it's about codes and conventions of horror films

1. THE CODES AND
CONVENTIONS OF HORROR
FILMS
Sujata Gurung

2. CHARACTER TYPES
Propp found that there were certain characters in films and stories with
certain functions:
 The hero: character that goes on a quest and saves the day
 The villain: evil character that causes the disequilibrium
 The helper: character that helps the hero in the quest like a sidekick
 The victim: at the mercy of the villain
 The donor: someone who has something special which will help the
hero

3. ICONOGRAPHY
I M A G E S A N D S Y M B O L S A S S O C I A T E D W I T H G E N R E
 Lighting is expressive & non-naturalistic
 Low key lighting (dark): Unfamiliar shapes in the blackness, this can be created through lighting from bonfires, torches etc.
 Heavy makeup
(Before low budget film’s used rely on this but because of technological advancements SFX)
 Gothic setting
 Visual style: Black and Red-these are colours linked to evil and Blood (gore) relates to danger
 Symbol’s of devil e.g. the triple 6
 Monsters: vampires, mummies, shadow, werewolves (these also connote fear, disgust, terror etc.)
Props:
 Knives
 Axes
 Chainsaw
 Costumes

4.  Religion
 Psychopathic issues
 Revenge
 Supernatural
 Nightmares
 Insanity
 Lust
 Envy
 Depression
 Good vs Evil
 Self-consciousness (make you question what is
real of not-playing with the mind)
Gender (women/men)
 they are often seen to be the victims or in Slasher film known as ‘final girl’
the character is often a virgin and innocent e.g. Laurie from the film Halloween.
 In Slasher films there are violent attacks against women, particularly those
who had sex. The women are terrorized and slaughtered
 “Most monsters tend to be in fact male, especially in so far as the object of
their desire are almost exclusively women. Simultaneously it is women who are
their primary victims” Neade, 1980
 Robin Wood stated Slasher film were a “misogynist genre”
Authority:
 Most of the time authorative figures shouldn’t be trusted e.g. cops
Race:
 In Slasher films the main girl tends to be a white girl or women.
Age:
 The main protagonist usually are young adults or specifically in Slasher
films it will be a teenager.
THEMES AND
REPRESENTATIONS
Themes Representations

5. SETTINGS
 Urban environment & isolated places e.g. haunted house
 Large cities or ghost towns
 Somewhere with an eerie feeling
 Dark & gloomy
 Farms/barns (mostly western)
 Dark woods
 Houses
 Cemetery
 Dingy places e.g. narrow alleys
 Places with hidden past e.g. a story behind a mysterious place
 Basements
 hotels

6. NARRATIVE
 Cliff hangers at the end
This is because it is usually left for a possible sequel. Most horror films are a franchise e.g. Scream, Halloween etc.
 The victims attempt to free/escape from the villain. This ignites some hope for the audiences watching.
 Valdimir Propp a Russian critic interested in the narrative of folk tales, he noticed that often many folk tales were similar in
some areas. He identified the theory about characters and actions as narrative functions. And according to Propp characters have
a narrative function and they provide a structure for the text.
 Todorov’s narrative theory (structure)states that most story’s or plot lines follow the same pattern or path. There are 5 steps
in this pattern.
1. Equilibrium (balanced, normal state)
2. disequilibrium
3. Realisation
4. Restored order
5. Equilibrium again
Claude Levi-Strauss suggested that all narratives had to be
driven forward by conflict that was caused by a series of
opposing forces. This theory was called the Binary
Opposition-it describes how the main forces in narrative
have it’s equal and opposite. E.g. good/bad, right/wrong,
light/dark, man/women (these opposites create conflict)

7.  Camera work expressive and not natural
 High and low angles to connote fear
 P.O.V shots (this allows the audience to see
the world from the monster’s eyes e.g. clown face
movie (find it later)
 Sometimes with films such as the Blair Witch
project, hand held camera work is used to capture
a more realistic feel to the film.
S O U N
D
 The common feature of the sound in horror films
is to build tension and make the audience feel fear
 The pace of the sound or music can reflect what is
happening in the scene e.g. if a character is running
away really quickly from a monster the score playing
would be faster
 The tone of voice of the characters are different.
Some monsters will speak in an unnatural tone. Maybe
something strong or husky e.g. whispering
Camera Work/Visual Codes