Tuesday, 7 September 2010

Codes and Conventions

  • Horror films are designed to frighten the audience, cause dread and alarm and play on our hidden fears. They also entertain and captivate an audience and usually end in a shocking finale.
  • The fears that horror films play on include nightmares, vulnerability, alienation, fear of death and fear of sexuality.
  • There is always a lead character that often ends up as the survivor of the film.
  • The killer/monster will usually have a trademark characteristic in the way he kills, for example, their weapon of choice or their type of victim.
  • They tend to use musical soundtracks eg. An orchestra rather than actual songs.
The modern horror film serves the same functions for teenagers that the fairy-tale serves for children. They are designed to create strong, emotional reactions, most commonly fear and dread.
There are various motives for watching horror:
- The need for excitement
- The desire to feel intense emotions
- Distraction from everyday life (escape)

There are 3 factors to appeal to males aged 15-45:
- The excitement ("sensation-seeking" by psychologists)
- The wish to see destruction
- The resolution at the end

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