DO'B/JB/ EH: Moodboards

Below are three mood boards all collating images that represent specific horror sub-genres.

JB - Supernatural 

This sub-genre of horror is particularly prominent in modern horror films, making large profits in Hollywood. Some significant iconography of this particular genre includes:

• Young children and teenagers being featured as main characters. Teenage characters relate particularly with the target audience of these films, as the viewer is positioned particularly with the character.
• Many films utilise a narrow depth-of-field and character blocking in order to focus the audience towards the character we are positioned with, rather than their imminent attacker (often shown as an out of focus silhouette).
• Films such as Paranormal Activity (Peli, 2009) utilise a home video/surveillance camera style video, through which crucial evidence is revealed to the character at the same time as the audience.
• The majority of supernatural horror films are colour graded with a green or blue ‘cold’ tone and regularly feature dark scenes. These increase suspense, as often characters are hidden within the shadows of the scene.
• A home environment. This is familiar with the audience, thus evokes fear from them - particularly after watching the film.
• For example, the shower scene in Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) made many people uneasy about being alone in the bathroom which was once viewed as a safe location.

DO'B - Occult

I have drawn inspiration from 90s wiccan films, 19th century portraiture, modern television, and voodoo rituals common to Northern Africa and New Orleans. Taking reference from films such as The Craft (Fleming, 1996). Modern television is currently captured by Scandinavian television dramas, these programmes use forests to create a tense atmosphere, inspired by this I have added pictures of forests to this board to act as inspiration when we begin looking at locations. These films are popular because the idea of witchcraft has been a superstition since the 15th century. With a variety of different themes, occult films are rich in connotations such as the voodoo doll, such signifiers have become easily recognizable by the public helping to create an easily followable plot. These ritualistic plots are open to large quantities of iconographic symbols and often contain unconventional characters as well as stock characters.

EH - Psychological

The expansive horror sub-genre of Psychological Horror focuses in on the character’s fears and emotional instability to create tension, often incorporating the common fears of society to make the film even more unsettling. The category of Isolation with films like Buried(2012,Cortes), focuses on  claustrophobia which a large quantity of people experience. The home invasion category of psychological horror is particularly effective, as these films such as Psycho (Hitchcock,1960) and The Shining (1980, Kubrick) are both set in the domestic sphere, thus making it highly relatable to the audience, which then makes them afraid when they return back home even after the film has ended.



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