Genre Conventions

Horror conventions can be broken down into six categories; settings, technical codes, iconography, narrative structure, character types and themes. 

Settings

               Horror often takes different directions when regarding its setting. Through thorough research and my personal experience of horror, I believe that there are two significant types of settings that distinctly stand out. One form of setting is a location that viewers can relate to and find familiar to places they know in their own lives ie residential areas, quite commonly suburban. These types of settings can be used to create a sense of a connection between the audience and the film, and therefore, when the more frightening parts in the movie begin, it can create a more realistic fear for the viewer and perhaps put ideas in their heads such as "That house looks a lot like my house, what if that could happen to me?". Some examples of films that use these types of settings are Halloween which uses suburban areas, Friday the 13th which uses a camping trip and Final Destination which uses many recognizable locations including aeroplanes, theme parks and even large bridges. Settings with a dark past are extremely common in horror movies, such as a house where someone was murdered, or where a significant horrible event is said to have taken place. This is the case in Halloween. 
               The other significant form of setting are ones that distinctly go out of their way to be unfamiliar, with threatening vibes and a sense of danger. Some common examples of these settings include asylums, abandoned warehouses and otherworldly locations. While these sorts of settings don't create familiarity with the viewer, it can create a further fear in the sense of mysteriousness and entering the unknown. Some notable films include; the Saw franchise which uses abandoned warehouses, Insidious which introduces a dark realm where demons live and Cabin in the Woods which uses an underground facility.
              

Technical Codes

                 Camerawork and editing is key in making a successful horror movie. It is vital to edit the scenes in a way that builds up tension and this is usually achieved by having a speedy pace of shots with the use of cuts rather than any other transition. Camera angles need to be expressive with high angles and low angles, creating a disorientating effect on the viewer. Close ups and Extreme Close Ups are vital in showing facial expressions of fear and horror. Point of view shots are common to put the audience in the victims eyes, but it can also be used to put the audience in the antagonist's eyes too, which can raise questions around the idea of audience identification. Sound is also important, contrasts are important in horrors as it helps direct us to how we should be feeling and when we should be feeling fear. For example, a sharp dissonant piano chord can signal the approach of a threatening antagonist.

Iconography

                  Iconography is used in horror to signify certain themes and ideas, usually distinguishing the differences between what is implied to be innocence and what is implied to be evil. Although some of the occasional horror films attempt to challenge these ideas to make the audience to further consider what is trying to be shown, there is a default format to most examples of horror which uses certain iconography to portray to a viewer the contrast between good versus bad. Some iconography of good and innocence could be the female gender, children and light colours such as white. Women are commonly represented in the media as being the less dominant gender and, in a non-sexist way, weak and less powerful when compared to men, however, this is also often challenged by leaving a 'final girl' at the end (another recurring icon to the horror genre) who is often masculinized with certain traits such as having a unisex name such as 'Laurie' in Halloween. Children and items related to children are shown in the media to represent innocence due to their young age and ignorance to the big bad world, although this is often also challenged to create a juxtaposition such as in the film Child's Play, where the antagonist is a child's doll named Chuckie. An icon of evil in the horror genre is an antagonist which doesn't fit the social norm of what we expect of a character. What I mean by this is that, the 'baddy' that goes after the innocent people will usually have a physical trait that makes him/her distinguished and 'different', whether this means they wear a mask, have a disfigured face or are just a completely different species/entity entirely. Some common examples of different entities are zombies, vampires, ghosts, werewolves, clowns and monsters (all being icons of the horror genre). Other icons are used to also set the horror vibes that we feel when watching a scary movie, such as the use of nighttime and darkness, enclosed spaces, unpleasant/crooked buildings and many more. These types of icons are often used during scenes that the director intends to create tension and fear due to the majority of viewers having them linked with those emotions in their brain from their own personal lives.

Narrative Structure

                   The narrative structure to horror films usually involves the basic Todorov 'Equilibrium, Disequilibrium, Recognition of Disequilibrium' etc. but with the exception that the majority of the time, there isn't a new equilibrium. This is usually in order to leave an open ending that affects the audience even after the film, or to allow the addition of a sequel. With sub-genres such as slasher, the use of narrative is fairly formulaic and are often criticized for being 'predictable' and 'unoriginal', although this is not the case with all. Some horror movies can completely diverge from the traditions and make up their own original narrative structure with all sorts of bends and twists in the storylines. One example I can think of for this is the 'Saw' series, often heavily criticized for being a franchise consisting of just gore and disgusting explicit scenes, yet there is always an extremely well thought out backstory at the end of each feature which I myself find extremely interesting and unpredictable.

Character Types

                   The protagonist is, more often than not, a female character who is always left to be the final character alive in the film. This main character will almost always be accompanied by a group of friends who one by one get picked and killed by the antagonist until it is only her that's left, with the antagonist being male. This whole contrast between having a female protagonist and male antagonist works well at demonstrating a power balance between the two genres due to the representation that the male gender is stronger and more dominant than the female gender, which helps to further create the illusion that the antagonist is more powerful and should definitely be feared. The protagonist and friends are often portrayed as dumb, immoral teens with the main character being the more moral, clever one (while not necessarily being the most powerful in the group of friends), while the antagonist is often older and either mentally challenged or with a different set of values when compared with the average human, depending on who/what the antagonist is. The antagonist is, more often than not, portrayed as being intelligent and able to outsmart the protagonists, creating more reason to feel threatened. Some other types of characters often shown by the horror genre include children, law enforcement or other higher authorities who are useless in helping the protagonists, the "have a go" hero who will try and take the role of the main protagonist but ends up failing, the mad scientist/professor who abuses their power and creates evil (whether it be intentional or not) and the people who refuse to accept or believe that the protagonist is in danger, however, this again is often portrayed by law enforcers and other higher authorities. 

Themes

                 The use of binary opposition is monumentally used in horror, showing distinctions between such themes as;

• Good vs Evil
• Dark vs Light
• Known vs Unknown 
  Having these oppositions can help a viewer understand the contrasts in the films they are watching, and give them the ability to understand the ideas that the producers may be intending to show on a deeper level. A good example of this is a film such as 'The Thing' which was seemingly indenting to warn people about the hidden threat of communism.