Genre Conventions

Genre Conventions

Storylines:
A Nightmare on Elm Street - Freddy Krueger, an evil being from another world, stalks a group of teenagers and kills them through their dreams.

Saw - Two men are held hostage by a psychopath, who is set on teaching his victims the value of life by putting them into demented life or death games.

Friday the 13th - While trying to re-open a summer camp, a group of camp counselors are mysteriously murdered by a machete swinging slasher.

Characters 
Characters in horror films usually have a different characteristic to others which makes them look different to the others in the film. 

Characteristics: suspicion, distrust, self-doubt and paranoia of others, themselves and the world. The elements of psychological horror focus on mental conflict and become important as the characters face perverse situations, often involving the supernatural, immorality and conspiracies. 

Iconography
Iconography is used to describe the visual language of cinema, particularly within the field of genre criticism. Iconography is an important aspect of genre such as; if a film was western then we would expect to see dusty roads, horses, guns, etc. If this was to be a modern horror film then we would expect to see dark scenes, pop-ups, etc. The genre indicators are called the iconography.

Music

Music creates a representation in genre conventions as different music themes can set a different emotion which makes a scene different to others. Horror films usually have themes that build up tension and suspense of what may happen next but if this was to be an emotional scene then music such as instruments like violins would be used to create a different emotion to the audience. 

The video below is an extract from the psycho which uses non-diegetic music to help create and build up tense within this part of the scene.

Settings

Setting in films can connote the genre of a film which are usually helped along with lighting used in the shot; if it was to be a comedy genre film then the setting could be a room filled with high key lighting as there is no need to have dark shots. However with horror films, you would expect to see silhouettes and low key lighting not showing much of the setting which makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they would want to see what's around them. 

Settings that are usually used in horror films are; hotels, abandoned houses, cemeteries, etc.

Title sequence ideas

These are a few title sequence ideas that may suit our storyline as we have chosen a psychological horror genre, the story's main knowledge is about a person who has fear of water. The picture with the water scene would be a good way to start off the scene and carry on the film about what happened before the person landed in the water.
The title sequences with the blood is also inspiring for our storyline because it will have a different effect to the start of the film as the emotion of the audience will be changed into thinking what the story is going to be about.
The title sequence used for the conjuring was also inspiring because it gives a different look to the start of the film and straight away states to the audience that the film is going to be about horror.
I think that me and my group will have to decide upon a title sequence which will give an effective and good approach to the audience so that they can easily figure out the genre and possibly parts of the film.

Iconography in Thriller films

   Iconography is the symbols and objects you see on screen. We associate and expect different iconography with different genres of film. For example, we'd expect different iconography in a thriller film than the iconography we'd see in comedy film.

    Some examples of iconography in thrillers are;

Shadows

Shadows help build tension as they leave the audience wondering who or what the shadow belongs to. More often than not the protagonist is unaware and doesn't see the shadow unlike the audience which creates tension as the audience wants the protagonist to notice. This is an example of dramatic irony.

Confined Spaces

Small confined spaces make the audience nervous and build tension as the protagonist is usually vulnerable when in a confined space as they have no easy way of escaping anything. Also 3% of the population are claustrophobic so this would play on their fears.

Running Water

Running water has connotations of death as it could represent the draining of life. It can also be used in a setting where you wouldn't expect there to be any running water. This will put the audience on edge as they wonder what the cause is.

Street light

Street lights at night are often used in thrillers to keep the emphasis and focus on the protagonist and the fact that there is almost complete darkness surrounding them, apart from the spotlight from the lamp. This further accentuates the fact that the protagonist is alone in the dark and creates fear for the audience as they do not know what might be underlying in the darkness and therefore a tense atmosphere is created.


  We will draw on these ideas in our own film to conform to the conventions of the thriller genre.

