Media Language

I believe that despite the overuse of certain conventions and iconography presented in horror movies, the movies still fulfill their aim of attracting an audience and "scaring" them, not necessarily because of the conventions themselves, but because of the meaning behind them. Our summer horror trailer was based on a slasher sub genre. Similarly to other sub genres, there are conventions and iconography that are typically denoted in every slasher movie and my group and I followed certain ones so the audience could easily identify our sub genre without us saying so.

A way in which our trailer told the audience its sub genre was through mis en scene; through the use of clothing that our antagonist wore. Our antagonist wore a pair of gloves to hide his hands as that helped emphasise the lack of identity consequently enforcing the sense of mysteriousness which as a result would build fear and adrenaline in the audience. This is a type of convention typically used in slasher movies where the antagonist is denoted with a mask or piece of clothing to hide their identity and build fear in the audience. Although this type of iconography has been overused, it is still effective as it's not exactly the item worn that scares the audience, but the meaning behind it about not knowing who or what is attacking. In this particular case, I would therefore say no, conventions have not lost their meaning due to their overuse.

Another typical convention found in horror movies included in our summer trailer is the minimal lighting. I believe that regardless of how many times this convention is used in horror movies, it will still remain effective as it's not necessarily the dark that the audience are scared of, but rather the ideas that come to mind of what is in it. This is why this convention is almost always used in horror movies as they further install fear and adrenaline in the audience by allowing things to pop out from the dark with speed, which further emphasises my point of being scared of what is in the dark, not the dark itself.

The use of sound in our horror movie trailer, I believe further builds adrenaline in the audience and the type of music we used is another typical convention in horror movies. The use of violins and waterphones used makes the audience feel uneasy consequently building expectancy of something super scary to pop out and happen. Regardless of how many times you hear "creepy" instruments play in horror movies, I don't believe that the effect is dramatically different reason being because despite it allowing the audience to feel uneasy, if it is overused, eventually the audience will know to expect another frightening convention to present itself in the movie therefore meaning these conventions will remain effective.

In conclusion, I believe that despite the overuse of certain conventions, the meaning behind them still remain and still continue to have the same effect on the audience as they are not present in our everyday life therefore when seein g them in movies they do still turn out effectively.