Codes and Conventions of Horror

Codes and Conventions of Horror
The second genre i shall cover is Horror
In this post i shall cover the codes and conventions of this genre focusing on:

• opening
• marketing (posters/DVD and CD covers)
• camera/editing/sounds/mise en scéne
• narrative
• connotation and dennotation

i shall include examples of British and American horrors.  These include

• Hallowe'en
•  

So these are the codes and conventions of Horror (i shall make a post for the other films this is a generalisation of horror)

Opening.The opening to a horror tends to be very traditional and in line with what is popular during this era (eg 1978 hallowe'en begins with children chanting and eerie music very similar to nightmare on elm streets chanting children, both from the same slasher -sub genre of horror- era).  Just like rom-com horror will start  with a production or distribution logo occasionally editted to fit in with the film it is representing.  There is also sometimes a prequal (again the example of hallowe'en showing michaels first murder), A prequel is something shown before the movie, to explain a back story behind anything from characters or a symbolic object.  During prequels characters i feel are normally kept to a minimal as the fewer characters you introduce the more tense and sucked in you become during the film.  I also think that this is used because you can focus purely on the characters introduced whether they're a killer or a victim.

Marketing.
Marketing for horror films is essential, if the horror film genuinly appears frightening it is more likely to appeal to it's target audience, whereas if it looks happy ie yellow sunshine smiling, it is more likely to attract the wrong target audience, it also needs to stay minimal so it doesn't give away too much of the plot before it has started (eg the rom-com knocked up refered to in a previous post clearly states the general plot before hand allowing the audience to watch the film and watch for how it happens and what the outcomes are in a bigger picture, this can occasionally work for the horror genre, however dependant on how the story actually goes effects whether or not you can do this effectively).  Here are a few examples and analysis' of DVD/CD/posters that will explain what i mean by it's importance


To be worked on!