HORROR
CONTENT
The content that makes a horror movie would be to frighten an audience by using narrative enigmas. Most of the time the horror films are unexplained events, paranormal activity or supernatural occurrences. Horror is also used to interact with the audience to create fear and uncertainty. Horror movies uses true stories or situations that could happen in reality to scare the audiences as well.
Ex: Abandoned House as setting for scary movies
Horror movies usually follow the same narrative structure
- There is always a protagonist who is the hero/victim who must kill threat
- Then the antagonist is usually a faceless or unidentifiable person who is evil
- The villain can also be a monster, serial killer, or a paranormal ghost
- Urban environments
- Abandoned Houses/Hotels
- Woods
- Insane Asylum
- Cementaries
Ex: Jump Scare in 'The Conjuring'
Horror make the audience feel vulnerability, isolation, and terrors of the unknown. Can make the audience believe they are also experiences their worst fear and create fear and panic. Horror movies do this by using jump scares and interesting, terrifying plots to make the audience feel invested in the story.
- Horror movies are big on using intimate objects who are possessed or use the innocence of children and twist into something terrifying.
Ex: Using inmate objects and children as the source of the fear
PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
Horror movies can be very cheap to produce, which is why most directors start of in horror. This can be because :
- The characters usually stay in one setting so they only have to pay once for location scouting or set making
- The antagonist can not have an identity which means less actors to have to pay
- Another pro is that the equipment does not have to be high-tech since it can be filmed on low budget to give it an creepy, vintage look.
Ex: Low budget movie with still cameras
The visual style of horror movies usually dark colors like black, dark blue, red.
create shadows and blackness.
-The Miss-en-Scene is low lighting to create mystery, create shadows and blackness, and make the audience not be able to see most of he screen. The dark colors can also connect to the characters. For example the villain willprhbsly be low lighting on him to make him more mysteries and a red undertone to represent blood and fear.
- Sound in horror is substantial to the plot. It can heightened the audiences emotions and add to the scene. Also the lack of sound can make the audience feel uncomfortable and haunted.
- Many movies use handled shots to make the scene more chaotic and it allows the audience to feel like they are there with the characters. POV shots can also have the same effect. Another shot that is used is the close-up shots to see the fear or other emotions on the characters face.
Example of low lighting in a horror movie
HOW HORROR IS MARKETED
Horror is marketed with trailers and relating short clip of the movie to make the viewer want to see it
- Introduce the creepy plot
- Intense music
- Quick shot of villain (to make the audience want to see more)
Halloween movie and the all the sequels
The Quiet Place
2018
John Krasinski
The Quiet Place is a movie directed by John Krasinski. This movie only cost 17 million dollars. This is nothing compared to other movies with this much success. This movie grossed almost 20 times that amount with the impressive 340 million dollars worldwide. This movies plot was in a world wear monsters killed anyone who made a noise. So the movie was almost completely silent except for the monster noises. There was very few character with speaking parts or dialoged in general. Since the movie was almost completely quiet this added to the creepy feeling in the theaters. The mise-en-scene of the movie was eerie to say the least in a post-apocalyptic era. The dark lighting helped the audience get into the movie since there was no sound they had to go big in visual. When the monster noises came onto the screen it would be evident scene that would be the only noise they would hear. The monsters in the movie wear made up so the sound crew could get really create on how the monsters would sound using various foley techniques. This movie is in the horror genre because it creates fear and has protagonist who are the victims and the antagonists who are the faceless monsters.
Blair Witch Project
1999
Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick
The Blair Witch Project is a movie that is film with all point of view and handled. This is because the
plot revolves around a group of kids who are investigating the towns suspicious murders. It is
structured like documentary gone wrong. So this horror movie is made to be seen as unprofessional. The movie takes a wrong turn when the students filming the documentary start to hear strange noises as they are in the woods. In these scenes the camera is shaky to make the movie seem authentic and like a real life documentary. To make it more realistic when the movie was released the directors made the actors to be listed as they were dead or missing. This movie only cost 60,000$ to make and grossed about 250 million dollars making this one of the most successful independent horror films of all time. The dark lighting and camera movements made this film truly scary in the eyes of the audience because it seemed so realistic which added to the fear. The POV shots made the audience feel like they were there and most of the movie was in one location which was in the woods at night. This movie allowed for two sequel to come out with basically the same idea but different characters.
Psycho (1960)
IT (2017)
Hereditary (2018)
Get Out (2017)
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The Exorcist (1973)
Sources
Cotton, S. (2012, November 26). Research: Conventions of the Horror Genre. Retrieved November 9th , 2019, from https://shannoncotton2.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/research-conventions-of-the-horror-genre/
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