Codes and Conventions of Horror Film

German Expressionism, Film noir and

the influence on horror film

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM• German Expressionism appears in Germany during 1920s, it refers

to a number of artistic movements.• It concentrate on the reality, but it does not have a direct relation

of life.• In cinema, German expressionism focus on objects surround us in

daily life, such as the sharp angles, great heights, and crowd environments of buildings.

• Shadows and silhouettes were being used in German expressionism.

• German expressionist film create a meaning of darkness and disillusionment.

• It rejects the realism, using new visual style such as high contrast and simple editing, dramatic lighting and camera angles to highlight a particular affect in that world, a very good example of genre that German Expressionism film always present is horror.

• Reasons why we are focusing on German expressionism could be because the effects of filming and lighting were used to produce horror films in particular, and these methods could be used in our own work that we produce.

• German expressionist films were reflected to the German’s feeling after the World War 1 and before the World War 2, which is madness.

German Expressionism Fritz Lang

• the Master of Darkness, popular films: “Metropolis”, “M”.• Combining popular genres to create an unique mixture of popular

entertainment with art cinema.• Left Germany, moved to United States because of the testament

of Dr.Mabuse was being banned.• Worked in MGM studio in United States, main genre of films he

made there was crime, which is also known as film noir.• Film noir in United States in that day was a B movie (not much

budget). • The reason why he had to make film noir in United States was

because there’s much more European language cinema in that day, many creative film makers who have moved to United States were planned by the studios in the United States to make film noir, which was a B movie.

• Therefore, this new genre of film is a unrealistic and psychological film, which exactly reflect to those film makers by Mise en Scene.

Film Noir• It is a type of the Hollywood’s only organic imaginative

movement.• In the early 1940s, many film makers brought the hardboiled

American crime fiction to the scene because of the World War 2. • Men joined the army, women stayed to take care of the children.

Within that period of time, women started to work in factories and create weapons for men to use in the war. They started to aim for freedom and independent.

• After the war, when those soldiers were backed, the whole society has changed.

• Afterwards many film makers made film base on this changes, which was a man, who is confusing, facing a evil woman who is in control, smart and clever, same as those soldiers have came back from the war and faced a new society.

• Therefore, film noir is a reflection of the society in that day.

Horror Film Aesthetics

• For a low budget film, location is always a big problem. In order to save money, people will usually reuse the same location for different locales. It will be even cheaper if you can use the same place without changing any set.

• I believe that low budget is one element of the aesthetics of a horror film, by using a limit amount of money to make this film as successful as possible. One very good example is the Blair Witch Project.

• Other aesthetics of horror film is the use of low angle framing, wide angle photography, slow motion and the Mise en Scene.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF HORROR FILM

The Final girl

The final girls in the horror films are not the most beautiful girl in their respective films.

Most of them have dull, pure hair, and not very womanlike, these all features make them less eye-catching than the other actresses, for example the first girl to die.

In the slasher films, final girls are the representation of innocence. They are the most innocent of the killers and they are virginal.

They always survives to the as their names are final girl.

In addition, the final girls are always a white, and if there is a group of teenagers, she may not be very popular in the group and they are not very sexual.

The killer

Usually male, identity is often unknown and hidden by a mask or by the lighting or camera angle.

Usually unstoppable, able to survive after attack, fails and shooting by others (e.g. useless policeman or those teenagers)

Very strong, impossible to stop him or kill him. His background is usually choose to be a killer because of his awful childhood, his childhood also explain what kind of people he is going to kill at the same time.

Always use weapons such as knife, axe, blades, or chainsaw as simialr to pistols.

Group of teenagers

The final girl is one member of the group, but at the end of the story, the final girl will be the only on who survives.

They are usually, attractive, young, and high school students (or actors look like a high school student).

In modern days, people really care about racist, the slasher films in many years ago didn’t include a black people, therefore there will always be a black male in the group who is very strong and hero like, seems like he is the only one who can face the killer, although he will not survives at last.

The first girl

The first girl is the first girl to get killed by the killer, usually in a sexual scene.

As the representation of the first girl is sexy, they are very attractive.

The first girl not always get kill at the first attempt from the killer, which means at the beginning the audience can see the first girl nearly get killed, but usually the appearance of the killer will be the one successful time that he killed the first girl.

benefactor

Usually an older man or a wise man, can be a policeman or a doctor.

To help the final girl to fight against the killer, sometimes the benefactor will give the final girl a weapon or a magical gift to kill the killer in order to destroy the disruption and bring everything back to new equilibrium, but in a slasher film, that’s usually not going to happen.

The benefactor always seems like that he is link to the killer in some ways and we usually find out at the end that they didn’t.

Useless professional adult

These useless professional adults are usually a policeman.

They tried to help those teenagers but without success, then they will rather run away or get killed by the killer.

Or sometimes, they will not believe in those teenagers then get killed by the killer.

It is usually a mature police man.