Hello! Moving forward I really wanted to disect the genre I am working with and establish the codes and conventions. My film genre will mainly be horror and with that comes many qualifications. A few typical codes and conventions of horroe films are jump scares, low key lighting, dark colour palettes, young children, and secluded locations. One of the conventions of a horror film is featuring specific common fears. These often include; Nightmares, alienation, vunrablity, death, fear of the unknown, and loss of identity. These will often be related to the main characters persona or background. When watching a horror film the audience will go through five stages of fear, this is what makes the best horror films!
(1) Terror – The terror stage is characterized by it’s ability to evoke anxiety and anticipation in the viewer. More than simply show the viewer a concrete threat or danger, the fear is directed towards a situation and possible danger further on. The rhythm is slow but tends to rise as the stage proceed.
(2) Horror – The horror stage is characterized by sudden- ness and fast pace. The fear is directed towards a present danger such as another character or object. It is fast paced and used to startle and/or chock the viewer.
(3) Repulsion – Characterized by evoking the feeling of disgust and detachment in the viewer. The emotion can be di- rected to either an object or a situation. It could contain mo- ments showing, physical pain, gore, unacceptable social be- havior or aversive stressful situations, such as being trapped in the dark.
(4) Recovery – Evokes a feeling of safety after dealing with a threat. It can also be the realization of something that gives hope to solve a problem or that the threat is not a treat anymore.
(5) Background – This stage is associated with the feeling of safety, and there will never be any sense of danger. How- ever, other emotions that are not related to fear, disgust or anxiety can also be found, such as happiness or sadness.
These five stages are essential to creating an amazing horror film! I will have these in mind when creating my film. Keep you posted !
Ameier 