Genre Research: Horror

 The last genre I decided to do research on was horror! For a really long time, horror movies were my favorite movies to watch because I loved the sense of the adrenaline rushing through my blood.

Starting off with the common mis-en-scene seen in these movies, the tone of these movies is going to be more of a blueish cold tone which is the complete opposite of the other genres I researched. However, one thing that stood out to me, and was similar to the previous genres, was the dullness of the color. While this genre mostly uses blueish hues, they do so in a very low-key manner. They do this due to the association of emotions with these color tones. The usage of the blue hues aids in making the movie, in a way, scarier without the audience even knowing it. 
 On the other hand, they also use more bold types of mis-en-scenes. Especially when it comes to the makeup and costumes. In many horror movies, the utilization of dramatic makeup and costumes are absolutely pivotal to make the movie scary. For example, in The Curse of La Llorona- the movie wouldn't be nearly as scary if La Llorona was dressed in casual-wear with no makeup. The discoloring of the skin, the wet hair covering the face partially, the outfit, and the overall presentation of La Llorona makes the movie as scary as it is.

As for the common CAMS I observed in this genre, I noted that establishing shots were frequently used in horror movies. For example, in mainstream horror movies, such as The Conjuring series' movies, they ALWAYS include an establishing shot of the house where the story will take place. In scary movies, they also tend to have a lot of medium close-up (MCU) shots to help show details of the actors' expressions. The MCU shots help the audience see clear signs of the characters' fear with sweat, shakiness, and an expression of fear. In addition to this, another key camera angle scary movies love to use is a Point of View shot. Especially when there's a jump scare, these movies tend to switch over to this camera angle to intensify the fear factor most seek from a good scary movie.
Something else I noticed, quite unique to the horror movie genre, was that at the beginning of these movies, when the main characters walk into the house featured in the establishing shot, the camera switches over to a high angle shot. They do this, but they also make an effort to combine it with a tracking shot which turns it into a super unsettling point of view shot. Let me explain- in these movies, while the characters are just walking in and taking a good glimpse of the first floor of the presumably empty home, this weird high angle plus tracking shot creates an eerie sensation that the people who have just entered the house are not alone. 

The sound used in horror movies is also quite unique. Unlike many other genres, horror movies LOVE using absolute silence to create tension and anticipation in the audience. Other than using diegetic sound to amplify the movements being made by the characters, the usage of absolute silence adds on to the growing tension, unease, and unsettlement of the audience. They use non-diegetic sound very limitedly, but when they do, they insert little bits of high-pitched and suspenseful music. 
 As for the editing, unlike the previous genres I researched, I found that horror movies only really liked to use cross cutting. Especially during an interaction between a main character and the antagonist in the movie. For example, in The Nun, we often see cross cutting being used when anyone comes across the Nun. For example, in the first shot, we'll see the Nun, in the second shot, we see the reaction of the character who saw her, and then the final shot points back to where the Nun was just to find her missing. Scenes like these tend to create extreme unease within the audience. Editing techniques like these aid in controlling how tense a scene in a particular movie is. It also does a great job in keeping the audience on the edge of their seat seeping with anticipation of what will happen next. 

If this was my genre, I'd definitely take into consideration using CAMS that raise as many questions as the high angle + tracking shot combo does. I think that the effectiveness of this combo is so great and leaves such a standing impression on the audience. I'd absolutely love to use this to create a similar impression on my audience.

However, one thing I'd definitely like to leave out would be the bold and excessive makeup and costumes. As much as they add to the scariness of the movie, it simply would not be realistic for me to get ahold of so much makeup and costumes. Besides, I strongly believe that a horror movie doesn't necessarily have to always follow all the "norms" to be scary.