Representation and Stereotyping in our Film

What is a Horror?

The horror genre has the intentions to frighten, scar or to haunt the audience by including some graphic or possibly unrealistic scenes which are shown in a believable way. Horror films often have fast-paced movement to build up tension and again, to scare the audience. There are many stereotypes and representations you would expect in a Horror which are shown below.

Clothing (mis-en-scene)

When thinking about representation and stereotypes, the costume was the main thing to consider as your appearance has a large impact on the way your character is perceived throughout the film. For Robyn (the young girl), we wanted her to have that look of innocence. For this reason, we chose to dress her in an old fashioned dress/nightie, which could represent childhood and a time-worn theme. And again the colour could symbolize innocence, purity and goodness. Although she is not initially shown as that kind of character, we want the audience to believe that and think positively; meaning that later on in the film, it will come as more of a shock and possibly scare them which realistically is the aim in a horror film.

However, the representation of our second character is different as we want the audience to believe that he is the villain. For this reason, the clothing we decided on was tracksuit bottoms with a work-style jacket and top, along with the hat. The hat, in fact, was used to make the character more discreet as we did not want to reveal his identity. Stereotypically, you would assume that the character is off the lower/working class.

Editing

In horror films you would expect to see alot of jump cuts to show uncertainty and to partially scare the audience by cutting quickly from one place to another; jump cuts can often be done at different angles to show a specific feature or area. This often makes the audience more engaged as they are awaiting a climax point to be revealed, where they can see something clearly rather than seconds of it. Jump cuts can have a negative representation on a character as for example, they could be shown at different angles and the fast-paced camera movement could signify many things such as urgency and panic which could suggest that something bad has been done.Another editing technique that you may see in a horror film would be cross-cutting, where the camera cuts between two situations that are happening simultaneously. This builds up tension as you would, again, stereotypically expect a tipping point where something bad happens. This is significant as it engages the audience and makes them want to watch on.

Conventions

- Fast-paced camera movement

- Jump Cuts

- Villain 

- Deaths

- Blood (gore)

- Eerie music/sound track

- Dramatic endings

Sound

Sound is significant in horror films as you would often expect non-diegetic sound as it builds up tension and makes it more scary for the audience. Although you would often expect to hear the eerie diegetic sounds, for example of a door creaking or someone screaming and these kind of sounds are important as they make the situation more realistic.

Location

Stereotypically, you would expect the location to be derelict, possibly in dark streets and narrow alleyways. These kind of areas have the representation of danger and characters often go there at their own risk. In many horror films you would see the typical abandoned house location or alternatively they would be in a completely isolated area where nobody knew about.