Generic conventions of horror movie websites.

1. Generic conventions
Websites – The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, Don’t Breathe and Blair Witch

2. Navigation
The first convention that I noticed on the home pages of horror
movies was the navigation. All of the websites I visited had
navigation menus that were either hidden and needed to be clicked
on to be revealed or were small in the corner and vertically aligned
rather than horizontal across the webpage. This is presumably so the
navigation doesn’t get in the way of the webpage and distract from
the information. I also have noticed that the font stands out and is
easy to read so people know what page is what. Another convention
of the navigation would be that there is something that signifies the
page that you are on. Shown in the examples I have found are red
font and a line through the home page name. There is also
animations on all of them when you roll over a page name. The most
common is for the page name to change colour when you hover
your cursor over the page.

3. Social Media
The next convention I notice is to have links to all of the social media
pages that are related to the film. This way anyone who wants to
find out more about the film or discover extra content can go to
their social medias. The icons are typically tucked away on the
webpage. Most commonly in corners of the webpage or down the
sides of the webpage which means they are out of the way of the
main content of the web page but still visible. Colours wise, the links
tend to not stand out as much on the webpage and tend to be in
colours that contrast with the rest of the webpage to ensure they
don’t obviously stand out. They are also icons rather than text links
which makes it look more modern and clean rather than having a
line of text along the bottom of the page.

4. Reviews
It is also commonplace for home pages to have reviews on them
from media outlets, magazines and newspapers. This way people
can see what professionals think of the film which could make then
decide whether they want to watch the film. The reviews will contain
a snippet from the overall review that stands out and who said it,
and the name of the company that they write for. The reviews tend
to be towards the side of the page but in a large, easy to read font
and a colour that stands out on the background of the page. This
was the reviews are easily visible to anyone that visits the website
without them getting in the way of the main content on the
webpage like images or the trailer itself.

5. Title
The title is one thing that all horror homepages have. The titles are
either large at the top of the page or are right in the middle of the
page. They are also the same as the title used on both the poster
and in the trailers to build a brand identity so people can recognise
the film. Like I identified in for the poster generic conventions, the
fonts tend to be distorted or disturbed and can look damaged or
dirty which represents the fact that the films are horror films. The
fonts are also in bright colours that make them stand out on the
background.

6. Sound
A majority of horror home pages have audio on their homepages to
make the people who visit the page feel more involved in the
experience and it allows them to get even more of a feel for the film.
The audio usually tends to be the soundtrack to the film or creepy,
horrific audio that matches the theme and feel of the film. The
inclusion of audio can also build tension on the webpage or even
create fear as the creepy audio could make someone who is visiting
the website anticipate something to jump out on the webpage and
scare the visitor. The audio is usually slow, droning audio that creates
an eerie atmosphere on the webpage.

7. Main Image
Every webpage has a large, main image or animation on its
homepage that gives the audience a glimpse at what happens in the
film. The Blair Witch homepage contains a short animation with clips
from the film. Normally the main image directly relates to the plot of
the film or something significant that happens during the film.
Colours wise, it is made obvious that this is the films are horrors as
the colours are very dark and sinister and help contribute to the
tense feeling of horror that the webpages create. The focal point of
the image tends to be in the centre of the page or it will take up lots
of space on the page so the visitors attention is immediately drawn
to the image on the webpage.