Concept of Genre and the Conventions of Horror

Today we looked at the concept of genre and why it is important to audience and industries.

Genre is essential for marketing a film in order to provide expectations to a particular audience.  This provides stability with funding as, when certain repertoires are met, the specific group of people that enjoy that genre are going to pay to watch the film.

Without genre, directors would not be able to describe their films for the target audience so easily.  The viewer can choose by genre recognition and, therefore, their expectations can be met.

However, if these repertoire of elements are too similar to other films for viewers, the particular audience may find it boring.

We then looked at the conventions of the horror genre, which has been successful for over 112 years.  In the 70s and 80s, horror films were generally concerned with explicit violence and gore.

Examples of the conventions in the horror genre are;

MUSIC - dramatic, crescendos, trigger emotion and add suspense

LIGHTING - generally darkness - can make a character look sinister and creepy

CHARACTERS - generally, in horror films, the 'villian' has a hidden identity

TYPOGRAPHY - at the start - generally connotes the genre of the film

These are only a few examples of the repertoire of elements shown in a horror film.  This is what the audience can expect from a horror film and choose whether to pay for the film.

This research was useful as I would like to make my short film a horror and, learning about the conventions of this, was beneficial in order for my audience's expectations met.

Photograph from 1973 film 'The Exorcist'