The Horror Genre

The horror genre is well known for its conventions and its standpoint in cinema. Each horror film does follow suit of a selection of conventions as this is the best way to portray the film as a horror.

Commonly horror films set to scare audiences and they do this in many ways in particular uses of Setting, Camera and sound, Iconography, The narrative and the way in which themes are portrayed. Common settings of horror films always give a feel of isolation; it is very uncommon for a horror to be set in a packed city with only one villain. Because of this horrors are commonly set in rural areas small towns or places abandoned by civilization even if the main horror only partakes within one small area (eg Paranormal activity contained within a house) the setting of the location tends to be within in this setting area. There are however some exceptions and this is when hybrid genres are introduced for example a sci-fi horror would more likely take place in a large populated area or space.  

Camera and sound play a huge part in every film even more so in horror as use of certain angles and sound can really work to create tension which horror uses a lot to grab audiences. High and low angle shots are used a lot to show fear and also “weakness” by saying the character is lower then the camera. Point of view shots are also used a lot for both the protagonists and villains as this really emerges the audience into the film increase that tense atmosphere. Sound is one of the most important factors of a horror film second to most likely lighting, sounds commonly used are orchestral pieces that give an dark feel  dead silence is also particular common in the horror genre and is not used in many other genres the silence tends to be used as foreshadowing to a dramatic event as silence tends to be a great way to add tension.

Narrative of horror films follow a similar suit there is a villain or a villainous group that prevent the main character from doing a certain thing or emplace them in a survival like state where by they need to protect their self’s and/or others. The majority of the time there is a resolve to the cause however in modern times it is a lot more common for the ending to be somewhat lose allowing a sequel to take place. Common themes that Horrors portray tend to be religious based, Good Vs Evil or a motive of revenge. These are highly common themes because in some way they relate to what the audience feels or can relate too.

The reason I have chose to work in this genre are down to my local target audience and the success of certain British horror films such as woman in black which managed to obtain around $128 million in box office sales. Horror films are also very easy to create although it has to be special to be memorable. A modern fashion of horror films feature 'Realistic' situations where by the camera is used in a way to portray a real life situation camera, This is seen in films like Paranormal activity where footage comes from rather security cameras or the actual camera the characters have set up. This method of creating a realistic horror that has proven to be  effective with audience it is not highly difficult to replicate and is something that I personally would consider using.