SD & MA- Genre Research

'Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural' 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
The most popular ranging from 'The Rite' to 'Zomieland' all rated highly amongst the public for example on imdb http://www.imdb.com/genre/horror
By viewing all the films we have and deconstructing each there are a number 'of characteristics we have noticed, for example Blue tints are often used to create an eary feeling in openings and sometimes throughout films in specific scenes for example in Halloween the establishing shot of the house (extreme long shot) has a blue tint. It also uses framing in the shot eg. the tree in the corner of the shot coming slightly over the screen on the camera and then cutting to the tree and doing a point of view shot from behind the tree giving us a stalker effect and somebody is watching. False scares are used to create tension for the audience for example in A Nightmare on Elm Street the idea of a false scare is connoted by the girl having a nightmare when the audience portray it as what is actually happening in the film and then she wakes up although the prefered reading that it was a nightmare (used signified by an orange tint) was picked up but the audience (our group) view on it was the orange tint was used to signify the heat of the room as the temperature would be high in a factory.

When thinking about idents an example being Warner Brothers, change there idents to suit the genre nd film that they are representing for example to the left the idents was origionally gold and blue but presented it in grey and black when Harry Potter and the deathly hallows was released (right) also when The Matrix was released they changed the ident to green (left) representing horror.
We found that weather representations (Pathetic fallacy) is used to
                                                      signify the mood of the setting in openings for example in Sweeney Todd (set in London) it is raining at the beginning which could also be portrayed the mood and feelings of what is to come with also the darkness of the tunnel and one significant figure of a man. Often near a detched house with open windows often american country looking, like in Jennifers Body which also uses a false scare when the stalker is staring at the victim and she jumps creating tension in the audience.
Accidents at the beginning of films such as somebody cutting themselves with a razor are often used also another example of Sweeney Todd when it happens in the barbers shop which is our first connection with blood and foreshadows what is to come. Sometimes directors and producers play with your emotions offering false security at the scariest points in films creating your vulnerability but this is of course the whole point.