Genre Research

 The Horror Genre

Interest in the horror genre has from a person enjoyment of consuming media in this category. I decided to look into this genre further because I am planning on utilizing this opportunity to expand my understanding of this genre to benefit my film opening. I take a liking to the horror genre because the adrenaline and fear that can be generated by great film making is like no other movie-viewing experience. 

Genre Conventions

The horror genre is defined as, "...a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction." Typical conventions include dim lighting, a color palette of blacks, browns, and reds, high-pitch keys, and bad weather. 

Techniques

Prominent and projected shadows are a common technique in horror movies; for example in the movie X as the main antagonist walks around in the middle of the night her silhouette is projected in shadowy reflections to further produce fear and disconnection. Another common technique is spotlighting; in the opening of IT 2 an overhead light allows for Pennywise to become visible and sink back into the dark simultaneously. Underexposure is another common lighting technique because it is a common convention for horror movies to utilize dark lighting; Bodies Bodies Bodies uses a power outage to push the action forward which leaves the main characters in the dark (or underexposed lighting) for a period of time. In house invasion movies to convey claustrophobia and an element of being watched it is a common technique to film a scene through an unexpected angle or through an object; Hush utilizes filming through windows throughout the film to show the protagonist is not alone. High pitched score is a common technique to build suspense and scare the audience; The Shining (though debuted many years ago) still stands as a prime example of how taking advantage of the score can add fear without anything horrifying happening on screen.

Marketing:

Though not always common horror movie marketing techniques can be very creative:

-The Blair Witch Project- the marketing team took advantage of the documentary/found-footage cinematography to market the movie by blending the lines between what is real and what is not. The team created missing persons posters, victim's family interviews, forums to explain the urban legend, and websites that eluded legitimacy surrounding the case. 

-It (2016)- one of the most iconic symbols of this movie is a floating red balloon. To subtly promote this film the marketing team orchestrated leaving red balloons tied to sewers and located around populous cities.

-Smile (2022)- made headlines for their unique strategy to spread the word about their film. Actors were hired to attend baseball games while sporting a "Smile" labeled t-shirt and displaying an exaggerated grin for the entirety of their projection onto jumbotrons. Though this technique did not seem to scare or institute respect for the horror movie it did spread widely over the internet to at least make the film's release well known.

More common techniques may involve using social media to spread posters and trailers and hanging up tangible signage about the movie in cities.

Samples:

Hereditary (2018) Hereditary is a horror movie that sticks true to it's identity of slow burning into madness. A family's ritualistic and devilish roots are slowly exposed over a two hour long stretch filled with buildable horror and an ignorable trend towards doom. Typical conventions that Hereditary exemplifies is shadowy figures  combined with underexposure lighting to create a dark atmosphere. When paired with the anticipation of what horrors will unfold in the next shot, viewers find themselves searching the corners of the screen to see what might be lurking. The suspense is carried not by exaggerated, high-pitched chords but rather deafening silence. Atypical angles and abnormal scare creates an uneasy feeling that builds upon itself throughout the rest of the ordeal.

Scream (1996) In a small town teenagers are terrorized by a masked figure wielding a voice changer and knife. The killer's main focus turns to a high school student, Sidney, who has a personal history with the killer. This film uniquely utilizes natural lighting to create a sense of reality as a means to scare viewers into thinking this could happen to them. Other common conventions is a hooded killer to create a mystery in regards to the killer's identity and a score with the purpose of building suspense. Scream also plays heavily on dressing their character's in certain colors to make the audience subconsciously associate them with certain feelings. For example, Drew Barrymore's character appears in all white to show innocence and Neve Campbell commonly wears blue to show that she is 'good'. Lastly camera angles such as shooting through windows in the opening scene to show someone is outside of Barrymore's house is a common technique in horror films.