Genre Conventions for Final Project
1. What genre have you selected and what is the history of that genre? What were key landmark films for this genre and why were they so impactful? Important actors, directors, etc. for the genre. Be as detailed as possible.
The genre me and my group have decided to do our final project on is horror, we believe this will be the easiest to portray and make look professional. Horror has a very old history, in fact it even dates back to ancient Greek and Rome. Back then they would use demons, evil spirits, and the afterlife to portray the … film. The true essence of horror existed in folk lore and the lessons imbedded in stories to make children listen. While the genre itself had been used for centuries, it is believed that the creator of the horror genre was Horace Walpole. He is famous for a novel he wrote in 1764, which was considered the first of the gothic genre. He was the first person to put horror into a legitimate story form. The film production of horror didn’t start till 1890 and it was thanks to Georges Méliès. Georges was one of the first people to really take to the concept of cinema and film. He was excellent at portraying the horror genre because of his discoveries and production of special effects. The classic elements that would be found in almost every horror film were suspense, fear, violence, gore, and the supernatural. Characters such as witches, werewolves, vampires, and ghost would usually be found in early versions of horror film. Some interesting concepts that started to be introduced into horror after it had been developed a little was phycological. This is a Battle of minds, when two or more people fight by using brains and intellect. Such an effect could also be created by leaving the view to thing after what they just saw on the screen. A great example of this would be Frankenstein's monster, this was a very popular book written when the black death swept over England. Later it was adapted into a film and became widely popular. It is true that it has a big Monster and romance all good elements of a story but the real reason it excelled so wonderfully is because the idea of a creation killed of betray thing creator is something to think about. According to history horror was not just ghouls and ghosts but also by making the audience think of things that scare but excitement.
2. What are some common conventions of the genre you chose? How will these conventions affect the production of your Final Project? Please refer back to our notes we took earlier in the course about genre conventions and make sure to be detailed in your explanation of them.
Conventions of horror are invoking terror into the viewer; this could be created by fear of the unknown or a good jump scare. A lot of horror films have a way of causing dread, this is easily done by playing some eerie music and having a charter walk down a dark hallway. The audience is constantly waiting for something to happen so that wait is growing their fear for what could happen. These kinds of films also try to have things people are commonly scared of to have a higher chance of invoking more fear. For example, some stuff that usually happens is the setting will be dark or at night, the character will be alone, and there will be no way of contacting for help. These tropes play on people fear of the dark, being alone, and not having a way to get help, in all fairness these are scary things. Horror loves to give you a feeling of unease and unrest, this stands true even at the ending of the films. With horror this can go two ways typically when trying to have a shocking finally. The first one is about ¾ ways through the film everything is resolved and its okay. This relaxed feeling you have is goanna make the feeling when the antagonist gets back up after being knocked out even worse. The other typical way horror can portray the endings is by having something small at the end showing that there is still something out there and the film ending on a cliff hanger. The film me and my group hope to make will play on multiple of these conventions. We intend to create a repeating doors effect, and the character will be alone. There is a dark hallway that will be the main source of creepiness. Since we are only creating an opening to the story there will not being an ending but rather an end scene. This scene will be directly after showing the main character has no way of getting out of the house. It will show their phone ringing in their car where they accidentally left it. This ending effectively made the viewer feeling like there is no way for the character to get help. It also plays on many conventional horror tropes.
3. Find 3 examples of opening sequences for films in your genre. Explain how these films conform or don't to the conventions of opening sequences as a whole and to their genre as well. Please include the links to these examples in your blog post.
The link above is for the opening scene of the movie Scream, it is a great example to see for the Horror genre. In only the first five minutes of the film it already portrayed multiple common tropes used in horror movies. Such as the setting being at night, for one may people are afraid of the dark. Also, the night symbolizes the unknown, and that also scares people. Another thing is that the main character is a young girl who is alone and in a scary situation, this shows vulnerability. All of this together allows for the film to scare the viewers while simultaneously keeping their attention.
The opening link above is for the opening sequence of Beetlejuice. In the first three minutes of the film, it was a typical opening sequence. It goes through the town where it takes place allowing for credits to roll. In the last couple of seconds of the sequence we get to see a little of the main character's personality as he saves a spider. While there were no horror conventions being showcased this is still a stereotypical opening for horror. By having the atmosphere be calming, and the main character seem nice it will be all the more scary when the horror starts later.
The link above is to the opening scene of a horror movie known as Smile. It went straight into the action there was no for-play before the story began. For an opening scene it definitely succeeded in making the viewer feel fear and unease. Usually, it is more common to have a bit of an into to add to the unrest by making the audience wait. However for this particular seen by not having background knowledge of what was happening, made it more scary. This was definitely one of the best opening horror scenes I have seen
4. After all of this research about your genre, what are your plans with your Final Project to try and align yourself as close as possible with your chosen genre?
For my group's final project, we plan to do a repeating door sequence to add to the audience's anxiety, there will not be gore in our film. Our establishing shot will be in the front window of the car that the main character is in. We will do a traveling shot of 180 degrees to the back side window then we intend to give the film the feel that the camera passed through the window to the back seat. From the back seat we will see the main charter alone in the car where they will be turning off the song superstition. To show the mental state of the main character we will show them throwing the phone then we will focus on the letter in their passenger seat. The letter will be out of focus because the details of it are unimportant but there will be an envelope showing the word condolences. This will let the audience know that the main character just lost someone important to them and we hope it will give the effect that it is their house the character is at. Character A will walk up to the house but constantly look nervous and hesitant but when they get to the door, they will take deep breaths to show how they are feeling. The door will be open which will be unexpected, and they will walk in the house we are goanna make sure to emphasize on the door shutting because it will be foreboding. When the character gets inside, they are goanna walk to a creepy dark hallway and try to turn on the light but it's not goanna work. So, they will look for their phone to use the flashlight, but they won't be able to find it. Then when they go to the front door to leave, they end up coming out of one of the rooms in the hallway instead. This sequence will be repeated about three times, each time the character will look more and more paranoid. The final shot in the house will be the main character opening the front door and just looking through to the other side to just see the hallway. They will look defeated and then we will cut the scene to show the inside of the car. In there the characters' phone will be ringing showing the contact caller to me mom and when the phone screen turns black that will be the end of the opening scene. For an oping scene this works really well, due to the fact it leaves a lot of things to work with when creating the rest of the movie. For example, who died, the mom might come to the house, and why can't the character get out. Our film will be scary by playing the viewers' mind rather than showing gore.
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