Common conventions in horror movies include ominous music and sounds, isolated settings, and certain narrative structures. Technical elements like lighting, camera angles, and editing can also build tension. Iconography such as costumes and props help depict monsters and scary characters. Successful horror movies employ these techniques and tropes to elicit fear in viewers through discovery of threats, confrontations with evil forces, and resolution of conflicts.

1. Conventions of a Horror Movie
Emma Bradshaw

2. Here are some examples of conventions that would normally
occur in a horror movie
Music and Sound
-Heart beats.
-Heavy breathing.
-Loud footsteps. Lighting
Narrative structure
-Eerie/Scary music. -Back lighting
-Discovery
-Nursery rhymes. -Under lighting
-Confrontation
-Demonic Laughs. -Dark dingy lighting.
-Resolution
All of these factors and -Spotlights and more
-Establish Characters
more could effect in
the horror movie.

3. Settings
 Small isolated places.
 Dark narrow alley ways.
 Run down ghost towns.
 Abandon ware
houses/hotels.
 Roads, Barns, Country
side, Farms, Tunnels,
Pirate ship, Deserted
places, hotels and many
other locations.
 Main locations that would
be useful to add effect
would be with dark history

4. Iconography
 Props for example costumes, knifes, chainsaws,
weapons, blood, cloaks.
 Lighting could be used to make the film very
effective. It can help create unfamiliar shapes like
dark shadows. Lighting could also be used for as
main props (fire, torchlight's and bonfires).
 Monsters and characters could help create terror,
fear and disgust from the audience; vampires,
mummies, werewolves, villains, victims, heroes and
survivors etc.

5. Technical
 Good editing could make the audience tense as the audience might
know something when the audience hasn’t been pace up in a while
 Non-diegetic sounds (heartbeat) and Ambient diegetic sounds
(footsteps) can be very important in a horror film creating tension in
the audience.
 Close up shots (ECU) on character faces can help the audience
identify the emotion on their faces and exclude any terrifying threats.
 The angle uses the depth of the movie can create steadiness and
weariness in the audience making them fell that they are apart of
what is happening with the film or make them see the monsters
creeping up on the victims.
 Handheld shot makes it difficult with what the audience is seeing.
 POV shots can be very important as they allow the audience to see
the view of the world from the characters eye.
 Camerawork can create fear and tension especially when using high
and low angles.

6. Themes
 Religion
 Envy
 Science gone wrong
 Suicide
 Possession
 Supernatural
 Depression
 Good versus evil
 Insanity
 Lust
 Death
 Nature
 The unknown etc.