What is Genre?

Genre is a French word, pronounced as “Jon-Dra”.

It is the term for any category of literature or other

forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether

written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some

set of stylistic criteria.

Genres are formed by conventions that change

over time as new genres are invented and the use

of old ones are discontinued.

Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of

borrowing and recombining these conventions

Classifications Of Genre

Genre classification is the process of grouping

objects together based on defined similarities such

as subject, format, style, or purpose.

There are 4 Main Genres. i.e. Literary, Film and

Television, video games, and music genres.

These 4 Genres further divides into sub-genres

like Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Fantasy,

Horror, Romance, Sci-fiction, Thriller, and many

more.

Genre: Horror

Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a

negative emotional reaction from viewers

by playing on the audience's primal fears.

Inspired by literature from authors

like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Mary

Shelley, horror films have for more than a

century featured scenes that startle the

viewer.

The macabre and the supernatural are

frequent themes. Thus they may overlap

with the fantasy, supernatural, and thriller

genres.

Genre: Horror

Horror films often deal with the

viewer's nightmares, hidden fears,

revulsions and terror of the unknown.

Plots within the horror genre often

involve the intrusion of an evil force,

event, or personage, commonly

of supernatural origin, into the

everyday world.

Genre: Horror

Prevalent elements

include ghosts, aliens, vampires, were

wolves, demons, gore, torture, vicious

animals, evil

witches, monsters, zombies, cannibals,

and serial killers. Conversely, movies

about the supernatural are not

necessarily always horrific.

Codes and Conventions of

Horror

Secluded Location

Characters Forget about threat.

Power is Cut.

Phone Lines are Cut.

Someone hears a strange noise.

Vehicle won’t start.

Someone is killed in the first 5 minutes.

Codes and Conventions of

Horror

The Stormy Night

Victim inexplicably falls over

Victim Coves in front of a window

Codes and Conventions of

Horror

The setting is usually very dark

Jump cuts are common

Extensive use of Narrative enigmas

Exploration of Narrative Themes

Slow pace of Editing, builds tension.

Long takes

Codes and Conventions of

Horror

Three act narrative structure

Predictable narrative content (follows

format)

Clear binary oppositions e.g. good v evil

Use of low key lighting

Codes and Conventions of

Horror

Extensive use of close up

Incidental non-diegetic sound

Distorted diegetic sound

Young/teenage characters

Point of view shots

Low angle shots

References:-

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/g

enre

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ge

nre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre

http://prezi.com/d2tl1kp9almo/codes-

and-conventions-of-horror-films/

References:-

http://louisabroadheadmediablog.wordpr

ess.com/2011/12/13/codes-and-

conventions-of-horror-films/

http://www.slideshare.net/kbamediastudi

es/codes-and-conventions-in-horror-

films

http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/horror

-genre-codes-conventions/

Made by:-

Syed Shan

Tariq

As-F