Key Conventions of Horror essay

There are many key conventions of horror and these are combined together to create the horror genre in more depth. Over a period of time as horror films have grown and become increasingly scary and popular amongst their targeted audience, the creators of the genre have established important effects and styles they must include to get the overall atmosphere and mood they set out for. When seeing a horror the audience expects certain givens, this includes the key conventions of horror, these are for example; Blood, death, killing, weapons, screams, fear, monsters, villians, victims and all together darkness and mysteriousness. Without these very important signifiers the genre would not specify clearly enough what it is atempting to acomplish as a film and even what genre it is.

When you think of horror films certain things come to mind, somthing in all horrors that you imediately pick up on is the location or setting. The audience is able to remember the place the horror was set because it plays an enormous part in the film and the horror genre. People who have watched certain horror films are left with the memory of where it was set and why. This brings the point of why stick with the stereotypical location to set a horror film, for example colleges, universities, hospitals, small towns and villages. All the settings of horror films seem to follow a structure (small, remote, isolated places with no communication) the creators of these films specifically follow this structure because it works very well and can adapt to a range of situations. One horror film that challenges conservative ideology is " A Nightmare on elm street" this is set in a small town but is in no way isolated, this is a very clever because it does'nt follow the structure but still works on a very intelligent level. What is meant by this is that although it is definetly categorized under the genre of horror it in some way seems different or almost like a hybrid. The killer (Freddy krueger) does'nt isolate them in means of location like in most horrors, he seperates their minds form reality by attacking them in their sleep. The writer of nightmare on elmstreet (Wes craven) had found a new way to portray the location of horror films, in my opinion this is one of the scariest horrors because you are not isolated in a location like other typical horrors you are amongst friends and family but there is still nothing that they can do. The location of the horror is very important and new locations are being thought of rapidly, this is improving the horror genre and making it more exiting, also more realistic aswell.

The key covention of Lighting has had an enormous effect on horror films, and has drastically changed the genre over a short period of time. When the genre was first experimented with in early productions, in films such as "The cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)"  "Nosferatu (1922)" and even slightly later films such as "Dracula (1931)" the idea of darkness within the world of horror had not been used to its full potential. Now lighting is one of the main coventions that we associate with the genre. This has happened because the use of darkness or low key lighting adds a mysterious and unknowing element to the films, the audience does not know what is lerking in the dark corners, and therefore creates the suspence and dramatic uphold that leaves the viewers on the edge of their seat. Then suddenly when the tension is at its highest point somthing will happen to shock the audience for example a monster lundging out at you from within the darkness. The creators of the horror films now had somthing new to adjust and perfect, somthing that they could change and vary in so many ways. One of these is motivated lighting, this could be used to highlight the protagonist and show that he/she is in a dangerous or vunerable position. This is for example the victim walking down a dark tunnel with a torch as the only light sorce, this emphsizes the fact that the villian or killer can see the victim but not the other way around. The motivated lighting technique used in these circumstances would give the impression that the viewer is in the protagonists shoes. Lighting has changed the horror genre forever and is always improving, there is so many other ways of showing scared, tense and a build up of tension through lighting.

The key conventions of horror has to be input and balenced in the correct proportion, the film must not include all of the conventions otherwise it will appear to be another genre, basically a spoof or a parody. The creator has to be careful when trying to make a new and different style of the genre because one false decision could effect the entire film. This is somtimes what seperates a good horror from a bad one.

Overall there are many key conventions of horror films some more noticable than others but all playing a part in determining the outcome of the film, horror is expanding and becoming more and more popular with time. Key conventions have a big role in this and will continue to spring new ideas.