Research - Horror

What are the conventions of the Horror genre?
Characters - There are always victims, they are mainly females as the audience assumes them to be more vulnerable and less able to fight back than men. If the victim was a soldier with extensive knowledge of firearms and self defence it is more likely they would defeat the antagonist and there would be no film.  

There is also an antagonist that they must overcome/avoid.  Their appearances can be rather contrasting from one film to the next. All Superheroes look pretty similar consequently the audience knows what to expect the hero to look like in that type of movie. In contrast the villains in horror films take many different forms, this makes it even more scary for the audience because they don't know what to expect.

Mise-en-scene - The locations are usually remote areas, giving the sense that the character is totally alone and completely vulnerable. This way if the character does run into trouble (which they will, because it's a horror film) there is no one to help them. Dark, low key lighting is used so not everything is visible. This is incredibly scary because it adds the possibility that absolutely anything (or anyone...) could be present.

Sound - Ambience music is used to signify something bad is about to happen, long periods of silence are used as a form of suspense.

Editing - Slow, long shots are used to build tension and fast cuts and short shots are used to convey a sense of panic. For example whilst lurking through a supposedly deserted house lots of slow shots could be used to build suspense

Cinematography - Lots of close ups are used to show the facial expressions. Point of view shots and over the shoulder shots are used a lot, these make the audience feel more involved with the action.

The Pro's and cons of me choosing the genre


Pro's

• Horror is easily definable - It is easy to identify what is scary and the conventions of horror aren't easily confused with those of other genres.
• Locations are easy to find - lots of horrors take place in everyday locations to at to the realisticness of the story and add a feeling of this-could-be-real. Even if I wanted to include typically scary locations Bury St Edmunds has the fantastic ruins in the Abbey Gardens and a graveyard amoungst other things.

Con's

• The line between scary and stupid - This is hard because what one person may find scary another may think its ridiculous. 
• An original concept - So many horror stories have been done before it will be hard to think of a storyline that hasn't. 

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