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1. SCI-FI/HORROR
CONVENTIONS:
Oliver Gill: How does Sci-Fi and Horror use conventions to transmit meaning in a
Pilot?

2. What is a genre convention for Sci-
Fi/Horror?
According to ProWritingAid.com, Sci-Fi conventions are as following:
- “What If?” Every great science fiction novel explores a “what if” question, which is a hypothetical question that ignites your imagination. ...
- An Unfamiliar Setting. ...
- Innovative Technology. ...
- Relatable Characters. ...
- Themes About Humanity.
This tends to lead to many dystopian worlds where people are being sacrificed (mentally, physically or metaphorically) for a greater plot to be allowed as the
protagonists play off of the rules of the world given
[Sci-Fi can be based off real science or fake.]
For Horror, MyTutor.co.uk says: Horror uses unique and unusual angles to create confusion and unsettling feel with the viewer. The lighting tends to be dark,
underexposed with lots of shadows, making the audience feel tense and on edge. Furthermore, the use of sound, such as a high pitch key, creates a sense of alarm
with the audience.
Themes and visual cues are also used to make the audience feel horrified which is horror’s ultimate objective as it is grounded by the audience’s reaction to the
media presented.

3. The Last of Us |
Pilot Plot
- Starts with an eerie speech about a doctor explaining the science behind what happens to everyone in the show, a fungal disease causing
everyone to become Zombies as the fungus controls the human from the brain (set in the 60’s)
- Cut forward to 2003, where we meet Joel and his daughter Sarah – its Joel’s birthday but he puts a double shift at work. Sarah tries to repair
his watch using saved money but is forced to leave after a local police raid.
- Joel receives the watch before he has to get his brother from Jail… he puts Sarah to bed who when she wakes up again, sees a national
broadcast telling everyone to stay inside, she goes and investigates the neighbours who are morphing into Zombies when Joel and his brother
get home…
- They run away from the Zombie, when whilst driving away - a plane crashes near them… the army turns up and shoots Sarah/Joel’s brother
dead.
- Its 2023 now, in Boston: Joel is making ends meet when he and a friend called Tess are mixed up in a terrorist attack by “Fireflies” (a rebel
group against authoritarianism, their society is extremely militant) – Tess gets arrested but when she gets out, tells Joel that they need a car
battery which they just sold to someone called Robert.
- They track down Robert to find him dead after selling the dead battery to Marlene and Ellie (a young girl going under the name “Veronica”)
which ended with an altercation costing him his life and wounding Marlene
- Marlene gives Joel and Tess the task of taking Ellie to the Old State house outside the city, which they abide by… sneaking out during the
night. However, they are stopped by a policeman who we’ve seen make a deal with Joel earlier in the pilot. He tests them all for the fungal
disease for which Ellie tests positive, and when he threatens Joel with a gun, Joel flashes back to his loss of Sarah and kills him outright. They
leave and we find out Ellie is immune to the disease.

4. The Last of Us | Conventions Used
- “The Last of Us” follows certain Horror tropes, for example making bad decisions based on the
opposite of what a character was told not to do… the theme itself is dystopian enough in a post-
apocalypse which is common for horror (similar examples being “28 Days Later” along with others)
. Horror also requires a large build up of tension to make the audience truly afraid, which the
opening 3-minute scene creates expertly.
- It also follows Sci-Fi tropes well, Dystopia connotes a sense of Sci-Fi… especially when that
dystopia is under an authoritarian rule (e.g., “1984” in other medias, “City of Ember” etc). The threat
of the show isn’t physically possible and lies in science fiction (the fungal virus) – either creating
unease at thought of that being a reality or nervousness that the show plays it off that its isn’t from
a supernatural source (hard Sci-Fi story type)
- “The Last of Us” presents a hybrid version of the 2 genres that is extremely exciting for the viewers

