The document discusses several common conventions and subgenres of horror films. It describes conventions like screaming to build tension, identifiable costumes, contrasts between good and evil, use of sound to build tension, eerie settings, unknown killers, lone female characters, chases, reflecting societal fears, use of weapons, young victims, blood, and jump scares. It also lists several horror subgenres including creepy kids, rampant animals, paranormal, science fiction, supernatural, slasher, erotic, gore, dark fantasy, satanic, gothic, thriller, and comedy/psychological. The final section summarizes theories about genre from scholars like Daniel Chandler, Jonathon Culler, Rick Altman

1. CONVENTIONS
ANDSUB–
GENRESOF
HORROR

2. SCREAMING
An earsplitting
scream can be
heard from the
lone female in
the clip. It
shows fear and
builds tension
for the audience
as they are just
waiting for the
jump.

3. IDENTIFIABLECOSTUME
Micheal Jacksons
red costume is
widly known as
the ‘Thriller’
costume. It can
be recognised
really easily and
is often the
outfit choice for
duplicate
performances.

4. GOOD VS EVIL
There is an obvious
contrast between good and
evil shown through mise-en
scene, camerawork and
sound. This contrast makes
it easier for the audience
to understand the story
and it makes it more
intesnse as the opposing
sides are at eaither end
of the spectrum, a monster
and a young girl.

5. USE OF SOUND
The sound in this section
builds and builds. In the first
picture, the sound begins,
quiet and slow. At the sight of
the threat it build and gets
more high frequency and
continues to build whilst all
the time zombie groans are
heard. In the final section
(the alst picture) two high
pitched, really loud notes are
heard. This builds tension in
the audience and they begin to
expect a scare.

6. EERIESETTING
Eerie settings help
create the over all
feel of the short
film. It instantly
puts the characters
in a situation that
is not ideal without
any other features
like a mythical
creature also adding
to the horror and
tension.

7. UNKNOWNKILLER
The outlines give the
impression that the
killer is
unidentifiable as you
cannot see any
specific features.
This creates fear of
the killer as the
victim cannot work
out exactly what they
are running from,
building tension as
the scene progresses.

8. LONEFEMALE
The lone female is often
established quickly within the
film. She is easy to pick out of
from a group of friends as she is
usually level-headed, perceptive
of danger and intelligent. In
this, the female is portrayed as
being vulnerable and easy to
capture as both females get caught
in a short space of time. The
audience feel empathy for her as
she is on her own and its like
they are with her running from the
werewolf boyfriend and the zombie
mob.

9. CHASEA chase of some sort is likely to
break out. In this case there are two,
both females are running from the
killer. This creates suspense as the
victim faces problems like not knowing
where to go as the killer is following
them on their trail. The victim is
usually caught at the end if they are
not quick enough or they simply chose
the wrong way to run. The fast paced
scene makes the audience feel fear as
they know what is about to happen and
they are just waiting for it to
happen.

10. REFLECTINGSOCIETY’SFEARS
Tens of thousands of teenagers became hippies after the drug LSD was leaked out of labs and onto
the streets. They became rebels and challenged traditions including marriage, child rearing and
religion. Women used birth-control pills, which allowed them to experiment sexually and
teenagers everywhere began protesting over things that were otherwise unspoken like about the
wars and why there was not peace.
This hippie movement worried the elder generations as they had not yet been faced with such
rebellious behaviour. These teenagers were asking questions that the government did not want
answering and parents were losing control over their once traditional families. These caused
upset and confusion as more and more voices were speaking out and finally being heard.
In the music video, you see a complete transformation of a normal teenage boy turn into a
ravenous monster. This reflects the transition that was going on in society with teenagers
transforming into a new and completely separate generation.

11. WEAPONSWeapons are used to establish the type
of killing, whether it is intimate or
simply just to kill. A knife or sharp
object often reflects a relationship or
connection that is strong between the
killer and the victim where as, like in
Saw , a contraption or gun represents a
distance between the characters. In this
case, the claws and teeth represent that
they know each other and it is personal
as he is a werewolf and she is his prey
as it means he has to get close to make
the kill rather than being able to do it
from a distance.

12. YOUNGVICTIMSThe horror genre has a young audience,
therefore, by using young characters the
audience are able to identify with them
more easily (on of the 5 main reasons
why we use media according to the Uses
An Gratifications Thoery) and therefore
allows them to easily empathise with the
characters. This will then mean that the
fear will be stronger as they have
placed themselves in the shoes of the
victim and will therefore heighten their
experiences with the horror film.
For example, the characters in thriller
are young on dates at night, something a
lot of teenagers would have been able to
relate to.

13. BLOODThe audience expect to see blood within the horror
genre. By seeing this it will establish their
expectations as it represents death and often gore as it
splatters or roles out in some form when almost everyone
is killed (depends on the type of course).This will mean
that after the viewing they are more likely to be
satisfied.

14. LUTONBUSSHOCKThe Luton bus shock is when a character
is made to “jump” at a sound or
something else but when they go to
actually see what it was it is
something ordinary like when a
character sees something in the
reflection but it turns out to be their
child or something likewise. In
Thriller, two of these are used, right
at the end and right at the beginning.
This forces the audience to feel
tension as they now do not know when
the next surprise will be and if it
will be a real shock or something that
will make them feel slightly silly for
being scared.

15. ISOLATIONANDDARKNESS
As, according the British
Psychologists Society, four out of
every ten adults are still afraid
of the dark. This would mean that
when the setting is dark, it would
create an actual fear within the
audience by playing on a common
general fear. This will add to the
real feel of the film and will make
it seem scarier than if it was in
the day.

16. SubGenresOfHorror
CREEPYKIDS
RAMPANTANIMALS

17. PARANORMAL
SCIENCEFICTION
SUPERNATURAL

18. SLASHER
EROTIC
GORENOGRAPHY

19. DARKFANTASY
SATANIC
GOTHIC

20. THRILLER
COMEDY
PSYCHOLOGICAL

21. THEORYDaniel Chandler
•Genre is defined by conventions.
Jonathon Culler
•A contract exists between creator and audience concerning
audience expectations of genre.
Rick Altman
•Genre allows texts to appeal to different audiences.
•Genre can be defined in terms of media language.
Tom Ryall
•Genre guides effect the production of the media text.
Steve Neale
•Audience expectations help them understand the texts.
•Genre creates grantees of meaning and pleasure.