Genre Research

Genre- Horror

Genre Conventions [content]- Aims to provoke fear in its audience. A horror film's target audience ranges from adolescents/teens to early 20's. Content conventions for horror are dread, alarm, and panic with a suspected/ unsuspected finale. 

Genre Conventions [productions techniques]- Various production techniques for a horror film include location, time, and character's art direction. For location, it is known for houses, woods, cabins, and for a handful multi-billionaire films with a shark as the main scare, the ocean. Usually the time in which people are most hesitant and vulnerable to be scared is at night, there is something about the dark that ignites a sweat indulged angst. Lastly, for a truly important aspect in horror films is the art direction. This refers to costumes and make-up, which significantly expand the outcomes of the film depending on if the plot of the story is very unrealistic, such as zombies which demands prosthetics and dirty wardrobe, or if it is a simple girl in the woods being stalked, which solely demands blood. 

Film Example #1: 'Hush', a horror film about a deaf girl living in a house in the middle of the woods is being stalked by a man with a mask. Throughout the whole film she does not sense anything that is happening, as the stalker is taking pictures of her while being inside the house and sending them to her. There are many more details, which I will not spoil. This back and forth responsiveness between both characters drives the audience to a near heart attack experience because of the realistic body the film has. 

P.S. -I watched 'Hush' in eight grade with classmates and all I remember is covering my face every from fear and awaiting the deaf female character's boyfriend to arrive. Does he? We'll never know. Dun. Dun. DUN! Actually you might know if you watch the movie... oh and little advice, never live in the middle of the woods. You're welcome. 

Film Example #2: A Quiet Place is a wonderful film, I very much enjoyed it (unlike Hush). It takes place in a world where you cannot make noise, even if your life depended on it, because then... your life might depend on it. There are demo-gorgon like animals, immense in size and full on predators. There is always a sense of uncertainty throughout the entire film because the possibility of making noise is inevitable. The story is developed by showing the life of the family, such as how they altered daily routines to be silent and what they do in case the character playing the mom has to go through labor and their lives are in the hands of the baby coming out of that womb. Too specific? Yeah, maybe a little. All I have to say is that there were a lot of fireworks. 

Film Examples- 
1. A Quiet Place a quiet place
2. Hush hush
3. Scream scream
4. Jaws jaws
5. Halloween halloween
6. The Conjuring the conjuring
7. Insidious insidious

Merci d'avoir lu, je les aimes<3

- Camila  Castillo