WHAT ARE THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF HORROR?

WHAT ARE THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF HORROR?

Props Characters

Setting Mise en scene

Camera Sound Other

Weapons, knife

Young people, teenagers and children, ghosts, spirits, vampire, killer (usually male),

Isolated areas, woods/forest, country side

Low key lighting, colors red and black, blood, chiaroscuro lighting, overall dark and dull,

Extreme close up to emphasize to object or person, tilt to create confusion, establishing shot, handheld giving a sense of verisimilitude, tracking, point of view, low and high angles to show a conflict between the superior and inferior.

Slow when something mysterious is about to happen but fast when there is action, screaming

Short takes (editing), psychological (sub genre)

Annabelle (2014)

Annabelle is a horror film, directed by John R. Leonetti. Annabelle is about a man who gave a doll to his wife as a gift. One day, their home was invaded by satanic cultists. This led to violence and terror.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp0hXdmpTJA

The teaser trailer of the film ‘Annabelle’ starts with a fade in to the logo of the companies involved in producing and distributing the film. The companies are Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema which as both owned by Time Warner (conglomerate). This implies that the film is major film as the companies are major companies. The score starts off with the logos. The score sounds joyful and cheerful.There is a fade to black then fade to an establishing shot of the setting. At this moment, everything seems fine and there is a sense of verisimilitude.There is a medium shot of a woman walking into a bright and colorful room. The use of medium shot allows the audience to realize that she is pregnant. This makes the audience feel sympathy towards her because she is seen as vulnerable. We realize the room she walked into is the room for her new baby.

Her husband comes with a big box. The audience would wonder what he has bought for her. We the box is opened, she looks very excited and pleased. This is shown through the use of medium/close up of the woman. Her happiness is also portrayed through the use of diegetic sound (dialogue). She sys “Oh my God John”. She says it very gladly, which is demonstrated in her tone of voice (high pitched).

There is a medium/close up of the doll that allows the audience the examine the doll. The costume of the doll makes the doll seem innocent as there are the colors red and white used. White symbolizes purity and red symbolizes love. However, the fact that the doll has heavy make up is strange. This is because it ruins the innocence of the doll in which dolls are meant to be. There is a medium shot of the woman placing the doll next to the other dolls. This juxtaposes the new doll to the other dolls. The other dolls do have make up but the new one is extreme compared to the other dolls. This scares the audience as they think the doll is not as innocent as they thought it was. The doll next to the new one has a little rose on her dress compared to the huge rose on the new doll’s dress. The juxtaposition is a convention of horror as it allows the audience the compare dolls. The convention has been used in this way to create a tense atmosphere.

There is a cut to black and we see a title (producer of the film – James Wan) then cut to the next medium shot of the woman sleeping. The score changes. It is tense and mysterious. The score is a convention of horror and is used to create enigma. The audience realize something is wrong so start to get scared. The use of low key lighting is a convention of horror and is used to create an anxious atmosphere. The ambient sound of the heavy wind makes the situation usual.

The camera moves from the woman to the window. Unexpectedly, there is blood on the window. Blood is a convention of horror and is used to create a sense that danger is close by. The score adds to this as it starts again with a high volume all of a sudden. The score is in time with the blood. At this point the audiences are frightened. There is a scream, which is also a convention of horror. This is used to attract the audience and grab their attention. This is because it happens all of a sudden and they have no choice but to pay attention to what is going on. The audiences see a man with a knife in the same place. A knife is a typical prop used in horror films. The use of knife builds the feeling of terror the audience already has. There is cut to black. The use of cutting to black implies there is something odd and strange. This scares the audience as they do not know what is going to happen.

The woman wakes up and tells her husband that she heard a scream. The use of dialogue (diegetic sound) frightens the audience as her voice sounds worried. The use of match on action of the husband opening the door emphasizes that he is going. This terrifies the audience as they would think that something might happen to him as well. The woman walks and there is a voice. The voice whispers “I like your dolls”. We cannot see the person

saying it which makes us panic and we thought the woman was alone in her house. The whisper builds suspense because it feels as if there is some sort of secret about the dolls. There is a medium shot of a woman holding a doll. The use of low key lighting prevent the audience from seeing her face. The low key lighting is used in this way to grab the audiences attention. This is because the audience would want to see her face. As she is an unexpected character, the audience would panic because they do not know what the woman can do. The this moment the music is tense and suspicious.

The woman stutters “my husband is coming back”. The fact that she stutters makes the audience feels afraid too as they realize that she is petrified. A man with blood on his clothes appears behind her. Again, blood is a convention and is used in this way to make the audience realize that he might be the killer of the film, creating a tense atmosphere. The blood also makes the audience be sure that the woman is in danger and the man would hurt her. There is cut to black, which makes the audience wonder what he could do to her. The audience feels sympathy towards the woman because they believe she is vulnerable.

There is a constant change between a black screen and some actions that are not clear. This is because of the constant short takes. Short takes are a convention of horror and is used in this way because it grabs the audiences attention. This is because they do not know what is going on as the screen quickly cuts to black. This makes the sequence fast.

The camera zooms in to the woman holding the doll on the floor with the doll again. This makes us panic and we think there is some sort of connection between the doll and the woman. The woman has blood all over her. The medium shot allows us to see the letter A on the wall written with blood. This makes the audience wonder what is special and unique about that letter.The camera zooms in the doll and the audience realize it is the new doll the man bought for his wife. The blood on the woman drips onto the doll. This is shown through the use of slow motion. The slow motion emphasizes the dripping of the blood. Blood is a convention of horror and creates a tense atmosphere. This is because the blood used in this way could imply that the woman’s evilness is passing onto the doll. This therefore leads the audience to worry. When the blood drips, the score starts. The score starts in time with the blood dripping. The blood dripping implies that the doll’s innocence is gone and evil has entered. As the camera zooms in, the blood goes into her eyes, suggesting the evilness has gone through her and evilness is spreading. This makes the audience timid because they do not know what is special about that doll and what the couple is going to do.

Overall, this trailer has used a range of conventions to reach their target audience. The conventions used is to establish the genre, horror. This is because the main purpose of a horror trailer is to make the audience frightened.