Research into the certificate of the film

A certificate 15 film can feature any of the following:

•  Strong violence
•  Frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   Portrayals of sexual activity
•   Strong verbal references to sex
•   Sexual nudity
•   Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   Discriminatory language or behaviour
•   Drug taking
•  Violence may be strong. It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
  Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable.
• At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.
• Dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied.
• Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. Promotion of drugs which are easy to obtain are unlikely to be allowed.
• Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Our film idea is a certificate 15 because we believe it would be unsuitable for younger children to watch. Our film includes a moderate amount of violence and a moderate amount of swearing. Our violence isn't too strong and will not dwell on the infliction of any injuries. Our character Chris does eventually commit suicide but the way he does it will be vague and have very little screen time, however this type of scene we believe would be inappropriate for anybody younger than 15 and may cause them mental trauma or problems. Our film won't feature any drug use or sadistic violence and will mainly feature on Chris' journey to his death and how he tries to escape danger within his life. 

Shiva's storyline

My story idea

Beginning:
Opening scene - establishing shot of a town/city with buildings
Gang selling drugs to the locals and expecting a delivery to be arriving soon
Set off to the location of the delivery and get the parcel handed over.

Middle:
Another gang arrives after the people delivering have left and steal the parcel and take off with the group that have just been robbed left in shock...

Film Idea - Ryan Lee

My film idea is an action/crime film about drug dealing. In the story it starts with students dying at parties due to drug use. Autopsies can't work out what the drug is or where it could have come from. It becomes a race against time as the crime detective has to work out who is dealing the drugs as it is nearing the end of the year at college which is when students across the region throw parties to celebrate where they will more than likely take drugs. As the detective unravels more of the mystery the gang creating and dealing the drug become more violent in a bid to avoid being discovered. The story ends with the detective busting the gang during the parties.

It would be a similar story to 21 Jump street in that there is a mysterious drug being passed around students but it wouldn't be a comedy but would instead be serious.

Horror Genre Research

Research into the horror genre

Storylines – One specific example of a horror movie plot is the typical psychological horror storyline. This storyline generally begins with a seemingly sane person who may show developing signs of insanity. Throughout the film this person becomes increasingly agitated and more mentally unstable. An example of this storyline is that of Jack in the film “The Shining” which features Jack as a mentally unstable father who attempts to kill his family.

Characters -

Protagonist - The protagonist is a typical character within many different horror movies. The protagonist in a horror movie is somebody who the audience relates with or sympathises with. They are usually trying to escape danger and murder which is inflicted upon them by the antagonist. The protagonist can be anybody regardless of age and gender however the role is typically filled by teenagers and young adults who are morally good in order for the audience to sympathise with.

Antagonist – The antagonist can take many different forms, such as: a serial killer, a possessed character, a ghost, a monster, and a mentally unstable person. What these characters all have in common is that they instil fear into the audience due to their unattractive appearance and they are also seemingly immune to normal injuries. For example if they are stabbed or even set on fire they are able to carry on as if nothing has happened to them which makes the audience acknowledge how inhuman they are. This character helps bring fear and suspense to a film.

The sex appeal – This character is normally filled by an attractive promiscuous woman and is often one of the first people to be killed. The sexually appealing character is usually the one to scream the most. Screaming is a common convention within the horror genre due to it being a reaction associated with danger, and when somebody screams the audience will associate that with fear. This character also helps to attract a wide male demographic.

The irritant – This character is conveyed as being annoying and a 'know it all'. This character is often portrayed by a man who is partnered with the 'sex appeal' character. Due to their behaviour the audience are usually happy when they are murdered.

Music – The music that is used in horror movies is often of a low pitch and slow tempo giving an eerie and creepy effect. When there are any scary parts coming up in a film the music normally goes very slow and quiet and once the scare has happened the music usually speeds up again. This adds to the suspense in a film and makes the audience more likely to be scared.

Settings – A typical horror movie setting is in an isolated location, for example in a wood. The woods connote danger and vulnerability and if there are a lot of dense tall trees this can add the sense of the unknown. The weather in these settings is usually very stormy, raining and generally cloudy in order to justify the darkness in the film. When all of these conventions are used together the film becomes more scary due to the fear of the unknown that people associate with darkness.

• An abandoned house
• A warehouse
• An isolated town/city
• Countryside