AMELIA GHIRARDELLO
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • PORTFOLIO
  • FILM BLOG
  • MEDIA

MEDIA

HORROR FILM GENRE

7/25/2019

0 Comments

 

Narrative Structure

  • Standard Chronological Structure with beginning, middle, end (Conflict, Struggle, Realization)
  • Often there is heavy foreshadowing to build tension
  • The problem the protagonist faces is caused or exacerbated by being isolated, unprepared, or naive
  • The narrative is built to cause tension, anxiety, and fear in the audience
  • Story plays on standard human fears: the dark, strangers, isolation, death, violence, insanity, creepy monsters
Picture

Themes

  • Good vs. Evil
  • Religion and the Supernatural or Beyond
  • Death
  • Nightmares, Madness, Insanity, Suicide
  • Childhood Fears and Issues
  • Revenge
  • Science gone bad
  • Murder, Death, Hate
  • Darkness, Demons, Satanic Ritual
Picture

Setting

  • Hospitals, Insane Asylums, Mental Institutions or Hotels (long hallways and lots of rooms)
  • Graveyard or Cemetery
  • Churches or Convents
  • Isolated communities or remote locations (cabin, abandoned mansion, haunted house, ghost town, farm field, dark woods, tunnels) deserted places
  • Basements, Attics, Science Labs
Picture

Characters

  • Hero (protagonist usually lives) fights villain
  • Victims (protagonists usually die) often are immoral teenagers, stupid beautiful young women
  • Villain (antagonist evil force aliens, vampires, creepy children, monsters, ghosts, demons, zombies, clowns, possessed toys, scary creatures)
  • Police or "helpful" authorities may be good or evil
Picture

Iconography and props

  • Dark colored clothes, costumes, settings
  • Weapons (rarely guns usually a stabbing or cutting weapon like knives, scythes, axes, chainsaws)
  • Religious or Demonic Symbolism
  • Blood. Lots of blood.
  • Monsters (vampires, evil scientist, werewolves, zombies, possessed people, mass murderer)
  • Lots of black and red
  • Mirrors, masks, peepholes, stalking, chasing
  • Running and then tripping and falling (being chased)
Picture

Cinematography and Editing

  • Unnatural camera angles very high, very low, canted (to show dominance and innocence and power relations)
  • Extreme Close Up to show fear
  • Long take with a sudden jump cut to frighten viewer
  • Point of View (POV) shots from the view of the villain
  • Handheld camera adds terror
  • Shallow depth of field makes whatever is behind the protagonist blurry to build suspense
Picture

Sound and Music

  • Ambient Diegetic sounds (footsteps, chainsaw, breathing)
  • Orchestral (violin)
  • Silence used to build tension
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Miss G's Media

    Resources for Miss Ghirardello's Media classes

    Categories

    All
    Advertisement
    Auteur
    Auteur Theory
    Genre
    Media Theory
    Narrative
    Narrative Theory
    Representation
    Roland Barthes
    Science Fiction
    Semiotics
    Storyboards
    Terminology

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • PORTFOLIO
  • FILM BLOG
  • MEDIA