2. Themes: often associated with horror films.
• Revenge.
• Hauntings and exorcisms.
• Religious beliefs.
• Revenge.
• Serial killers.
• Ghosts and demons.
3. Props.
The knives here connote
an idea of death and
murder, suggesting the
idea of a protagonist on
the receiving end of an
antagonist.
The idea of death here
and suicide gives us an
insight that the film
will be dark and have
death within in it.
The doll here shows
us that there could be
children involved in
this film. This could
add a sense of
vulnerability in the
film.
4. Costumes.
Costumes and make up in
horror films are very
important as they help add
to the mise-en-scene of the
film and can help to the
performance aspect.
The use of masks and make up gives the audience a sense of
darkness and of the unknown. This makes the audience particularly
anxious because they don’t necessarily know what to expect from
the antagonistic character.
The use of the Victorian costumes in films also makes the audience
nervous because in this day and age we don’t know what it was
like back in the Victorian times; again making us on edge as to
what to expect.
5. Locations.
• Haunted house.
• Graveyard.
• Suburban house.
• Rural areas.
• Outer Space.
There are quite a few
clichéd horror film
locations. Here are some
of them:
This image already has a
sense of malice to it so
the audience has an idea
that something bad will
happen but they don’t
necessarily know what
will happen.
Obviously there is a
sense of horror to a
graveyard and a scary
looking forest but these
locations can have an
edge of your seat effect
on the audience because
as the audience you are
expecting something
scary to happen, you just
don’t know when. This
can be used as a
physcological way of
getting to the audience.
These types of
locations can give
the audience a false
sense of safety
because it doesn’t
look scary and
doesn’t connote any
ideas of the type.
Outer space locations
are possibly the
worst in that the
audience literally has
no idea of the setting
or what may occur in
the film.
6. Lighting.
• Different lighting techniques are used in horror films to achieve the
scare factor that they do.
• Shoot through things – This can show the isolation of a character
especially when combined with closed framing.
• Underexposing the subject of the frame – This puts the subject of the
frame in a really dark light, giving them that intimidating edge and
connoting an idea that they are evil and could be the antagonist of
the film.
• Haze – This can add a sense of mystery and anxiousness to the scene,
keeping the audience on edge.
• Low key lighting – This is usually used to create dim and hue in the
scene and is usually shot at eye level. This helps to integrate the
audience into the film.
7. Fonts/Titles.
In Saw a distorted font is
used which gives an insight
that something strange
might happen.
The red distorted title for
Scream can connote
blood with the red font
and is a powerful tool in
the film.
This title for Insidious is
as it says insidious. This is
very in your face and that
is already telling the
audience that the film
will be scary and in your
face.
8. Archetypal Characters.
• The Demonic presence.
• The antagonistic murderer.
• The helpless victim.
• The endeavoring protagonist.
• The inevitable victim.
• The possessed good guy.
