General Horror Story conventions

General Horror Story conventions

There are a few general pointers when constructing a horror storyline of any subgenre. They are not the all in all foundation but it will be easy to build around the recipe.

Camera Angles/Movement

The Camera angles are often unnatural but helps the with expression of the nature of the film.

1. Handheld
   Makes it difficult for the audience to understand what is going on during the scene(especially when it is a fast paced shaking)
2. POV
   Gives the audience the opportunity to see how the monster or the hunted see. Does not always occur at the start of the film but can occur towards the end as we have started to understand more about the monster by that time.

Camera Framing

Different types of camera framing can be applied to give a more dramatic effect to the film at different parts of the storyline. It also ensures that the part of the films are more unnatural than others.

1. Extreme Close up
   Using this camera framing makes it harder to recognise an object and it is often used on the monster which makes it very sinister especially when mixed with high key lighting from the bottom.
2. Plays on the depth of the Field
   By manipulating the position of objects in the field(frame) it often decreases our ability as an audience to perceive the movement of the monster as it creeps up on its prey.

Sounds

The use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in horror films is of extreme importance as it sets the ambience for horrific occurrences. It also helps to form a contrast between the often normal life the victim was living before.

1. Diegetic
   Sounds such as footsteps, breathing screams and extremely gory, flesh ripping for example sounds.
2. Non Diegetic
   High Tension Strings, Piano, Little or no percussive instruments until an attack is about to occur.

Mise-en-scene

Certain icons/props/settings are easily identifiable with horror, dark coloured castle with bats flying around in the moonlight. This is the same for characters, Victor Frankenstein's Monster is a very common one as it is extremely iconic. The use of dark colours and various post production techniques also add to the mise en scene of horror depending on the type of horror.

Editing

As horror films are often plays on supernatural occurrences the editing can be very fast as it makes sequences and scenes extremely unreal.