Horror is a genre that aims to create a sense of panic, fear and dread for

the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the
viewers through portrayal of their worst fears and nightmares, often in a
terrifying, shocking finale, whilst at the same time captivating and
entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films go
way back, as far as the onset of films themselves, which is over 100 years
ago. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience
through a portrayal of their worst nightmares for example the exorcist a
classic example because this tale is of an exorcism which is based loosely
on actual events, which adds an extra fear factor. Horror films are usually
centre on the arrival of an evil force or event. And many horrors usually
include mythical creatures such as ghosts and possessed people. The
earliest horror films included vampires and monsters, the vampire
character has been one of the most known characters in the history of
cinema, extended from the earliest days of cinema to the present day. The
first horror movie, was only about 2 minutes long and was made by a
French filmmaker called Georgies Melies the film was titled Le Manor Du
Diable translated to the The House of the Devil this contained familiar
elements of later horror and vampire films. Traditionally these films
include a big amount of violence and gore into their plot. However, there
are many different types of horror nowadays as Sub-categories has been
introduced, for example a Comedy-Horror, this combines both traditional
horror as well as comedy into the movies themes and characters. Because
of the subject matter, Comedy-Horror films can cross over into the Black
Comedy sub-genre. This type of horror aims to scare the audience, as well
as provide comical outlets that let the audience laugh at their fear. Some
examples of Comedy-Horrors are, Zombie Land and Scary Movie.

Codes and Conventions in horror, codes are systems of sign, which create
a meaning, however the codes can be divided into two categories, these
categories are technical and symbolic. Symbolic codes show what is
beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a characters actions in
the film will show you how the character is feeling. And technical codes
are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media
text, for example the camera and sound work in a film. However, some
codes do occasionally fit into both categories, such as music which fits
into both the technical and symbolic codes.
The conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something,
there are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of
interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre
specific, all genres of film have certain conventions which the audience
will expect to see.
These codes and conventions are important because they are used
together in any study of genre, this is because it is not enough to discuss
a technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is
conventionally used in a genre. For example, the technical code of
lightning is used in some way in all film genres. It is a convention of the
horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and
suspense, which is an integral part of any horror movie.
Horror films present an interesting representation of gender. For instance,
females are generally negatively
portrayed than males, this is because
the traditional stereotypes are
maintained. For example, the male
characters are depicted as powerful,
strong and masculine, where as the
females are exposed as weak and
vulnerable. In almost all horrors females
are being chased by the male
antagonists, and they are unable to fight back or run away successfully,
they appear feeble, weak and helpless.
Very often women are killed in a very graphic and gruesome way, such as
being torn apart, the killer not only takes their life, but what little dignity
they have left. In comparison to the killings of male characters, those of
the female one are far more memorable and prolonged. This is because
the audience are made to view them as weak and traumatised as they
witness the killers strength in full force. However, it has been said that
the killing of females is more enjoyable than males, this is because the
audience receive a sense of gratification watching an attractive woman
being slaughtered. However, the role of the women has changed from
being the victim like in the Dracula film and now being detectives and
lead roles in the film like in Nightmare on elm street.

Common settings in Horror movies include uses of large, vast

environments, this gives the characters more of an area to explore when
they are in the middle of no where which also means they have more
places to hide. However, Horrors are often set in a suburban area, for
example a common location is in
someones home this is generally
popular in supernatural movies. As
you can see in the image this house
from the film Amytiville Horror
appears to be a normal looking
domesticated setting, however,
combined with the uses of
contrapuntal sound, they are
provided with a spooky, unsettling
atmosphere. However, it is also conventional for horrors to be
set in woodland areas, such as forests or remote secluded areas, that
include the victims and the killer. This is a conventional of slasher horrors.

Generally speaking the killer is usually dressed in a dark attire, they often
wear items that hide their identity such as masks and gloves, this also
includes a fear factor, it makes them demonic and in-humane because
hiding their faces with masks make them not very civilised, an example of
the use of costumes can be seen in the Scream or Scary Movie films
although this is a comedy horror there is still a villain, he dresses up in a
black robe with a ghost mask, this is a clear indication of the villain and
whenever he is seen in the film the characters freak-out.
Furthermore, the visual style is often dark colours like red and black, this
links to evil and danger. Lightning is expressive and non naturalistic, they
use low-key lighting to create
shadows and contrast as well as
making the scenes look a lot
darker and this helps to create
dark shadows and unfamiliar
shapes in the blackness which
makes the film look more
frightening. Lightning can be
motivated in the world of film,
such as bonfire, and torches. Props
can help us to further identify the
genre horror, to me more specific
props can be identified with a
certain villain, for instance in the film Chainsaw massacre this film is
Iconic for the villain having a chainsaw and murdering people. Common
objects include, weapons such knifes (they do not use guns because it
would make it too easy and the film a bit pointless, masks, supernatural
things, and religious icons. The iconography of the monsters helps to
create an extreme fear and terror, such as werewolves, vampires, ghosts,
and many others.

