Genre Blog: Horror- Quite The Fright

     Boo! Did I scare you away? I hope not! Just stick around for a while since this is the last blog in our set of research, and maybe the last blog you'll ever read (just kidding)! Anywho, we will be focusing on the horror genre here and outlining its conventions below.

Camera Angles, Movement, and Shots:

    With the horror genre, a lot of unusual camera angles, shots, and movements are applied. One of said shots is the tracking shot, which is used in horror films to the same effect as it is in thrillers, to simulate the feeling of a subject being watched or followed. A good example of this occurs in the movie Touch of Evil (1958), where the subject of the camera switches every so often, an interesting concept that we might like to apply to our own short film. The high angle is also commonly used for the purpose of activating a primal fear within the viewer themselves such as when showcasing a character who may be close to falling from a high place, as in Fall (2022). Close-up and extreme close-up shots are also used with the intention of capturing the pain and fear within the eyes and facial expressions of the subject once they experience a terrible occurrence, such as in Psycho (1960). Dutch tilting is also used to skew the perspective of the audience and cause them to feel a sense of uncertainty and out-of-placeness. The final and most recognizable camera work in the horror genre is the movement created via the usage of handheld recording. This shaky, distorted visual raises tensions, especially when used in running scenes, highlighting the desperation of the subject as they try to evade danger, like in Rec (2007). My groupmates and I find this more natural camera movement to potentially be something that we might like to include in a work of our own.

Sound:

    Sound is absolutely essential the horror genre, its ability to affect the audience unbeknownst to them is incredible. It is such a central part of the horror filmmaking process that a new type of sound was ingrained into the sound design of such films, referred to as non-diegetic infrasound. Infrasound is an extremely high pitched key which is often inaudible that is played during the silence of horror films, which elicits feelings of anger and anguish, setting viewers on edge in preparation of a horrific scene. When paired with the diegetic sounds of screams, the squelching of blood, the laughter of small children, the creaking of a door, or the unidentifiable sounds of something skittering around, as well as the non-diegetic sounds in the minor key for deeper noises that reverberate within the viewers, and those in the harmonic major scale is used for lighter, sharper sounds, the sounds of horror films effectively send chills up their audiences' spines.

Editing:

    Editing in horror films is also quite important for increasing the effectiveness of certain shots and scenes. For example, using blurring to distort the background is crucial to keeping things ambiguous enough to the point that the audience can speculate what is going to happen to the subject once something breaks that illusion and enters the foreground. This can be seen in the 2020 film, His House, where the primary subject is seen lying on the floor after tripping, whilst he could do nothing to fight off the figure who approached him from the blurred background. That, in turn, served the purpose of making the audience feel nervous and scared of what might happen to the poor protagonist next. Jump cutting is also used in horror films as a means of emphasizing just how quick and powerful the antagonist is, like in The Ring (2002), when the ghost crawls out of the TV. Eyeline shots are also included when subjects glance into the darkness and are unaware of something peering back at them.

Mis-Én-Scene:

    Looking first at the costumes and make-up involved in horror films, one will find that they often revealing of the time period in which the film is set. Costumes will usually be comprised of masks for the antagonist as to conceal their identity and make their appearance all the more threatening, whilst in stereotypical fashion, specific article of clothing will be assigned to particular characters. For example, in Cabin the Woods (2012), the jock is seen wearing a letterman jacket, and the innocent girl is seen wearing plain and basic clothing, although the film does use this to subvert the audience's expectations of said characters, something we seek to emulate in our own work. In more graphic horror films, special effects make-up is applied to create gore for visible wounds on injured or dead subjects, such as one might expect to see in a zombie film, like Train to Busan (2016).

    In terms of the lighting in horror films, most shots are shrouded in darkness. Using darkness to their advantage, similarly to their application of blurring, filmmakers are able to obscure certain aspects of a scene until they wish to have the big reveal or big jump scare finally pay off, as in the Poltergeist (2015). The creation of silhouettes and shadows of easily identifiable horror characters makes their appearance all the more terrifying since the audience is already aware of their presence, unlike the helpless subjects whom they cannot warn.

    

    In horror films, acting sells the plotline. Subjects truly need to seem terrified when they are in the threat of danger, completely embodying their character. This was taken to the extreme in the case of the 1980 film, The Shining, where Shelley Duvall, who played the mother of Danny and wife of Jack, was crudely mistreated on set, which the director tried to justify by saying that her isolation and feelings of desperation from real life experiences, would translate over into a better performance of her character. In fact, this led to her iconic scream in the scene where Jack tries to bust down the door with his axe, a shriek that truly indicated how petrified she was.

    Horror films are pretty standard when it comes to the type of props that are normally used, although they will differ depending on the topic of the film. In more demonic based movies, such as The Conjuring (2013), creepy dolls and wind-up toys might be used, whereas in more action-based horror movies, like Friday the 13th (1980), knives and machetes are used. Occasionally, baby cribs, chainsaws, bats, and knives might also be incorporated.

    The sets of horror films, once again, depend significantly on the story being told. They may be set in a creepy forest in more supernatural films, at a summer camp for when a serial killer is on the loose, and even in the alleyways of an otherwise busy city in the dead of night. The commonality shared between those locations is the fact that they are relatively deserted and dark, such as with the opening scene of Woman in Black (2012). Although in recent years, that ideology has been challenged with the emergence of daylight-based horror films, like Midsommar (2019) and parts of Nope (2022).

Takeaways:

    My groupmates and I really found the horror genre to be nothing short of intriguing. We particularly liked the aspects of infrasound, handheld camera movements, and eyeline shots.

We feel as though it we chose to make our film comply with the conventions of the horror genre, we would not be "...making bad decisions" (The Strokes 2020).