CONVENTIONS AND SUB –GENRES OF HORROR

SCREAMINGAn

earsplitting scream can be heard from the lone female in the clip. It shows fear and builds tension

for the audience as they are just waiting for the jump.

IDENTIFIABLE COSTUMEMicheal Jacksons red costume is widly known as the ‘Thriller’ costume. It can be recognised really easily and is often the outfit choice for duplicate performances.

GOOD VS EVILThere is an obvious contrast between good and evil shown through mise-en scene, camerawork and sound. This contrast makes it easier for the audience to understand the story and it makes it more intesnse as the opposing sides are at eaither end of the spectrum, a monster and a young girl.

USE OF SOUNDThe sound in this section builds and builds. In the first picture, the sound begins, quiet and slow. At the sight of the threat it build and gets more high frequency and continues to build whilst all the time zombie groans are heard. In the final section (the alst picture) two high pitched, really loud notes are heard. This builds tension in the audience and they begin to expect a scare.

EERIE SETTINGEerie settings help create the over all feel of the short film. It instantly puts the characters in a situation that is not ideal without any other features like a mythical creature also adding to the horror and tension.

UNKNOWN KILLERThe outlines give the impression that the killer is unidentifiable as you cannot see any specific features. This creates fear of the killer as the victim cannot work out exactly what they are running from, building tension as the scene progresses.

LONE FEMALEThe lone female is often established quickly within the film. She is easy to pick out of from a group of friends as she is usually level-headed, perceptive of danger and intelligent. In this, the female is portrayed as being vulnerable and easy to capture as both females get caught in a short space of time. The audience feel empathy for her as she is on her own and its like they are with her running from the werewolf boyfriend and the zombie mob.

CHASEA chase of some sort is likely to break out. In this case there are two, both females are running from the killer. This creates suspense as the victim faces problems like not knowing where to go as the killer is following them on their trail. The victim is usually caught at the end if they are not quick enough or they simply chose the wrong way to run. The fast paced scene makes the audience feel fear as they know what is about to happen and they are just waiting for it to happen.

REFLECTING SOCIETY’S FEARS

Tens of thousands of teenagers became hippies after the drug LSD was leaked out of labs and onto the streets. They became rebels and challenged traditions including marriage, child rearing and religion. Women used birth-control pills, which allowed them to experiment sexually and teenagers everywhere began protesting over things that were otherwise unspoken like about the wars and why there was not peace. This hippie movement worried the elder generations as they had not yet been faced with such rebellious behaviour. These teenagers were asking questions that the government did not want answering and parents were losing control over their once traditional families. These caused upset and confusion as more and more voices were speaking out and finally being heard. In the music video, you see a complete transformation of a normal teenage boy turn into a ravenous monster. This reflects the transition that was going on in society with teenagers transforming into a new and completely separate generation.

WEAPONSWeapons are used to establish the type of killing, whether it is intimate or simply just to kill. A knife or sharp object often reflects a relationship or connection that is strong between the killer and the victim where as, like in Saw , a contraption or gun represents a distance between the characters. In this case, the claws and teeth represent that they know each other and it is personal as he is a werewolf and she is his prey as it means he has to get close to make the kill rather than being able to do it from a distance.

YOUNG VICTIMSThe horror genre has a young audience, therefore, by using young characters the audience are able to identify with them more easily (on of the 5 main reasons why we use media according to the Uses An Gratifications Thoery) and therefore allows them to easily empathise with the characters. This will then mean that the fear will be stronger as they have placed themselves in the shoes of the victim and will therefore heighten their experiences with the horror film. For example, the characters in thriller are young on dates at night, something a lot of teenagers would have been able to relate to.

BLOODThe audience expect to see blood within the horror genre. By seeing this it will establish their expectations as it represents death and often gore as it splatters or roles out in some form when almost everyone is killed (depends on the type of course).This will mean that after the viewing they are more likely to be satisfied.

LUTON BUS SHOCKThe Luton bus shock is when a character is made to “jump” at a sound or something else but when they go to actually see what it was it is something ordinary like when a character sees something in the reflection but it turns out to be their child or something likewise. In Thriller, two of these are used, right at the end and right at the beginning. This forces the audience to feel tension as they now do not know when the next surprise will be and if it will be a real shock or something that will make them feel slightly silly for being scared.

ISOLATION AND DARKNESS

As, according the British Psychologists Society, four out of every ten adults are still afraid of the dark. This would mean that when the setting is dark, it would create an actual fear within the audience by playing on a common general fear. This will add to the real feel of the film and will make it seem scarier than if it was in the day.

Sub Genres Of HorrorCREEPY KIDS

RAMPANT ANIMALS

PARANORMAL

SCIENCE FICTION

SUPERNATURAL

SLASHER

EROTIC

GORENOGRAPHY

DARK FANTASY

SATANIC

GOTHIC

THRILLER

COMEDY

PSYCHOLOGICAL

THEORYDaniel Chandler•Genre is defined by conventions.

Jonathon Culler•A contract exists between creator and audience concerning audience expectations of genre.

Rick Altman•Genre allows texts to appeal to different audiences. •Genre can be defined in terms of media language.

Tom Ryall •Genre guides effect the production of the media text.

Steve Neale •Audience expectations help them understand the texts.•Genre creates grantees of meaning and pleasure.