Hassan ShahidMedia Studies

Genre Research

The genre of our open sequence is horror. Horror means “an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust”. Horror movies use the fears of the audience against them by creating tense and nerve shocking emotions, which get the watchers to jump out of their seats. Some of the audience fears include: phobias, hidden fears, apocalyptic events and terror of the unknown. The horror genre features many themes of which the macabre and supernatural are most popular, where you may also see a mix of fantasy and thriller genres.

The horror genre goes back to the 1890s, where the first of supernatural themed short films were produced, where Le Manoir de Diable is seen to be as the first ever horror film made.The introduction of sound to films, had a huge impact on the horror genre as it then the audience could hear what was actually also going on instead of just interpreting it for themselves. The introduction of sound also allowed to create tenser and nerve racking scenes which would frighten the audience even more. Universal Pictures was the first studio to take advantage of the horror genre and produce multiple films such as The Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame, increasing the genres popularity.

As time went by the introduction monsters horrors were starting to become a popular theme in the horror genre in the late 1950s, which was a favorite of the teens who wanted a thrill even if the plot lines were ludicrous. Such monster films that were produced are the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Creature from the black lagoon (1954) and the Japanese nuclear monster Godzilla (1954).

The codes and conventions of the horror genre include the main protagonist being followed or watched by some unknown terror that has yet to be revealed or a sequence of shots that are used to create tension and suspense which allows the audience to be more involved in the narrative of the film.

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Conventions of the horror genre include [1]:

Location/Setting: Isolated areas such as woods, cave, countryside,

ghost town and haunted/abandoned house.

Props (weapons that inflict a slow painful death): Machete Knife Axe Chainsaw

Sound/Music: Non-diegetic sound to set a mood

Villain/Killer (usually male): Ghost/Demon Mental patient Monster Outcast Masker murderer

Sub-genres: Supernatural Sci-fi Teen slasher Religious

Top 10 Horror feature films [2]:1. Tusk(2014)2. Honeymoon(2014)3. Dracula Untold(2014)4. Annabelle(2014)5. As Above, So Below(2014)6. 7500(2014)7. Horns(2013)8. Oculus(2013)9. The Conjuring(2013)10. The Purge: Anarchy(2014)

References:[1]http://www.slideshare.net/jwright61/horror-genrecodes-and-conventions[2]http://www.imdb.com/genre/horror