Genre conventions

this is a ppt going through the genre conventions, how we used them and what they mean for audience

1. How we used genre conventions By Matthew Higgins

2. What are genre conventions? A genre convention is a typical or standard trope of plot, character, setting, icon, theme, or effect in a genre story. For instance, in the superhero genre, it is a convention to have the characters wear costumes (icon convention) . The easiest way to spot a genre convention is to think about whether it is specific to the genre or not. Quite often stereotypes and genre conventions can be the same, and they are like ‘signifiers’ for the genre In Horror, the most obvious genre conventions are a haunted/abandoned building, the supernatural, creepy music, dolls etc.

3. Genre Conventions in our survey In our research and planning, we conducted a survey and one of the questions consisted of things that people may expect to see in a horror movie. We got responses such as Suspense Spirits Ghosts Haunted buildings

4. Genre Conventions in our movie We included, in order: Demon/Satanic imagery in the Satanic ritual sequence The character in the first sequence looks ‘possessed’ and like she has mental issues. The movie is set in an empty school at night. The killer is suggested to be somewhat supernatural Voyeuristic POV shot Our characters are stereotypical troubled youth involved in crime

5. Why it is important to adhere to Genre conventions It is a signifier to the audience of what kind of movie they are watching and allows the audience to identify it. It can help set the tone. For example, demonic imagery and voyeuristic shots help create an intense and creepy atmosphere. It brings in a wide target audience who may be used to certain conventions in a genre, so it can help your movie become successful. So it appeals to the mainstream market, and can be used to appeal to a mass market audience

6. Why it is important to adhere to Genre conventions The conjuring franchise has a worldwide gross of $895,143,962 The Saw franchise has grossed $873,319,880 worldwide The  Alien  franchise is the highest-grossing horror movie franchise with a total worldwide gross standing at $1.26 billion. These are all movies that adhere to mainstream generic conventions which shows that if you adhere to the generic conventions it can be very popular with audiences and make it a very successful movie

7. Did we challenged genre conventions It is also important sometimes to challenge the genre conventions because people like an element of surprise. It also allows the genre to develop further and keep it fresh. In Beelzebub, we deliberately made it an ‘homage’ to the classics of horror, keeping it to the basics of horror to create the most tension and fear for the audience. Therefore we did not really challenge the conventions because within horror our movie is a mainstream horror, though not a mainstream movie within the whole of cinema. However we did make certain choices, such as the decision not to follow a ‘final girl’ and to follow the first character to be killed. We also made the suggestion that our killer was an female which is not typical in mainstream horror.