Horror Film Conventions

Conventions of the Horror Genre
Setting:
Isolated environments or small communities. More urban areas will usually feature dark alleyways, run down or dilapidated areas.
Most buildings that the film is set in will have a dark past for instance the bloody history of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining.
Good locations for a horror film include:

• Abandoned houses 
• Woodlands
• Cabins 
• Insane asylums
• Underground tunnels
• Graveyards
• Farms

Camerawork:
Camerawork tends to be unnatural and expressive.
Low angles are used to portray a sense of lack of control or submissiveness. High angle shots are used when looking down on someone and usually precede a jump scare.
POV shots are used from the character's point of view to involve and invoke fear in the audience. They can also be used to show things from the monster's point of view (as in The Evil Dead when the monster is chasing Ash through the house).
Handheld shots make it difficult for the audience to figure out what is onscreen such as in The Blair Witch Project. This creates fear through uncertainty.
Depth of field makes it harder to see monsters approaching the protagonist from behind and creates jump scares.
Extreme Close Ups can be used to guide audience reaction and generate more fear as the monster is not in the shot (fear of the unknown again).
Sound:
Diegetic sounds can be used to create fear and suspense e.g. screaming from characters, footsteps, and unnatural monster noises.
Non-Diegetic sounds can also be used to create fear and suspense e.g. rapid heartbeats, and atmospheric music.
Visuals:
Dark colours like red and black are often common in horror films, they link to evil, blood and danger.
Lighting, like the camerawork is usually not naturalistic and expressive. Low lighting or limited light sources (such as a torch) can be used to create suspense through fear of the unknown. Specific props have become well known and associated with certain characters in the horror genre (chainsaws, claw gauntlets, machetes) but typical props in horror films are: weapons, masks and religious and supernatural iconography.
The iconography of classic monsters is also used to connotate fear and revulsion (mummies, vampires, werewolves).
Characters:
Common character types found in horror films are:


Themes:

• Good versus evil
• Religion/cults
• Traumatic childhoods
• Revenge
• The supernatural
• Ghosts
• Nightmares
• Science errors
• Madness/insanity
• Lust
• Envy
• Suicide

All of these themes are fairly dark and have negative or frightening connotations in society.

Common Horror Cliches (just for fun):

• People making bad decisions: splitting the group up, withholding information from those who may be able to help you, messing with Ouija boards.
• Car not starting.
• No phone reception.
• That One Guy: kind of a jerk, has a bit of an alpha male complex, will argue with the hero and no one will really be sad when he dies.
• Adult figures of authority never seem to help much.
• No guns (or everyone has terrible aim).
• People involved in sexual acts tend to die.