Generic Conventions

Generic Conventions 

We’ve fabricated a short film of genre horror and thriller. To keep the audience entertained and pulled by the movie and to make sure they knew the movie pertains to the genre horror and thriller we’ve included and applied ways in which horror and thriller movies work like.

 

We have incorporated two key characters in the short film, a victim, and a killer. For our victim we chose a teenager, as the audience would likely sympathise with them, seeing how society feels more compassion towards the youth. For our killer we’ve made them a great obstacle, making the audience question at what time and with which method the killer will attack the victim. For our short film, we’ve implemented the typical story where the victim doesn’t die but their close friends do, at the end it’s revealed the main character was involved in the disappearance of the first victim, Laura.

In Unfriended: Dark Web every person on call falls victim. For this scene in specific, the character is met his end as they sent the SWAT team to the location meeting. In 'Unfriended: Dark Web' before we find out who’s behind everything, everyone falls victim to the killer.

 

To further prove our short film as a horror film we’ve used the correct respective music to be used for a horror, thriller movie. Usually in horror movies, the sounds and music used indicate something sinister is about to happen and they add onto the creepy atmosphere building up, therefore we used fast quick tempo music but in a slow period of time, building up to the death scene of a character so we could catch the viewers’ attention. In horror movies, usually, loud sounds are used oftentimes as well therefore for the death scene, we used a loud sound effect to take the viewers’ in surprise and frighten them. The sudden loud sound would cause more reactions from the viewers, and for horror movie fans, that especially would be thrilling.

 

The same type of music, which builds up the tense atmosphere that hints to and leads to a dreadful occurrence is used in the movie: 'Scream' (1996). To emphasise the anxious atmosphere, fast paced music is used when the killer Scream is after the girl, and when she is caught the music becomes louder to further emphasise the severity of the situation and to frighten the viewers further more.

 

 In horror movies (like Saw) the main characters are forced to partake in a game prepared by the killer otherwise they will be subject to death. Oftentimes they’re isolated in locations away from crowds or civilisations, therefore perfect to carry out murders, as the characters wouldn’t be able to get any help whatsoever from no one. For example: the alleyway the main character goes to and as the characters can go nowhere as they’re secluded in their dark rooms.

 

In the movie 'Saw (2004)', for instance, the characters must play a game with an unknown character  in an isolated place or they will die. In our short film, the killer forces the characters to partake in the game or tell the truth or they’ll die. Similarly, Saw puts his victims on trial until they tell the truth or find the killer.

In horror movies, low-key lighting is used to create a sinister vibe, emphasising the nature of the horror movie. It controls the amount of how much the characters are shown as well as the situation, therefore they don’t allow to expose everything, they hint to later occurrences. After the lights go out in our short film, all the lighting is low-key and dark, changing the mood and atmosphere to a pending threat, which can happen at any time.

 

In the movie 'IT 2017' the main characters must investigate a haunted house to find the clown 'Pennywise'. The haunted house is portrayed as scary due to being powerful, dark, grim, creepy, therefore making the characters feel helpless just like how powerless it makes the characters in our short film feel like, where they are caged in their rooms.

 

In our short film, the main characters, all wore casual clothing, like ordinary people. This would allow the audience to relate to the main characters and feel like they could experience such scary occurrences as well, therefore adding to the horror effect of the short film, increasing its realistic traits.

In 'Unfriended 2014' all main characters are shown to be trapped in a situation like the one put in our short movie. We get background information on the characters before the horror occurrences take place. Similarly to our short film, the friend get together as they cannot go outside due to outbreak of the pandemic. The audience would find it easier to relate to the characters and sympathise with them, as they’d be similar to them (e.g. wearing ordinary clothes, being stuck inside due to the pandemic).

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