Conventions and Genre-Horror

Conventions and Genre-Horror

Genre: Horror

Horror is a film genre seeking to create a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Horror films often deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include ghosts, aliens, vampires, werewolves, demons, gore, torture, vicious animals, evil witches, monsters, zombies, cannibals, and serial killers. Conversely, movies about the supernatural are not necessarily always horrific.

Conventions of a horror:

·         Foggy/dark backgrounds- To create a scary negative atmosphere for the film.  

·         Ghosts- These are typical characters for a horror film as everyone seems to be scared of them.

·         Zombies- These are usually used in zombie apocalypse films and are very common now days.

·         Possessed characters- These are also very common now days in films and are used as they make horror films more believable compared to zombies and ghosts.

·         Old houses- These scare people and let them know a horror film is on its way.

·         Cellars.

·         Abandoned places

·         Grave yards

·         Creepy little children

·         Clowns

·         Castles

·         Woods/forest

·         Dolls

·         Hospitals

·         Bloody

·         Weapons

·         Vampires

·         Darkness

·         Windy places

Film clips from horror movies:

Feedback - Miss Spencer

You have added an extra piece of analysis since my last feedback, and this piece is more detailed than the last two. You discussed the elements in DISTINCT more obviously, and mentioned conventions at points. You also added a variety of screen shots from the film (however these were not always relevant to the points you were making e.g. you showed her playing with the knives but didn't mention this important part of the mise en Scene)

Your previous work has not been improved yet, you really need to address the points in my first feedback and then reply to the post letting me know what you have done. I am beginning to become a little concerned that you are falling behind in your work Antonia, please come and talk to me if you are struggling to keep up.

• All work is on a 2/3 border, and in order to improve you should:
• Embed the film in EACH post
• Add many more screen shots throughout your analysis
• Remind yourself of the DISTINCT work we did, and apply this to all of your analysis
• Get the prelim task and evaluation blogged.
• Ensure all images are jpegs, as many of your images are not showing up. Please come and talk to me so that we can go through this as it is very important.

Textual Analysis-The Grudge

Textual Analysis-The Grudge

At the start of the opening scene for the Grudge there is a maid walking around a room picking up rubbish in the room. The music/sound used at this is very creepy and tense like something scary is going to happen. This has been done to make the audience feel nervous about what is going to happen. The setting is also very dark and depressing which gives the audience an impression that something dark and negative is about to happen.



There is then a close up used on the maid and this has been done to show her emotion as she can hear footsteps above her. This will also cause the audience to be scared for her and to want to know what and who is making that noise. After this point the creepy music is still going but the camera angle tilted from the woman's face up to the ceiling. This has been done as this is where the noise is coming from. This will again make the audience nervous for what is going to happen and also on the edge of their seat as they know anytime soon something is going to happen.

The camera angle after this point turns in to a mid shot of the maid looking out the door and from our view we see the woman looking through the door. The setting is still very dark and there is a big of light coming out the door. This will scare the audience and make them want to know if something is out the door and most importantly WHAT. The music has also changed in to a piano sound which also sounds very creepy like someone is getting closer and closer to the door.

The woman then opens the door and there is nothing there which gives the audience a rest as they would of been expecting something to be  inside. The woman then gets up and goes inside. This will again make the audience nervous as they know what something is going to be in there and want to shout at the maid "Don't go in Don't go in". The sound is still very creepy but windy noises have been added in which makes it even more creepier. The setting is still very dark but the maid finally gets out a lighter to use so she can see better.

There is then a close up of the maid looking very confused and petrified of what she is doing. She then opens another door inside the closet and her eyes get wider and wider from being so scared. The music at this point is still the same and very creepy but is getting faster and more tense by the minute. This gives the impression to the audience that something is about to happen and to look out for it as it is coming very soon.

The camera then quickly pans across to another point in the closet to where a creepy pale Asian girl with long black hair is there looking possessed and like an alive ghost. The music at this point is very fast like her heart beat would be. Her face was that pale and white that the brightness of the setting increased.

There is then a very wide shot used of the closet and all you can see is the maids legs wiggling for help as she is being dragged up further into the closet by the grudge. There are also very quiet screams at this point which gives the impression the audience that she is that far away now that nobody will hear her scream for help. After this point the setting just turns into black for the actual film to start.

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Scream Analysis - Horror

Textual Analysis-Opening scene of Scream(1)

At the start of the opening scene we see a teenage girl cooking until her phone goes off. When she answers the phone it is an unknown number and a man calling with a creepy voice. The woman carries on talking to the unknown man until things start getting a little creepy.

As you can see a medium shot is used here as you can see the girl from waist upwards and also the background which is the kitchen. This type of shot has been used as the audience know that the person on the phone talking to the woman is going to do something bad so the audience will be looking at the background to see if they can spot anything. There is no music at this point but you can hear the sound of the popcorn crackling which brings tension to the audience as it gives the impression that something scary is going to happen any time soon. The sound of the phone ringing also scares and brings tension to the audience as every time the audience know that it is going to be the same guy.

There is also a long shot used on the house that the woman is in. This has been used show that it is night outside and to show that she is alone with nobody to help. This will scare and worry the audience and will want to keep them watching to see what is going to happen next. There is also silence at this point again to show that she is alone and nobody else around to help here.

After this part the woman is still on the phone talking the unknown person and a couple of seconds later the unknown person says "because I want to know who I am looking at". At this point the camera has zoomed in on the woman's to face. This has been done to show the emotion on the woman's face as she is now terrified and panicking. There was also a small bit of sound put in to the part which was quite creepy and felt like shivers but in sound. This has been done to give the audience time to think about what has just happened like the girl in the movie is doing now. 

After this point the woman quickly turns towards the back doors of her house and looks out looking for who could be looking at her. At this point a weather shot has been used as the woman is looking out the window to see if she can see someone but the weather outside is also foggy and wet looking to create an even creepier atmosphere. As she is looking out the window the unknown man says "hello" again from the phone which will scare the audience as they will think he is saying hello from outside.

A couple of minutes later the phone rings again but this time the woman has got very angry with him and used abusive language towards him. The unknown person has changed his voice in to a creepy vicious tone saying "I will gut you like a fish". The camera then goes in to a medium close up on to her face to again show her emotion. After this the woman runs around her house locking her doors to make sure she is safe. She then looks out of her front door to see if he is outside and this part is tense for the audience as the unknown man could pop up in front of the camera any second now!

The door bell then rings but nobody answers the door.. the woman gets scared and her fear then turns in to tears. The camera then moves to the door and from the angle the camera is at you can see who is at the door. This again scares the audience. Scary and tense music then starts to gradually play. This has been used to make the audience more engaged in the film and want to watch more to see what is going to happen as they know now the movie is going to get more tense. 

In slow motion the woman goes to turn on the patio lights as demanded by the unknown person on the phone. As she is going to switch on the light it brings on tension for the audience as they are scared but excited to see what is going to happen next.  The sound also goes silent from this part which engaged everyone's focus even more.

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