Conventions of the HorrorGenre 2

7/30/2019 Conventions of the HorrorGenre 2

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Conventions of the

Horror Genre

An analytical investigation into

the Horror genre and all of its

most popular conventions inorder to give me a solid

understanding of the genre

before starting my main task


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I began researchingconventions by watching theopenings of several films on

YouTube. From the filmsopenings I was able to findseveral conventions andfeatures that are generic

across the whole of the Horrorgenre which are shown on theslides that follow


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Characters

Protagonist this is the character who the audience routes for and isthe victim of our antagonist

Antagonist this is the villain of the film, usually he or she is some sortof vengeful ghost or monster that has been awakened or disturbed byour hapless heroes.

The Victim this character appears in almost every horror film, to theextent of becoming slightly clich, this character is the first to beattacked by our antagonist and serves to motivate the others intodefeating the antagonist

The Damsel In Distress this character, conventionally always female,has been, kidnapped, enslaved or caught by the monster and it isusually rescued by our male protagonist who may be her love interest.More recently, this convention is being subverted in light of risingfeminist views


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Narrative Structure The horror genre is generally quite predictable when it comes to plots and themes

and the narrative is usually as follows. However, I have found that usually follow

one of two openings depending on how the creative team wished the film to

progress:

Opening 1- The problem facing our protagonist is not a new

one, and our protagonist enters in right at the problems

height. This is usually done in cult horrors, such as The

Reaping, to establish that the antagonist is a powerful well

established force and thus difficult for our protagonist to

defeat and therefore scarier!

Opening 2- Our protagonists arrival into the

setting, awakens some evil presence, or they are

the only ones that can experience it, as in The

Haunting in Connecticut. This is done to provide

objectives to the characters i.e. they awakened it

they must destroy it, or alternatively if only the

protagonist can see these creatures, it creates a

sense of fear as they protagonist is isolated and hasnobody in whom to confide.

After the scene has been set, usually by one of the two examples above the plot then follows this

formula:

Protagonist and friends investigate the antagonist, discovering things to be far more sinister than first

believed

They are attacked or confronted by the antagonist, usually here the victim character will be killed,driving our protagonist to want to defeat the antagonist

The protagonist relents his attack so to then mourn the victim and usually establish a relationship with

romantic interest

With newfound drive to succeed the protagonist defeats the antagonist, perhaps loosing their life in the

process

Sometimes we are left with a cliff-hanger, such as a twitch in a dead body suggesting things are far

from over and leaving room for a sequel.


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Setting

Horror films, are usually set in some backwoods village ormiddle of nowhere town, far from the reaches of the

modern world. This is done so that the protagonists are

isolated in their surrounding and the viewer knows that

help, if it were to come at all, is far away, adding to the

danger of the situation and therefore the fear factor for the

viewer. Sometimes this is idea is subverted, and the film is

set in a big city or some other urban environment. This

setting serves to show that unlike the previous, any help

that could be obtained is useless and there is no way that

the character can truly protect themselves. This setting,

also is more familiar with the viewer, as most people canrelate more easily to being in a city than the middle of

nowhere, and so it feels as though whatever is happening

could affect them! Pathetic Fallacy is a must in this genre

and frequently one finds themselves in the midst of a

strong storm


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Representations

The horror genre is the worst of all for

exploiting stereotypes and sticking to

conventionally representations, expect to find

several damsels in distress or manly strong

protagonists.


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Sound

Diegetic Soundscreaky doors, footstepslightning heavy breathing

Non Diegetic Sounds-music, narration

Foleys creaky doors, footsteps, lightning heavy breathing, screams, birds, wind

Atmospheric Music- slightly off key repetitive rhythms often low.


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Conclusion

In summary, my investigation of this genre, hasmade me more aware of its conventions andfeatures. I feel that now that I am familiar withthese, I would like to consider doing this genre for

my main task as I enjoy Horror films and thus feelthat it would be relatively simple and quite fun forme to create a Horror opening for my main task.However Im not fully committed to this genre, as

its films usually have high production values, theimitation of which on a low budget, can come outas cheesy and unconvincing, which would be thelast thing I want my main task to be.

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Conventions of the HorrorGenre 2