Conventional uses of sound in horror include non-diegetic uses of eerie

and unsettling music, which indicates that something bad will occur. An
example of this would be in the iconic film Psycho when the music starts
playing getting louder and louder as well as quicker and quicker then the
man killers the women in the shower. Horror films love to use contrapuntal
sounds, which is to apply sound that contrasts with the scene for instance
in Dawn of the Dead there is a person killing someone and there is happy
music. Silence is used in horror films to emphasise fear and indicate
occurrence. Stab sounds are used right at the point of climax, used to
emphasise danger, also used to imitate the stabbing of a victim and make
the sound parallel to what is happening.

Horror films are distributed in a vast amount of ways such as on television,

DVD and streaming. However, they are first released in cinema. Most big
budget companies advertise their films through the internet to get the
hype up for the film, which sometime spoils the jump scares. But it gives
the audience an idea of what to expect in the movie, which generally
makes them want to go see it because who doesnt love a good horror.
Another way to consume horror is done at home through DVDs television
or streaming. This is where horror films and all films are consumed the
most. This is because you are in the comfort of your own home and you
can pause the film to go grab a snack or go to the toilet at any time.
Over the years horror genre has been forced to change and adapt to suit
audiences needs so it doesnt become boring and predictable instead of
continuing to entertain and scare the audience. The changes have
included much more complex plots, which confuse the audience. In
addition, a change in the way films are shot and the blood and gore has
drastically increased to shock the viewers more and more. It all began
with the monster movies, in the beginning, horror films were simple and
straightforward, from Dracula and Frankenstein, to the Mummy and the
Wolfman, monsters were the thing. From the start of horror in the 1930s
horror films were based on literature and films such as Dracula and
Frankenstein were made. In the 1970s realism was introduced to the
genre, this meant more relatable films were made with more fright during
this time films such as Psycho and Halloween were made. Jumping up to
more recent times in the 2000s spiritual and ghosts with films such as
Ouija connotations followed into the noughties, with the film Saw being
made and post apocalypse films such as The Day after Tomorrow and
1012, and inescapable deaths such as the Final Destination films,
Paranormal Activity was another horror with a low budget so used found
footage and FPS in this films giving it a more personal and realistic vibe to
it.
There are many reasons why genres change over time, one being the
changes in the target audience, It is often argued that the target audience
for horror films have become younger over the years. This is known as the
Juvenilisation of cinema and this may be why horror films are now usually
aimed at mainly teenage audience

The typical narrative structure is about two things, the content of a story
and the form used to tell the story. Two common ways to describe these
two parts of narrative structure are story and plot. Story refers to the
dramatic action as it might be described in chronological order. Plot refers
to how the story is told. Story is about trying to determine the key
conflicts, main characters, setting and events. Plot is about how, and at
what stages, the key conflicts are set up and resolved. For this I will be
comparing the old and new version of Nightmare on elm street
This film is in the slasher horror, which usually focuses more on the aspect
of killing, this separates the slasher horror films from the thrillers.
Increasing the level of violence rather than focusing on the development
of the story and the characters. The slasher horror films usually give the
main killer a reason to kill people in the film which causes more of chaotic
narrative structure which keeps the graphical side and originality of the
film. The narrative structure and flow of the film has also changed, this is
so it can suit two different audiences, the first film keeps to a slow pace
whereas in the 2010 version of the film it is more of a fast paced
narrative, with a lot more action to keep the new audience interested in
the film as they expect more to happen. The 2010 film is also multi
stranded and follows different characters and their problems. This
changes is to a non-linear narrative compared to its linear narrative in the
first film, and did not contain any flashbacks so it wouldnt confuse the
audience. In addition, the new film has a lot more locations and places to
be seen in compared to the first film which focused more on the mixing of
different elements. The 2010 film uses a lot more modern narrative
techniques compared to the original film. Because the film is made for a
newer audience with higher expectation in horror. For instance, the new
film chose to take a non-linear approach rather than the original linear, an
example of this is when the audience are taken back in time to see the
killers past life between the characters and the killers background
therefore giving the narrative its non-linear structure. It is done this way
so the audience can learn a lot more about the characters and why the
character is the way he is, in old films we wouldnt have this technique, all
we would know is that the person is a killer but, would not understand the
backstory to it.

In conclusion, I think that the genre horror has had a lot of changes done
to it throughout the years and the forced change done to the genre to
adapt to suit the audiences needs, as well as how people are represented.
Women in the early horror films were helpless and always the victims and
example would be Dracula, however now It has changed and women are a
lot more equally represented in horror, as they are now sometimes the
hero or the villain. The narrative of horror has also change a lot as the first
ever films were based from books. But now has change to contain a lot
more gore and be disturbing to the audience, because that is what they
like.

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