Horror films commonly use certain conventions to create tension and scare audiences. Low-key lighting is used to make scenes darker and more sinister. Camera work like low and high angles show a villain's power or make audiences feel nervous. Dark colors like black and blue are used to convey isolation, fear, and danger. Common props include knives and axes that can inflict pain. Character archetypes include the "final girl" who survives and a psychotic villain with a tragic backstory. Narratives often follow Todorov's structure of disrupting an initial equilibrium. Settings in abandoned or isolated places at night are most frightening.

1. Conventions
By callum keenan

2. Typical horror conventions
Lighting-
They use low key lighting to make a dark effect and give more of a sinister feel as there will be a silhouette
or shadow on the character the lighting is focused on because they want show that the character is a
villain, which can be part of propp's narrative theory, and make it obvious that they are the main antagonist
in the plot. This lighting is also used to scare the audience as they can't see the whole set and fear the
unknown or unseen characters

3. Typical horror conventions
Camera work-
Camera work can be the same as every other movie but it may differ with some shots as some
camerawork can be more popular with one genre than another. In the horror genre, films like to use low
and high angles to show the villains power, and they use tilt shots to make the audience feel nervous as it
goes against the normal eye-level view for a movie, or it can also be used to show a supernatural entity
pushing the camera as they can’t see the person pushing the camera, as seen in paranormal activity.

4. Typical horror conventions
Colours-
The main colours used in horror are dark colours, such as black and blue as they show isolation in a
character, which can be shown through the weather, and dark/sinister intentions from the main
antagonist's point of view. The audience is made to feel these emotions from the colours as they are
wanted to empathise with the characters and feel any pain, confusion, solitude or fear the characters
would feel. The colour red also is shown to distinguish danger, which can create tension or to show gore,
such as blood.

5. Typical horror conventions
Props-
The main props in a horror movie are usually the classic conventional weapons used by many, such as
knives in “Scream” or an axe in “The Shining”, as they are usually sharp and associated with inflicting pain
or damage to someone. In modern western movies recently though, more obscure items such as
household objects are being used as they are more relatable to the audience and the pain looks more
grotesque, for example, a vacuum cleaner in “Dead meat” or a piano in “Zombieland”.

6. Typical horror conventions
Characters-
In horror movies there are many different types of characters. The main one is the ‘final girl’, who is
commonly associated with slasher horrors but can be an any subgenre of horrors. This character is
usually left till the end and is generally the most pure and innocent out of all the original protagonists.
Other characters may include the generalised alcoholic/drug abusing provocative friends or even the
mentally disturbed/psychotic villain who went through a tragic event during their childhood.

7. Typical horror conventions
Narratives-
Any movie can have any narrative structure, but in a horror, particularly psychological horror, they tend to
use Todorov's narrative strand as it's easiest to follow and you can relate it to most plots. Todorov’s
narrative structure follows the plan that there is an equilibrium to begin with, which is then disrupted by
obstacles and a villain, but is solved eventually and creates a new equilibrium, but that equilibrium is not
the same as the old one. A classic example of this is again, “The Shining” as it shows a happy family at
the start, then the father becomes mentally ill due to visions from a supernatural entity, and finishes with
the father dead and the mother and left relieved and safe but also upset.

8. Typical horror conventions
Settings-
Typical settings include abandoned houses, mental asylums and woodlands as they are the most desolate
areas in modern society, and are also the most scariest as they are commonly associated with previous
tragic events, for example, the woods in the blair witch project. Also, they are usually set at night as the
darkness is usually feared by many younger children and young adults, due the connotations night time
has picked up over the years from previous horror movies.