Genre -- Horror
Genre Conventions (Content) —The horror genre has many common themes. Including death, murder, revenge, religion, survival, supernatural, apocalypse, nightmares, insanity, and many more. These themes are the framework for most horror films. Within these films, the same type of character commonly appears. There is usually a protagonist, antagonist, unlikely hero, stupid teenagers, creepy children, ghosts, zombies, demons, and a large number of other characters. The most important of the bunch being the protagonist, and the antagonist. The protagonist is commonly a female, and is usually the sole survivor of the flick. While the antagonist is usually where the demons, murderers, and monsters come into play. Many horror films use everyday people as characters, because it is what audiences relate to the most. This tactic evokes the most fear, because if it can happen to an average girl, that means it can happen to them. That is essentially the goal of these films, to frighten, shock, and most importantly, to entertain. So, it is logical for horror filmmakers to use this tactic. Horror is an ancient art form that emerged in the pre-romantic era, with gothic novels. The first depictions of the supernatural in films was by George Méliès in 1890. While the first ever monster film occurred a few decades later, when the Hunchback of Notre Dame was released. So the structures that modern day horror films follow are not new, but based off of the classic structures made a century ago. 
Genre Conventions (Production Design) —This genre plays with many production techniques in order to set the dark tone that these films need. They are typically set in small towns, or isolated places. Small towns feed into audiences fears of these things happening in their own homes. While, isolated places alert audiences, because the main characters are typically alone with the villian. Low key lighting, and Point of View shots are commonly used to create suspense. The lighting makes the atmosphere more dark which makes audiences unable to see what is occurring. While the Point of View shots create tension by allowing viewers to see the antagonist's point of view. Another technique commonly used to create tension, is playing with the depth of field. For example, the main character could be placed in the right third oblivious to the fact that danger could be lurking in the left third. This is alarming for viewers, as it allows them to see something that the main characters can’t. Handheld shots are also used, because it is hard for the audience to tell what is happening on screen, which builds fear. These films are usually edited to build tension, like the use of sudden jump scares. Dark colors are often used because it is related to evil, and danger. Horror movies are known for always having notorious props. The killer is often linked to a specific mask, or weapon. This association can allow audiences to know who exactly the attacker is. 
Institutional Conventions — The target audience for horror films are typically 15-25 year olds, 42% being women, and 58% are men. The most popular horror movie companies are universal, hammer films, twisted pictures, blumhouse. Most films released are produced by these big name companies. Many popular marketing techniques are used in order to successfully promote a horror film. The posters typically focus on the main villain of monster, and they stick to the typical dark color scheme. This allows audiences to know what type of film they are promoting, just from the posters design. The trailers for these films are usually quite similar to the posters as they both seem to stick to the dark color scheme, and focus on the villian. The most important factor to the trailers though, is that they are designed to scare. If a trailer for a horror flick can’t scare the masses, then it is not likely to do well, as that defeats the purpose of horror. Since social media is so widely used, and the target audience for horror films are teens, and young adults; production companies use social media as a tactic to promote their films as well. 
Film Sample — A great sample of a horror film that doesn’t necessarily follow the typical horror movie narrative, is Hereditary. This film follows a family as some of their most sinister family secrets unravel. Although the theme of the film is related to religion, the rest of it is not your typical horror film. For starters, the main characters of the film are not silly teenagers who fall into the trap of some mischievous being. They are a seemingly normal family, who make logical decisions. The film is typically set in a rural area, as the family lives far from anyone else, but a decent bulk of the film is based in populated areas. This evokes a new type of fear, because it shows that nowhere is safe. When it comes to production techniques, they do follow classic horror movie guidelines. The film is fairly dark, and they do like to play with depth of field at many moments. But this film is more complex in that, the director made an effort to make the film more interesting to watch, by using abnormal shots at different times. The poster is a bit different in that the protagonist is one of the main focal points along with the antagonist. It is also a bit unique, in that the antagonist isn’t advertised as so in the trailers, but as an innocent girl. She is only revealed as such, deep into the movie.
Example -- Halloween
Example -- The Purge
Example -- The Exorcist
Example -- Scream
Example -- The Strangers
Example -- Goodnight Mommy
Example -- The Conjuring
