Horror existed before it was a genre of film, as ghost stories exchanged in order to provoke dread and fright, and in literature, and it has always been used as a way to surface some of our deepest and darkest fears. The film genre is rooted from the genre of literature which is began in the 1700s. Since then, monsters, beasts and murderers have been used by the film industry to repeatedly scare audiences.
The codes and conventions of the horror genre can influence the characters in the story, lighting, the mise en scene, and the sound that is used as well as the camera framing, angles and movement. These conventions are usually consistent amongst each of the sub genres of horror and are used as tactics to effectively scare the audience.
Some of the codes and conventions are:
- Victims and Death - Some characters exist so that the audience may connect and relate to them, which frightens the audience when the characters are put in difficult and dangerous situations.
- Isolation - This is used as a tactic to build suspense and tension amongst the audience.
- Good vs. Bad - This is known as binary opposition, within the horror genre this may be shown by the protagonist and antagonist.
- Evil Presence - This can often be linked to the supernatural, the unknown or the antagonist.
- Low Key Lighting - Conventionally, the darkness is linked with the unknown and the evil, and low lighting is a skillful way to build up the anxiety amongst the audience.
- Sound - Often diegetic and non diegetic sound within a horror film has a major impact, and can be used to make the audience feel uncomfortable and frightened.
- Suspense - An atmosphere of suspense may be created using lighting, sound and camera framing to provoke tension in the audience.
- Point of View (POV) Shots - This allows the audience to view the events from the perspective of the protagonist or antagonist and allows the audience to also relate to the characters.
Each of the sub genres of horror also have their own unique codes and conventions which allow differentiation between each of them. For example, slashers are known to have masked killers, a final girl and also use POV shots amongst other things to create dread and fear in the audience.
Famous Example:
Scream is an iconic slasher, directed by Wes Craven which is well known for subverting the conventions of the horror genre and addressing some of them directly, for example in the clip shown above.
-S
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