The Conventions of Horror-

Location-

A lot of the time horror films are based around the normal every day places where the audience wouldn't expect anything bad to happen, therefore is more effective at shocking them e.g a house(which is often quite large)

The locations chosen also seem to be isolated and 'in the middle of nowhere so that there is no one else to help the character in distress. The audience usually become awear of this from the establishing shots and so begin to feel anxiety for the main character from a really early stage. This is apposed to an open area where many people will be around and therefore deaths will be less frequent.

Big houses also provide lots of hiding places for impostors/killers such as in Black Xmas where they travel around under the flood boards or in the walls of the house, as well as hiding in closets or the actic.

Enigma codes-

Are vital in keeping the audience hooked and wanting to know/watch more. They also help to build up tension as the audience don't know what will happen next. This is something that I will have to think carefully about if I'm going to successfully achieve the hook that's is needed. 

Characters-

Blond blue eyed females are extremely typical of the genre and usually become the victims. They portray innocence and naivety and in some films become quite frustrating as they often have little common sense; doing the opposite of what is sensible . But I suppose that without these characters there would be no story.

Editing-

Generally in this genre of film the editing is pretty fast to reflect the characters emotions of fear and panic. Sometimes though in the opening sequence, the pace begins by being slow and calm when the characters haven't come to any harm yet, and then later on the pace picks up. More times than not, the pace of editing reflects the characters emotions throughout the film.

Sound-

In most horror films,eerie orchestral music is played to create and increase the suspense and tension felt by the audience. Typically horror films aren't heavy on dialogue, especially when the main action (scary part)takes place so the score is really vital in creating to right tone to the film.

Titles-

Typically are presented simply on a contrasting background so that the words jump out at the audience and have more of an impact.The background is usually black with white or red text and presented in capitals to make it look more dramatic and imposing.