2. S
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. S
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. S
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. S
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. S
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. S
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.
