Conventions of Genre

Dylan Mann-Hazell

Horror

Establishing the Setting

Horror films always have the same aim: To scare the audience. Without the essence of scare, the film would not be a horror.

Generally, the setting of a typical horror film would be dark, old, and without any sign of human contact nearby. All three of these things combined would scare anybody that was in this situation, so they are usually used for the setting of a horror film. An example of where could be dark, old and without any sign of human contact nearby could be a large forest, or an old abandoned house, such as the house that features in the hammer horror film, ‘The Woman In Black’.

Establishing the Main Character

The audience can see who is the main character of a film judged by how much screen time this character gets. On most occasions, the main character would have more screen time than the rest of the cast, and would have more of a connection with the audience than most of the other characters as a result.

In horror, the main character is almost always facing some form of threat, whether it be completely unrealistically fictional, or quite realistic. The connection that the audience has with the main character is what allows them to become scared, for we are empathizing with the feelings of this character. An example of a main character in a horror film who is immediately established as the main focus of the film is Arthur Kipps, from The Woman in Black, who is played by Daniel Radcliffe.

Establishing the Era

Horror films can have a large variety in terms of when the film is set, because no matter what the era is, a scary story can be made from it. This is because the threat of mythical creatures, or just other humans, has been plaguing the imaginations of many children, teenagers and adults for centuries.

However, as of quite recently, the majority of horror films have been set in the modern day, so that the audience can relate more to it. Also, if a threat exists in a film set in modern day, the audience may find it more likely that the threat could exist for them, which immediately allows the original intention of every horror film to become possible: to scare people.

Props

Props, (short for properties), are used extensively in horror films, and for good reason. When we see a knife, we immediately think of danger, due to the sheer amount of damage a knife can cause to a person. When we see a gun, we think the same. Therefore, props can be just as scary as deadly creatures or humans, if filmed in a specific way. In horror, a lot of the time, a tool such as a chainsaw or a sledge hammer could be used, even though in an every day life, we wouldn’t associate them with death. This is effective, for it shows that the way in which something is portrayed in a film can totally change how the audience view it, even outside the world of the film.