2. • Small communities or isolated places. Urban
environments, dark streets and narrow alleyways. Large
cities or run down ghost towns.
• Anything that connotes isolation or being alone. Often
places with a “dark” history, such as abandoned
houses, hotels and asylums.
• Locations for a good horror genre film could be: Lakes,
Long roads, Highways, Countryside, Farms, Woods,
Cabins, Subways, Underground Tunnels, Hotels,
Abounded Houses, Space-Stations (for Sci-Fi Horror),
Cemetery, Alien Planets (Like Predators), basements,
attics, science lab, Shopping Mall, Cornfield, etc.
Setting
Don’t Ignore. . .
3. Technical Codes• High and Low angles can connote fear and nightmares.
• POV shots are important because they allow the audience to
see the world from the monster’s eye. (Evil Dead has a very
long POV shot when the monster ia chasing the hero through
the cabin).
• Handheld shots make it difficult for the audience to make out
what is happening. Cornfields are a prime example of this,
since the entire scene can be shot with a handheld camera to
promote the feeling of terror and the unknown to the audience
directly through what the character is experiencing.
• Disturbing sounds are very important in a horror movie.
Ambient diegetic sounds like footsteps and non-diegetic
sounds (like a heartbeat) help to provide suspense and entice
the audience.
• Types of shots used like ECU on a victim’s face can help
induce the audience with horror and fear.
• Editing can create unsettling tension and suspense. If the
editing hasn’t been paced up in a while it is a sign that
something is about to jump out and scare you.
4. Iconography• Often uses dark colours like red and black are used(links
to evil, blood, danger etc).
• Lighting is expressive and non-naturalistic, low-key
lighting can help to crate dark shadows and unfamiliar
shapes in the blackness.
• Lighting can be motivated in the world of the film (like
bonfires, fireplaces, torches and bed side lamps).
• Props can help the audience to further identify the genre.
Specific props can be identified with a certain villain or
character (Chainsaws, Machetes, Knife, Claw Gauntlets,
Costumes, Firearms etc).
• Common objects include: Weapons, Masks, Icons of the
Supernatural, Religious insignias etc).
• The iconography of the monsters helps to connote
extreme fear, disgust and terror: Werewolves, Vampires,
Mummies, Frankenstein and many others.
5. Narrative Structure
• Classic narrative structure largely made applicable to the
Horror genre but it can either be left for closure or maybe
perhaps leave room for sequel and thus enable a franchise
(Like Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm
Street).
• There’s always a hero a protagonist, a man or “final girl” of
the film, keeping with the normal conventions of the genre.
Usually the hero must embark on a mission or quest to kill or
solve problems.
• Some narratives are very formulaic and this is practically
present in sub-genres, most noticeably ‘Slasher’ films.
• After some event that turns the killer insane or by some
childhood past or a psychotic medical issues, the villain
returns to his home-town and always preys on teenagers.
These teenagers represent “immoral” and are quite stupid,
usually they are the ones who start the horror in the first
place or maybe they just get killed quickly and there is
always (sometimes) a survivor, most likely a female
character.
6. Character Types• The Main Protagonist, often the “victim/hero”
of the movie.
• The Villain, often a monster, mutated freak,
alien or serial killer.
• The stupid/immoral teenagers
that always get killed.
• Creepy children.
• Police Officers that can either be good or bad.
• And many more: Ghosts, Zombies, Demons, Psychopath,
Stalker, Weirdo, Werewolf, cheerleader and the list goes
on.
7. Themes
Good versus Evil, Depression, Religion,
Childhood issues, Revenge, Supernatural,
Possessed object (or person), Beyond Death,
Science gone wrong, Zombie Apocalypse,
Nightmares, Madness or Insanity, Power,
Lust, “Self-consciousness” Making you
Question what is real and what is not, Envy
and Suicide.
