GENERAL HORROR
The sub-genre of horror I am researching is 'zombie' horror, it has obvious factors which makes it individualistic. Common features found -
Use of special effects makeup to create a zombie look - Pale faces, Dark-tired eyes to signify loss of life. Drips of blood. Mise-en scene also incorporated- Ripped clothing, basic dim colors.
Dead animal parts.
Infection, Isolation, Exposure, Gore.
However generally codes of conventions of this sub-genre relate closely to the wide variety of codes and conventions in general Horror.
Character stereotypes are often seen repeated time and time again. This is found is classic horror films such as ' ' and more modern takes on horror such as ' '.
The 'Final Girl' character, such as ' ' is viewed as the sensible, conservative personality. Her image portrays her as an uptight brunette, covered up, little skin exposed. You will notice she is turns away alcohol, drugs and anything which may allow her to come across as anything more than sensible. She isn't incorporated in a production to push the 'Male Gaze' theory, introduced by theorist Laura Mulvey.
Her character is usually the main central protagonist, she survives until the end. This may be because unlike her exposed co-star 'The scream queen' she isn't sexually active, which is the reason why the 'killer' targets the 'Final Girl' first, she is sexually active and the killer has made up in his mind he has a relationship with her.
This 'Male Gaze Theory' is used for probably one of the most famous characters indentified with classic horror films, her image signifies her as sexually active. Little clothing, skin exposed, blonde hair, heavy makeup etc.
STOCK CHARACTERS.
Identified by theorist Propp, these characters seen in 'Shaun Of The Dead' (wiki) Directed by Edgar Wright in 2004.
The protagonist - Simon Pegg (WIKI) as Shaun.
The helper - Nick Frost (WIKI)as Edd.
The princess- Kate Ashfield (WIKI) as Liz.
The villian- The zombies.
Some of the stock characters often portray a bimbo, clown, jock etc.
STOCK PLOTS
Theorist Todorov introduces the idea of equilbrium, disequilbrium and new equilibrium. Often an establishing shot to introduce the equilbrium, a killing to introduce the disequilbrium and for example the police coming for the new equilbrium.There is often a false scare involved which has been used in many existing media products, this is to build up suspense and to first trick the audience into feeling uneasy. Then when the real scare comes, they already feel uneasy and on the edge as they are more aware if there's something going to happen.
Horror films generally don't have a central protagonist, the first person seen on the screen, is the one who is killed first. In my case it is 'ALICE TAYLOR' who is seen from the beginning, she is one of the southerners who has travelled from down southZOMBIE HORROR
Zombie films from the 1930s-1940s. (source)
Zombies are 'Walking Dead' creatures, often with decayed flesh, they are destructive, malevolent, pray on human flesh and are impossible to kill. In the early 1930s filmmakers were beginning to experiment with iconic monsters, when the feature length film 'the walking dead'. The first true 'zombie' was Victor Halperin's and UA's low-budget independant film- the 'atmospheric' White Zombie (1932).(IMDB)
During the 1940s, there were three zombie films from 'Poverty Row's' Monogram Studios, some of which tied Nazism to zombie-lore: The pre-war King Of Zombies (1941) and Voodoo Man (1944) (IMDB)a recycled Revenge Of The Zombies (1943) (IMDB)
Films such as Shaun Of The Dead follow George.A.Romero's 'Dead' series, contemporary taxt that is a good example of conveying not only te codes and conventions of the zombie genre but also hybrid texts, inter-textuality and post-modernism. Numerous lines, scenes etc relate to Romeros series.
Isolation is a big signifier in zombie horror, reinforcing the monolithic problem of genre outlined by Robert Stam.
Costume and special effects is a huge part of zombie horror, pale faces, ripped clothing, fake blood, heavy make-up to create a death-like persona. This allowing the audience to easily identify the zombies.
Shot types.
Point of view shot - the zombie is watching their victim.
Close-up shots- show the emotion/extent of decay
Long-shots- show the mass of the infection- a number of zombies.
Themes.
Consumerism/Capitalism - for example in 'Shaun Of The Dead', zombies represent mindless/dozy shoppers in a shopping center.
Isolation is the main theme, being trapped and far away from civilization.
Chaos within society, the breakdown of society,
People who maintain humanity- survival (It should be about the survival of the humans, not the attack of the zombies)
People who become zombies - death.
Somebody who may ruin it for everyone: Resident Evil, 28 Weeks Later - husband lets out the virus.
David Bordwell said 'Any theme may appear in any genre'
FearThe characters must be scared to ensure the audience is also - this requires good acting.
Comic Relief
Some lighter scenes for humour and relief, for example in 'Dawn Of The Dead', where they play chess on the roof surrounded by zombies.Characters often seen...
There is usually a character who becomes emotionally attached to one of the zombies and not want to kill them - keep them safe in hope of them becoming human again.
The person that lovs killing zombies but whose cockiness eventually gets them killed.
The person that freaks out and eventually causes some sort if disaster.
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