Media Essay: What are some of the Key Conventions of the horror genre?

There are many conventions which relate to the horror genre, which help to create different sensations between the audience and the film. However we must consider the horror genre as more than just a set of textual conventions, because no single text can contain all the conventions of a genre. The key conventions range from setting to character types which all help to give horror its genre.

The setting of the horror film is important because this helps to set the scene not only at the start of the film but helps to maintain it throughout. The setting of the movie provides opportunities for physical confrontation, concealment and context which can become either menacing or dangerous depending on the situation. often the setting in horror movies would be in harsh environments like in the abandoned villages and houses but often it can be the complete opposite like ‘Eden Lake’ for example where it is set in a forest near n old quarry which is now a lake, but then things take a turn for the worst and the setting becomes harsher as the horror mounts in the film. Horror films are quite often set in a location with a past and that past comes back or haunts them in some way. Take the film ‘Halloween’ as an example, it is located where previous killings have happened and that killer returns to the same town to haunt the citizens. These locations with a past seem to be set in small communities or villages where each villager is killed off one by one. One of the most frequently used settings for horror movies is at night time or out of hour time periods because this seems to add to the horror as the audience don’t know what to expect next. These movies that are set at these time periods are often set in nice, quiet places where no one would expect anything to happen.

The technical code is a one of the key conventions of horror movies and helps to characterise the film. This is often through the use of special effects, camerawork, editing and sound/lighting. Special effects are used throughout horror movies which help to create flashing images or scary moments which add to the horror as a genre. Like in the film 'Boogeyman 2' where a flash is used like a flash of lighnting is used to unexpectently show the villain infront of the protagonist.

The camerawork is very important to the horror genre; it is either expressive or naturalistic with weird camera angles and camera shots. For example they might use low angle shots to look upon the protagonist and to show us his/her facial expression. The director(s) of the film may also use ECU’s on the victim to enable the audience to indentify with the terror being inflicted and to exclude the threat of the frame. However sudden ECU’s on the monster or killer connote to the audience invasion of our personal space.They also tend to use lots of POV shots which are often subjective and are either hand-held or steadicam, these place the audience in the monster’s eyes and raises issues about identification of the villain which adds to the ‘horror’. Camerawork often shows the protagonist in the foreground of the frame and the monster coming up behind them in the background. This is often done to make use of the depth of frame which is important when show horror as a genre. Editing may create unsettling jumps and often vary from LS to CU rather than a smooth transaction which is used in rom-coms and sometimes comedies. Having the jumps sudden increases the tension and helps to create suspense throughout the film. The sudden jumps increase in pace when there is no apparent threat to the victim; this makes the audience jumpy and makes them tense as they tend to expect something to happen. Finally sound is used in the technical code and this helps to make the horror genre better. The sound is important, especially the use of ambient sound which is used frequently for sound effects and help to create a scary atmosphere for the audience and the film itself. Footsteps and heartbeat sounds are frequently put into to horror films to help to maintain the horror theme and give us a sense of how the victim is feeling. The sounds often range in the sound mix and directors often use music with crescendo which adds to the tension and suspense of the film.

The iconography of the film is important especially to the horror genre. They tend to include visual signifiers like the contrast between black and red which give obvious connotations of darkness, evil and blood. Often binary oppositions are used in horror movies like light and dark, good and evil, which help the audience to establish the character roles. The lighting is very important for the horror genre as it is expressive and it can be naturalistic. Also low key lighting with a high contrast is used to emphasise shadows and darkness. The lighting itself is often given off at a weird angle, from the side or below the character which also help to establish character roles to the audience. However light from above the characters can be used as natural light e.g. sunlight or moonlight. Iconography of horror movies can also be shown through the mis-en-scene which would include weapons like knifes, guns etc, which are always used in horror films and masks like the mask used in ‘Scream’, which adds to the scariness of the film because we don’t know the identity of the killer/ monster. There are also some other objects which are used like religious symbols to repel the monster from them or supernatural icons like in ‘Poltergeist’ with the blue swirls to indicate another life form.

Character types are definitely used in all genres of films but more so in horror movies as there are vivid differentiations between character roles in the film. Firstly there is always a victim/ protagonist in the film where they are chased, hurt or violated by the monster or killer in the film. This victim often turns out to become the hero in some way or another often by killing or harming the monster. There is frequently a ‘final girl’ in most horror movies who are often seen as a ‘tom boy’ or even virginal. The final girl seems to be the main protagonist in the film, take the film ‘Halloween’ as an example with Laurie ending up the main protagonist and surviving the terror of Michael Myers. The monster in the film often has a hidden secret or is made psychotic at a young age or in the beginning of the film. There are also other character types in horror movies with stupid or immoral teens being killed off one by one by the monster in the movie. These could also be children or defenceless people who tend not to stand up for themselves or lack or desire something. Finally there is one final character role in horror films which is the role of the ineffectual police and law enforcers who cannot find the source of the horror, even if the do they cannot contain it through normal ways of law enforcing as the horror of the monster/ killer is too strong and often outsmarts them.