Sub-Genres & Conventions of Horror

10 CONVENTIONS OF HORROR

·         Sound

Everything goes silent, can hear the character breathing, the telephone rings, and non-diegetic/diegetic noise).

·         Mise-en-scene

(Isolated/abandoned areas e.g. graveyards, cabins in the wood, insane asylums, old hospitals.)

·         Lighting

(The power is cut, everything goes dark, random flashes of light.)

·         Props

(Torch, Phone light, Bible, crucifix. The villain carries a weapon such as an axe, chainsaw, knife etc.

·         Camera-work (Close-up of a person reacting to something, over the shoulder shot, establishing shot, showing the setting).

·         Characters (the typical characters in a horror movie, e.g. the blonde girl who dies first, jock character who wants to lead the way to safety, A possessed person).

·         Plots (new house in the woods, finding a mysterious object, a family member is possessed, ghost hunting, A boarded up part of the house, pathetic fallacy, raining, thunder).

·         The fake scare before the real scare

·         Someone runs upstairs instead of running outside.

·         Victim falls over

·         The car won’t start

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONVINCING HORROR TRAILER?

·         Prosthetics

·         Special effects used to make the situation more believable

·         Camera work. Capturing the shadows

·         Scary places

·         Spooky music

·         Suspense

·         The dark

·         Heavy breathing

·         Giving some sort of back story

THE 9 DIFFERENT SUB-GENRES OF HORROR

·         Animated horror, Coraline

·         Body horror, SAW

·         Comedy horror, Scream

·         Gothic horror, Dracula

·         Psychological horror, The Ring

·         Science fiction horror, Alien

·         Slasher film, Texas Chainsaw Massacre

·         Zombie film, Night of the living dead

Action horror, Dawn till dusk