scary’ and ‘pacey’

Within the ‘PET’ trailer and movie, there is a clear use of diegetic sound of when the character is speaking (Dialogue) and the other character is writing on the notepad (pencil sound) followed by a sound of a mouse click and keyboard (typing and clicking). This diegetic sound is promptly increased in volume as the scene progresses evidently having some relevance to what’s about to happen next in the clips. Lastly, within this clip; there is a use of a sound bridge where the sound of the male feeding the dog in the previous clip is over heard within this clip as well as on top of the diegetic sound. This is a way of them showing that these two clips have relevance towards each other which may later link. The volume of the sound bridge seemingly increases.