2. Setting
• Forest, woods
• Houses, mansions, castes
• Churches, cemetery's
• Abandoned alleys, subways
Areas such as these above would build up tension if set at night.
3. Camera angles
• Dutch tilt
• Point of view
• Extreme close up
• Dolly zoom
• Over the shoulder
By using weird unnatural angles, it expresses fear and tension to the
audience which lives up to the expectations.
4. Iconography
Definition: The visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the
study or interpretation of these.
Colours: red and black to emphasise the link to death, danger, blood
etc. or blue is commonly used to give it an eerie effect.
Props: weapons such as axes are a famous cliché prop of horror films,
fake blood, makeup etc.
5. Character types
• The villain: monster, killer, supernatural characters
• The main protagonists: heroes, villains, victims
• Antagonists: normally killed off at the end, can be big or small characters
• The wise one: tend me old, the ones who know all the past
• Ditzy friends: either doesn’t survive, or doesn’t help in sticky situations
• The favourite: tends to be funny, down to earth and stands out against the rest in
some way
6. Themes
• Religion
• Revenge
• Supernatural
• Good vs Bad
• Suicide
• Insanity/ madness
• Apocalypse e.g zombies
• Envy, jealousy
