The Horror Genre
Target Audience:
The horror genre has a wide target audience. The horror genre is convoluted with heavy violence, thus it is a genre made for older people, however, the plot of stories are often mediocre and half thought. It is also should be taken into account that it is teenagers and young adults that favor the kind of thrill produced by the horror genre, thus the age range would be 13-25. In terms of gender, most horror movies have a male protagonist and antagonist, they also have lots of violence. The culmination of these to factors makes horror movies for males more than females. Finally, the economic status is most likely non-existent as the people who watch this genre are not typically holding a job but a good range would be low middle class. Thus, the target audience is males at the ages of 13 to 25.
Genre Conventions:
There are many typical conventions of the horror genre. The main staple of the genre consists of the jump scare. The jump scare is a culmination of many factors of production. The first factor would be the sound, the jump scare is usually paired with a shepherd tone to build anticipation. When the jump scare is revealed a loud sound is usually displayed, or a scream by either victim or antagonist. In terms of camera shots, mid shots and long shots are usually displayed as it is easier to hint the jump scares with stuff in the environment. These are regarded as bread crumbs which consists in the composition/ mise-en-scene of the production. The mise-en-scene usually consists of the color red to represent blood. The color black usually blends in with the essence of darkness, night, shadow, or evil. In terms of costume design, most regular characters have normal clothes on while the antagonist has a mask or some distinguishable feature that defines them. This would be Jason or Michael's mask or Freddy Krueger's claws. Editing in horror films are usually fast and include a lot of continuity editing to keep the audience engaged.
Institutional Conventions:
The genre of horror follows mostly the same narrative themes/ devices. In the narrative, the story usually takes place in a town or building and the set town/ building is usually haunted or cursed. The plot usually follows some teenager or adult trying to enjoy themselves until the antagonist appears as an entity trying to murder the protagonist. The plot usually goes with the protagonist and their friends trying to survive the frenzy of murders occurring by the antagonist until at the end of the movie where they are killed. It is typical that the writers bring back the villain in hopes of a sequel. The genre also typically uses supernatural themes such as resurrections or prophecies. In terms of marketing, most horror movies try to use a franchise to gage automatic interest. The trailers usually showed the protagonist, introduced the conflict, and riddled a few jump scares to get some audience members. There's not much to say in terms of marketing tactics aside from the fact that most of these movies release during Halloween to appeal to the spirit.
Film Samples:
The first Example of a horror movie would be John Carpenter's "Halloween" (1978). The plot of Halloween follows Laurie Strode, a teenager, trying to survive the onslaught of Michael Myers, a white faced killer who spends his time terrorizing the town of Haddonfield, Illinois. This movie follows typical horror conventions, there is a lot of blood after victims are murdered and the color orange floods the movie due to the Halloween setting. The main antagonist, Michael Myers, also sports an iconic white mask with black clothing to show how evil he is. The movie has many jump scares and Laurie Strode and other victims are always dressed like normal teenagers/ adults for the time.
Another example of a horror movie would be Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980). The film follows the Torrance family going to a hotel up in Colorado. The plot follows the father, Jack Torrance become insane from the supernatural secrets of the hotel whilst his son Danny discovers more about his super natural powers deemed "Shining". The film is seen often using red hues and shepherd tones. It Hotel has dark secrets which follows the haunted setting trope.
