Codes and Conventions - M3.

The codes and conventions of horror movies and how they're being used.

Major ways the advertising methods meet the codes and conventions of the horror genre:

During the many years of watching horror movies and my overall interest of horror movies, knowing and finding about more codes and conventions of horror movies wasn't too hard for me. This is how they have been used in the advertisements: 

A stereotypical setting for horror movies is usually somewhere secluded where no one can hear find them. This is because it allows the movie to show that the heroes have less hope of survival. The advertisements show that the setting of the movie is in an abandoned mental asylum, this is from the trailer and the reddit posts which mention this. This shows that the advertisements meet this convention of the horror genre.
Another convention of the horror genre is loss of power and therefore, loss of light. This is common in the horror genre because it means that it's harder to see. This makes the viewer try to look harder at the screen to see what's happening allowing jump scares to be more effective. This is used in the advertising as in the trailer, my character is shown walking down a dark corridor due to there being a loss of power. This means that the advertising meets the convention of a horror movie here too.

Another thing commonly seen in horror movies is the investigation of something. This is generally seen later in horror movies causing in the group of characters splitting up. This is shown perfectly by the movie, Cabin in The Woods which makes fun of all the horror stereotypes, codes and conventions all in one. In the movie, the character who is seen in the Insane Asylum at the beginning is investigating the place. This means that although he didn't investigate when there was a known presence, there's still a form of investigation which forces his friends to all head out and investigate his disappearance.


The Spotify advert includes Foley sounds. This was done by Tom Evans, Tom Hodgetts and myself all making sounds through a microphone to try and convey the conventions of horror movies by trying to create a sense of panic through these Foley sounds. This was good because it means that we can make these sounds without too much difficulty too. Horror movies are full of ominous sounds and panic, that's why this method fits perfectly into the codes of and conventions of the horror genre.

Minor ways the advertising meets the codes and conventions of the horror genre (Points that were used in the script for the pitch): 

Our advertising meets the codes and conventions of a horror movie because of the format of the advertising. The trailer will include snippets of the opening scene and other scenes, these are scenes full of darker colours as it gives a sense of mystery. It also allows the mood to be set. This is shown by how in movies such as Halloween, the movie is very dark and hard to see, this keeps the suspense high and makes the viewer want to see more.  This is what will happen to our movie just like our advertising for the trailer because it shows the viewers what they will get, the dark themes depict horror movies perfectly because it's what you'd expect from horror movies.

We met the codes and conventions of horror movies through the audio by having ominous sounds. This reels the user in because it makes them want to know what was happening. In the audio, there's foot steps, doors slamming and screaming. This would make a listener interested and therefore, want to find out more. Mystery is a large aspect to the horror genre because nothing is clear a large portion of the movies, such as: Who is the killer in scream, why does Jigsaw torture people, and what is leather faces mask made of. All of these become revealed later on just like our Spotify audio clip would.

For the twitter and Reddit, they would have creepy stories to try and reel in the user, they would feature rather horror based scenes such as something trying to be scary but also trying to be realistic.