Main task: Conventions

Horror movies

Referring to mise en scene, it is usually set in abandoned areas where no help is available for the characters and also there is no chance of running away. There is thunder and rain used to increase the idea of downgraded cliche isolation. Props are typical weapons and antiques. Portraits are big props mostly used to invent a sinister mood.

Colours used are usually red and/or black. Red mostly represents blood, and black represents darkness or danger. Lighting is regularly used in horror films to give the effect that something terrifying is going to happen, for example, when the lights starts flickering and you see shadows all over the place, this causes the audience to feel nervous. Lighting can also be used to create a personality of a character by casting shadows across their faces to make them look sinister minded or to get a different personality from that same character.

In horror movies, costumes can vary because they have stereo typical characters which are differently dressed, for example, if it was a blonde girl they would be wearing revealing clothes and as for jocks, they would wear their baseball jackets plus matching trousers with their school logo on it showing that they are part of the team.

Audio is the most important part of a horror movie, or any movie in general especially when editing. Using exaggerated sound allows tension to be created and build up suspense in the film. When the audio is fast and loud thats when you know something is coming closer to you or in other words towards the screen, this sound can help make the audience feel scared and jump out of their place (not literally).

As shown from the clip above, when there is music input the scene becomes more traumatising to the viewer than it would have been in vice versa. This therefore allows the audience to feel the horror taking place in  the scene. When there is a high-pitch sound in a horror movie, thats when you know that they use such audio to irritate the ears and make the audience feel uncomfortable about whats happening. This therefore keeps the tension ongoing throughout every scene.

Horror films usually insist of stereotypes which include, the jock, the attention seeker, the scholar, the good girl and the dumb guy. These characters usually play a huge impact on their film roles, this is because they develop a storyline throughout. The jock who is known as the 'bad boy' is normally an over confident character who believes he would be able to take out the monster/killer within the movie. He is usually killed because he decides to go after the killer while 'releasing body fluids'. Then we have the blonde, usually a character who isn't the brightest spark in the box and typically dies wandering off to investigate alone. Finally we have the 'good girl' who tends to be against things such as alcohol and sex, and is always the one who ends up staying alive.