1

Moreo
Anastasia Moreo

Introduction to Film

Prof. Acerra

16 June 2019

The Six Genre Film Conventions

There are six film conventions when it comes to genre films. They are: Theme, Setting,

Presentation, Story Formulas, Character Types, and Stars. The theme is the central core or

message to the movie and the genre it embodies, be it the fear of the unknown or technology in

science fiction films or the conflict between civilization and wilderness in western films, all

genre films have a central theme that can be found in every embodiment of that genre of movie.

The setting is where the movie takes place. While the setting will always vary from

movie to movie, genre films tend to have specific kinds of settings throughout each genre. For

example, many science fiction films take place in outer space or some kind of futuristic

environment, normally shaped and molded by the advancement of technology.

The Presentation of genre films embody the forms used to make the film and convey

tone, mood, and atmosphere. Science fiction films tend to use high end technology and CGI to

transport the audience and the protagonists to some distant futuristic world, whereas westerns

tend to use wide angle shots that expose the background and setting and lend to the protagonist

feeling small in the wide open wilderness.

Story Formulas are the way the plot of the movie is structured and how the sequence of

events leads from point A to point B. In the book, the example given is that of gangster films

which tend to follow the story of a down on his luck, underprivileged immigrant or minority who

forms or joins a gang in the hopes of riches and glory, works his way to the top through his
2
Moreo
cunning and ambition, ultimately becomes corrupted by his power, and as a result ends up

beaten, caught, killed, or kidnapped by the end of the film. Story formulas are the structure of the

film and the plot; the barebones description of what will happen during the course of a genre

film.

The Character Types are the smattering of different kinds of stereotyped characters that

one can expect from any given genre. In western films, an example of a character type is the

ranger/officer with a troubled history who’s looking for an opportunity to prove himself and save

the day.

Finally, the last of the six conventions in genre films are the stars who act in them. Many

genre films are defined by their stars, such as Clint Eastwood in westerns and Dwayne Johnson

in action films and comedies. Many stars nowadays, in order to avoid being typecast, try to

achieve multi-genre stardom, such as Scarlett Johansson who ranges from superhero movies (her

role as Black Widow in the Avengers series) to science fiction (her role as Lucy in Lucy) to

animation/family friendly films (her role as a singing porcupine in Sing).

Horror films follow these same conventions as do all other genre films. The themes of

most horror films tend to revolve around fear of the unknown or some other that is outside of our

control. In Train to Busan, a classic zombie movie, that fear is represented as a virus that turns

most of the world’s population into flesh eating zombies thus bringing on the apocalypse and

personifying humanity’s innate fear of death and destruction as a monster that consumes

everything in its path and transforms humanity into something ugly, horrific, and terrifying.

The settings in horror films can vary wildly, but tend to follow certain tropes such as

“quiet country/suburban town with a horrible secret,” “isolated cabin in the woods/anywhere

away from civilization or help,” or “urban heavily populated area in the midst of the apocalypse
3
Moreo
or some other brand of chaos.” No matter where the setting is in a horror film, the result is the

same: something triggers a chain of horrific events that cuts off the protagonists from civilization

or help in any capacity. Either no one will believe the protagonists even if they do seek help, or

they have no access to help in the first place. In Paranormal Activity the setting is a normal

suburban household that becomes plagued by a demonic presence. Even when the protagonists

seek help to resolve the issue, either no one believes them, or no one is able to help them remove

the demonic presence, and they are ultimately left isolated and alone to deal with it on their own.

The presentation in horror films is almost always dark and desolate, with the aid of

minimal lighting and much of the movie being filmed at night. In Evil Dead the movie doesn’t

introduce its zombies until it is nighttime and the protagonists are isolated in the woods with no

outside contact with the world. Dark shadows and dim lighting set the tone as uneasy and

frightening which aids to the overall composition of horror films as a whole.

The story formulas of horror films tend to follow a naïve protagonist, or group of

protagonists, who set out on some wild crazy adventure that goes horribly wrong, usually due to

their own moral failings. Normally, one by one the protagonists start to die or become wounded

by some unknown monstrous embodiment of fear, and after the initial denial and shock wears

off, the remaining heroes have to band together and use their wits and limited resources to defeat

the monster, or die trying. In Alien this story formula is exacted almost to a “T.” The story begins

with a crew floating in space who receive a distress signal from another planet and leave to

explore it. Upon stumbling upon hundreds of alien eggs, the crew argues about whether or not to

take one on board and study it, and while the captain orders them not to, the chief scientist

disobeys her order and does so anyway. Sure enough, the egg hatches after it gestates in the chest

of one of the crew members and violently bursts out, and begins to pick off the crew members
4
Moreo
one by one. In the end, only the captain and one other person are left to deal with the alien

menace, and through bravery and ingenuity, they defeat it by shooting it out into space and

incinerating it with the engines.

While not all horror movies follow the same set of character types, there are some

stereotyped tropes that can be found in most classic horror films. The movie Cabin in the Woods

(my personal favorite horror movie) exemplifies some of these horror movie character types

well. In the movie, there are five main protagonists who go through the horrifying events that

take place, each embodying a type of horror movie character type. Curt, the athlete, Dana, the

virgin (or in the case of the movie, “virgin”), Holden, the scholar, Jules, the whore, and Marty,

the fool. In most horror movies, there is a cast of characters that embodies these five concepts

that implies that the horrors come forth due to the moral failings of the characters interacting

with one another. The athlete is normally the strong, good looking guy who’s not exactly the

brightest and who’s dating the whore. The athlete and the whore normally have sex on screen,

and both normally die later on in the movie, implying premarital sex is bad and will end in death

from some unknown supernatural force. The virgin is normally the innocent heroine who is

wizened to the horrors around her, and almost always lives at the end. The scholar is the person

who knows “what’s up” and tries to inform the others, but dies in the process. Finally, the fool is

generally the comic relief character who normally also dies, but in the case of Cabin in the

Woods lives alongside the virgin to see the end of the world.

The last of the six conventions of genre films is the stars, but horror movies tend to be

different in this department that other movies, shying away from well know actors in favor of

lesser known and less attractive “everyman” actors. These kinds of actors, who are lesser known

and rarely work outside of horror movies, add a sense of believability to the movie and suspend
5
Moreo
the audiences’ disbelief of the events occurring onscreen. If horror movies casted well known

actors like Scarlett Johansson, the audience would have a harder time immersing themselves in

the events on screen as the presence of someone famous immediately reminds them that this is a

work of fiction and isn’t real. Part of the popularity of horror movies come from their

believability and sense of “this could happen to you” which, in part, stems from casting lesser

known actors such as Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams in The Blair

Witch Project.

In sum, there are six conventions in all genre films that can be broken down, assessed,

and analyzed in every movie that falls into a genre. Obviously, that can be said for horror movies

as well, as the themes, setting, presentation, story formulas, character types, and stars shape each

film and lend to the believability of the movie and the audiences’ enjoyment of it. When horror

movies are done right, these six conventions can lead to a mind-blowing and terrifying

experience on screen that translates to the audience.