Horror Film Convention

Setting:
Horror films are usually set in abandoned houses, haunted houses, somewhere remote/deserted or somewhere that has a haunted past. A horror film is usually set at night because its harder to see things therefore it makes it scarier. When the director does this he/she means to create tension and make you jump but at the same time make your eyes glued to the film so you can see what is going to happen.

Characters:
Typical horror films have typical characters because they are classics and because we expect to see them as we are used to seeing what happens to them; when the director purposely lets you know what is going to happen to them your natural instinct is to shout and scream at the character through the screen even though they cant hear you. The typical characters are; the innocent one who usually survives, the blonde who is the dumb one and dies first, the popular guy who everyone turns to for help, support and comfort and of course the killer who is the person who was hurt or has a hurtful past and wants to punish everyone or haunt them and tries to kill everyone.

Sounds:
Sound is important because it creates tension and builds suspense. The sound can be very different as it can be high pitched or low pitched, fast or slow and loud or quiet. Each one of these gives off a different feeling depending on what the scene is. Sound can also make the audience react because of the suddenness of the music and the way it changes.

Camera angles:
The camera and the way it is used plays a big part in horror films because it is used to capture the audience attention and is usually used to stimulate reactions out if the audience. There is a lot of camera angles but here are a few:

Point of view: 
Which is when you are made to feel you are the character as you are seeing what they are seeing. This is a good technique because it makes you feel what the character feels and this is what the director wants.

Close up's:
Which is when you have a close up view of the character to see something specific such as their facial expression you would have the camera close to their face to see and understand their facial expression. This is good if you want to exaggerate the character and what you want the audience to see so they have an opinion or interpretation.

Low camera:
 Angle is also good because it makes the character look overpowering as they seem big because you are looking up at them. The fact that you are looking up as if you are the character you feel how the character is feeling which would be small and unimportant and intimidated by the other character as they are much bigger. This is the directors intention.