Genre conventions essay

The chosen genre for my film is horror. I have researched the horror genre conventions:

Horror Genre Conventions

     A horror movie is typically used to bring out severe emotions in an audience, for example a horror film will never be truly successful unless it causes the audience to be both scared and entertained at the same time. It is the main aim of a horror film to be unsettling and cause us to face our fears because this is what keeps us watching you do not get the sense of panic and shock with many films from other genres.

      A horror film is defined by all the classic elements used, like for example low lit rooms and creaking doors, these are the horror films genre conventions and there are many of them. These conventions usually include the obvious things like dark iconography for example screaming and blood as well as disturbing characters e.g. monsters, ghosts or zombies.

      A convention is something that is typical to the story or narrative of the film you are viewing and the conventions change depending on the genre of the film. Conventions are typically seen in the plot, setting, iconography, theme and characters of the film. For example in horror films the plot will always involve some kind of threat, usually death and if the film does not contain this threat then it would not be classed as a horror. So the conventions in the iconography, characters etc are what make the genre of the film recognisable.

      Iconography basically means visual and aural signs so iconography of a film in the horror genre would be elements that when you see or hear them you immediately know that the film you are watching is a horror. One of the most famous pieces of horror iconography would have to be the scream as I don’t believe there will be a single horror film in existence that does not include one. Other common icon conventions include creaking doors, darkness, storms and weapons.

       Sometimes the meaning of the iconography you are seeing changes with the context or form of the film for example crucifixes are often used in horror films. On their own crucifixes are a sign of god but when put in the context of a scary film a crucifix is usually used or thought of as a weapon for fighting evil. There are lots more very common icon conventions of horror films but some films can contain a lot if not all of them and not be classed as a horror. For example The Mummy (1999, directed by Stephen Sommers) contains blood, a crucifix, an antagonist in the form of a supernatural monster, death and plenty of threat yet it is classed as an action adventure rather than a horror. This will be because although it contains a lot of horror conventions it will contain a lot more conventions of the action/adventure film.

     The characters of a horror film are also very typical of the genre there are not many characters that you would not expect to see.  Your average horror film will contain an antagonist that is some kind of monster whether it is supernatural i.e. a dead person or ghost, or characters that are completely made up and have no link to reality like vampires and werewolves or it can even be a more realistic source of evil like a masked murderer. Once again characters are a main signifier that you are watching a horror film, if there is a monster in the script then chances are the film will be a horror. Although a lot of horror films contain supernatural monsters like Bram Stokers Dracula (1993, directed by Francis Ford Coppola) and An American Werewolf in London (1981, directed by John Landis) more and more films are starting to contain a believable antagonist. This in my opinion makes the film scarier as you are given the impression that the events of the film could actually happen. These films usually contain a psycho willing to kill for no real reason like for example in A Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003, directed by Marcus Nispel) the killer is human but for the sake of the horror genre there is a slight unbelievable twist added that makes the character seem like more of a monster, in this film the character wears a mask made of his victims skin because he is badly deformed, this makes him look scarier and seem like more of a monster because a creepy looking killer is what we expect from a horror film as it is one of the conventions.

     Setting choices in horror films can be a lot broader then in other genres like for example in the western your choice of setting is very limited whereas with the horror genre there is a much better choice. The most common horror setting is an abandoned or haunted house (The last house on the left, 1972, directed by Wes Craven)  they are used in many horror films meaning it is a very popular horror convention and we as an audience identify with this and any film that contains an isolated house we immediately recognise as a horror. Another common horror setting convention is any isolated area like for example a desolate forest (Wrong Turn, 2003, directed by Rob Schmidt) or a desert (The Hills Have Eyes, 2006, directed by Alexandre Aja) or even a village or town cut off from the rest of the world (Silent Hill, 2006, Christophe Gans). The setting is what brings the rest of the conventions together you can easily have a monster antagonist and horror icon conventions like blood and darkness but if they are placed in the wrong setting they mean nothing.

      This works with all the conventions. The setting has to compliment the iconography and the characters have to fit in with the setting. Each of the horror conventions included in the iconography, plot, characters and setting work together to make the film part of the horror genre. Although any film from any genre can contain a few of the conventions like blood and death it’s the films that contain almost all of them that really qualify as being a real horror film.

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