5. Westworld |
Pilot Plot
- We start by being introduced to Dolores, a robot (or Host) that runs on a day loop in a futuristic Western-Themed Theme Park named
Westworld, set once again in a dystopian future. We follow "A Day int the Life" cycle of Dolores who each time is reset: greets her
dad, meets up with Teddy (her lover, also a host) before returning home to watch gangsters kill her family. That is what she does
every day unless she is altered by Park guests. We also learn that despite looking like the youngest person there, she is the oldest
robot they have.
- Then next day, loads of guests arrive (it cost £40,000 for each visit). We hear some guest talk about how this will be the first time
they have "G-rated fun" whereas other times they went "straight evil" - showing us restrictions the park has and what type of clientele
they serve.
- Teddy and Dolores meet up like normal when the "Man in Black" comes along, he is an ultra-wealthy human who when Teddy can't
kill him (as the bots cannot kill humans) - he takes Dolores away and rapes her off-screen
- After this we pull away to the creators of the park who are watching everything go down, they notice that there is a problem with
some of the code as some of the hosts start remembering things from previous days that they shouldn't be able to. At the same time,
there is a problem down in the basement (level 83), so they send their security unit down to the room where they store the spare
robots who are either broken or in development.
- We hear other employees talking about what other uses for the technology Dolos (the park's parent company) may have, with
a higher-up expositing that there are ideas for other uses.
- The MiB scalps a native American host digging into a brain to find a map whilst he searches for an easter egg, whilst loads more bots
start malfunctioning with coding (disguised as a human heart attack). Dolos staff pull out 200 hosts midday whilst guests are in there
which they must re-write an ending for on the fly. Whilst they fix the other hosts.

6. Westworld | Conventions Used
- Sci-fi conventional tropes are used of the dystopian world, new setting, not-real humans that
are extremely realistic, advanced technology...
- However, Westworld takes up a lot more traits with Horror using physical gore/body-
dysmorphia, sensitive topics, the audience is unaware of who is real or not unless specifically
noted otherwise creating a sense of unknowing dread. Themes of a lack of agency (and
inevitable uprising too), class divisions between man and host, time loops (like “Groundhog
Day”) and so on to make the Audience interested and excited/shocked.

7. Snowpiercer |
Pilot Plot
- To start the episode, we see the final days of the Freeze and the 1001 carriage train known as Snowpiercer ready to take off as it travels around
the globe. As multiple people scramble onboard, the train departs from the station with a whole carriage full of stowaways.
- We immediately skip forward 6 years when in the poorest car, Andre and Miles – 2 young boys – decide to discuss taking over the carriage ahead
in rebellion of the guards who give them food rations (very small too because they’re poor).
- However, this rumour spreads down the train to the higher class carriages and the workers who come and remove Andre taking him to the worker
section. From there, they feed him well but interrogate him as he sees the first view of the outside world since he stepped onto the train.
- They tell Andre that someone has been killed, cut up and hidden under the floorboards and want to use his expertise as a former policeman to find
the body, Andre refuses but eventually agrees after one of the staff (Melanie) talks him into it.
- Andre on his investigation sees carriages of food being grown and says he’ll only do it if more food is shared to his carriage, Melanie predictably
declines, either way – his investigation leads him to Zarah, a woman he saved by getting her on the train when she didn’t want to get on.
- However, Andre’s carriage goes into a full rebellion after an old man hangs himself on his birthday as Melanie announces to the entire train that
there will be turbulence as they go over a mountain.
- The rebellion clears out quite a few guards quickly but as more pile up, it becomes too much for the rebellion which dies with the people as the
guards take aim. Andre convinces Melanie to allow him to try and diffuse the situation with the rebels, where he learns about the old man’s
hanging… he then tells the rebels about the 100+ carriages ahead and that there is a way for the better life by taking the engine and therefore:
control of the train… if they trust him, which at this point they have no choice as they now lack in numbers.
- Approaching Melanie, Andre agrees to help with the murder investigation in exchange for his people being put to sleep rather than killed. Melanie
agrees to his terms.

8. Snowpiercer | Conventions Used
- Snowpiercer follows genre-typical stereotypes of the dystopian location, authoritarian rule,
future timeline, uprising (in some way or form) etc. it also follows the ideology of natural
disaster (pseudo-realistic to modern day in the sense that the reverse happens here, mirroring
reality) as a means to create a new world and breed another sense of horror.
- It follows horror is its massacre of rebellion, the fear of not know what lies behind the door of
the next carriage, the tyrannical presence of the workers and higher class who subjugate and
oppress the lowers (taking modern social politics and extremifying it) which in itself is a scary
topic, even if body horror and gore is toned down in comparison to other pilots.