Codes and Conventions of a Horror Film

The typical codes and conventions of a horror film are usually:

• Primary target audience – male, 16-24, Mainstreamers
• 15 or 18 Certification (promises of pleasure)
• Slow pace of editing and gradually builds tension up
• Clear binary opposition’s e.g. good v evil
• Use of low key lighting
• Dominant, hegemonic representation of gender: The Female Victim
• Extensive use of close up
• Incidental non-diegetic sound
• Distorted diegetic sound
• Extensive use of narrative off-screen space
• Young/teenage characters
• Use of hand-held camera: audience identification/realism
• Point of view shots
• Low angle shots
• Secluded location: place characters where there is no-one around to help them e.g. woods, abandoned house   etc.
• Characters forget about the threat of the film
• Power cuts
• Phone lines cut off
• Someone investigates a strange noise
• Victim falls over
• Vehicle won’t start
• 'The fake scare'
• Someone killed early on
• Show a different time period '5 years later'
• Storm
• Quick cuts

The bullet points in red and bold we thought we might want to portray in our own film trailer as we felt that they suited our storyline and would be the most relevant to incorporate in order to give off a typical representation of a horror film.