CONVENTIONS OF HORROR

HSTORY OF HORROR

THE SILENT ERA:

Germany became a part of the international film industry.


Germany expressionism 1920's-1930's.


Horror film production raised from 24 films to 130 within four years.





MONSTERS AND MAD SCIENTISTS:

Having monsters in the early years horror raised the popularity for the genre. In the era of 1930's, Dracula, Frankenstein and mad scientists were introduced to horror films.















THE PRIMAL ANIMAL WITHIN:

In the early 1940's animals were introduced to horror movies. they were often seen as half humans/half animal, one of the most famous and successful examples is ''The wolf man'' which became one of the main icons in the sub genre.








MUTANTS AND MONSTERS:

When it came to 1950's, the style of horror movies had turned into sci-fi horrors and unknown, a lot of the time aliens and other non existing creatures were used.
Example- ''The Blob - 1958''






GHOSTS ,SATANISM AND BODY HORROR

Horror films evolved and got better and more real around the 1970's, ghosts and demons came on the scene around that time. The most popular film of that sub genre was ''Ghost stories''.
In the 1980's body horror, blood and brutality came into cinemas.

TITLE SEQUENCE - SHUTTER ISLAND

Shutter Island (2010) film title sequence opens with a shot of a long corridor and then there's a quick editing cut to a shot of spiral staircase. The spiral staircase add the element illusion and suspense. The text is bold, jumpy, and at times difficult to read. This adds a sense of mystery and gives the audience the idea that something may not be right.

The establishing shot of a gate opening is placed after a loud crash in the soundtrack, almost preparing the audience to the disaster that may occur in a place behind these gates. The camera closes in on the first gate as it opens and follows through towards the second gate. This is significant because it creates a sense of worry and isolation by positioning the audience in a very uncomfortable place, and that is done through the camera angle of the shot. 

A gun is shown being stepped on by a foot and being dragged away intriguing the audience as it creates the mood for violence, danger and crime. The motion also suggests that there might be someone who needs help as their protection (the gun) has been taken away.

The atmosphere of crime and danger is futher reinfored by this shot of a darkly lit room, which looks like a prison cell. The hand cuffs and chains are shown through an angle which seems like a pov shot of someone who might be sitting in the corner of the room looking towards the light radiating from the outside world.

The long view shot of a dark, gloomy island looks uninviting but also daring the audience to enter and explore. The audience is immediately curious and interested. This shot also maintains the theme of isolation, danger and mystery set in the previous shots.

The film then begins as the name of the film is shown to end the title sequence. The text is in bold letters and the colour red which has connotations of evil and danger. The title gets bigger and looks like its coming towards the audience as if its inviting them in.