Alternative to a Diary: Genre Research on Horror

While horror can be enjoyed by any and all ages, the typical target audience for this genre tends to be younger people such as teenagers and young adults from 15-25 years old.

Genre conventions are common elements, themes, and/or styles that make up a genre and for horror, there are several that can be listed both content-wise and production-wise.

Starting off with content, this genre usually includes isolation, victim versus monster, and violence. Isolation can be both physical and psychological as characters can be separated from society in an empty and quiet location but they can also be going through something mentally that others cannot see or relate to. Since protagonists and antagonists in the horror genre are more extreme than in other genres, victim versus monster is an accurate description as the main character is usually victim to whoever or whatever is chasing them down. Another tough style that makes up this genre is violence which refers to the fighting, attacking, blood, gore, and other kinds of brutality as they are typically displayed in horror, varying in graphicness.

Genre conventions related to production tend to consist of lighting, camera techniques, and sounds. The lighting used in this genre tends to be lower/darker since little to no visibility creates a sense of vulnerability and bad omen to both the characters and the audience in the genre. Moving onto the shots and movements used, every film incorporates close-up shots, sometimes extreme close-up shots, and quick tilts and pans to make a production appear more chaotic and even produce fear. Additionally, the sounds used are very versatile as it can be very quiet and creepy to make a film ominous or extremely loud and terrifying to create jump scares and get reactions out of the characters and audience.

Marketing within the horror genre are also pretty similar for the majority of horror films. Typical institutional conventions include heart-racing trailers, unsettling posters, and interactive promotions. For every horror movie trailer, there tends to be scenes that include the antagonist, snippets of jump scares, and violence to promote the movie as fearful but also interesting to keep the audience from getting bored and hooked onto the production. The posters for horror movies also tend to include the protagonist and/or antagonist in it or at least a disturbing element of the film to make viewers feel unease, a common example being even the simple color of red. Interactive promotions can be a puzzle posted onto social media or someone hired to promote the movie in person by wearing something or performing an action that relates to the movie being marketed to reel in more viewers.

Film Sample & Analysis #1: Smile 2 (2024)

Smile 2 is a spectacular example when it comes to genre and institutional conventions. The main character of the movie is isolated psychologically from the rest of the world as she is cursed with a demonic mental illness that is constantly hunting and tearing her down, an example of victim versus monster. This curse causes violent hallucinations which sometimes leads to violent in-real-life actions that are graphic and discomforting. While the movie is mostly brighter lighting, there's a few parts where dark lighting is used to emphasize the horror in the scene or lead up to jump scares where close-up shots, fast tilts/pans, and loud bursts of sound are used to create them. When it came to marketing the movie, there were several unique types of promotion such as hiring actors to smile creepily for long periods of time at people in public, an EP of songs by the main character of the movie who is a pop star, and shirts/sweaters with a world tour/concert dates as the designs.

Film Sample & Analysis #2: Don't Breathe (2016)

Don't Breathe is a mostly quiet movie since the antagonist of the movie is a blind murderer and relies on hearing, causing the main character to be as quiet as possible which is also an example of victim versus monster. They are isolated physically since the movie takes place in a low-populated neighborhood and inside a dark and empty house. The movie uses mostly dark lighting as a representation of the low visibility that the antagonist has to deal with. In addition, there are several close ups and pans to create suspense within the film as well as increased sounds to emphasize the antagonist's enhanced hearing. As for the marketing for the movie, the poster shows the main character covering her mouth, showing that she's not breathing to avoid being heard by the antagonist (as seen above).