CONVENTIONS OF THE SUBGENRE:

SUPERNATURALBy Bailey Harris-Kelly, Conner Harling and

Ihab Saeed

Three films within the subgenre:

What to expect…

■ Supernatural films purposefully centre on themes such as ghosts, demons, miracles and other religious elements.

■ Expectedly, they’re films that create suspense, intense thrill, anticipation and excitement on the audience’s part. For example, by invoking fear, vulnerabilities, death and/or injuries, within these types of films e.g Carrie (1976), the audience are startled, captivated and entertained-this is why it is it’s film convention (it is what the audience expect in these types of films).

Plot:

■ The common conventions in the plot of a supernatural movie vary depending on what supernatural manifestation or event is taking place.

■ For example:■ Carrie, this is a supernatural, horror. It's

supernatural because it revolves around the idea or power (often revolved around telekinesis). This is also beyond scientific understanding. Often in this type of supernatural film, the main character is an outcast or less benefited and the power turns out to benefit them. In Carrie, she was bullied and humiliated and in the end she had used her power to kill everyone.

■ Also a common convention during the plot is that of objects moving or changing to bring the intangible being to life (e.g candles flickering or items moving and shaking)

Convention of a human being unwillingly moved or controlled in paranormal activity 4

A convention in scanners of this character about to have his head explode, at this moment he is shaking vigorously which is a convention in the supernatural sub-genre

Theme:

■ Themes are common subjects that reoccur in a film. Different types of supernatural films often have different themes but on a broader scale of supernatural, each group will have similar maybe even the same themes.

■ Example: Paranormal films will usually have themes of God's and devil's to explain how a Demon has spawned and in super power films, themes will be miracle related and a theme of good and evil also.

■ “Themes of supernatural films include gods or goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles, and other similar ideas or depictions of extraordinary phenomena“- www.filmsite.org

It is widely argued that in this scene of Carrie, that she is not in control but the devil is. The lack of control in her actions compared to the rest of the movie suggest this and so although it is conspiracy links to the convention in theme of the supernatural subgenre.Also in the new remake of Carrie the mum is very religious and prays for her daughters “cure”

Character types:

■ Characters in supernatural film as mentioned in the plot slide are often, underprivileged. They will often also be curious, brave but also cautious. These traits in character type allow for horror films to take full effect. This is put into motion as a character more willing to walk towards the mysterious sound, possessed object or creepy house, allows the audience to be scared as the supernatural being is able to doing something jumpy or thrilling.

Setting/location:

■Location is important in supernatural-paranormal films to create the right atmosphere-it is used to shape the subgenre e.g Supernatural-horror.

■Generic settings in this subgenre and what to expect…■A big detached house- suspense■A forest- intense thrill ■A cabin in the woods- anticipation and excitement

Music/sounds:

■ The music/sounds you would expect to hear in supernatural-paranormal-films are ‘non-linear' sounds (sounds which are randomized within pieces of music or in dialogue)-this is used to enhance the emotional impact of the scenes.

■ Examples of what these ‘non-linear’ sounds include:■ -A range of distorted notes (from a hi-fi cranked up too high)■ -Squeals (produced by blowing too hard into a trumpet)■ -Abrupt shifts up and down in pitch

Cinematography: camera shots/angles■ Cinematography makes a big part of the overall production,

within supernatural-paranormal- horrors; this is because it helps meet the narrative enigma of the subgenre.

(READ HANDOUT FOR MORE INFORMATION)

MISE-En-Scene: Lighting

■ Examples of the technical codes used for these types of films, are back lighting, side lighting and profile lighting-this is to create mystery and suspense.

■ The reason under lighting is used, is because it gives the characters a sense of desperation on film; back lighting creates silhouettes-shadows (the images of the dark figures conceals the identity of whomever it is within the scene). The use of profile lighting gives a sinister edge and so fulfills the plot conventions.

■ Low key lighting/ambiance lighting is used for this sub-genre- this is because it enhances the dark mood and somber tone for these scenes. The use of natural ambiance lighting-fire- associates with devils, and so from the lighting/camera work matches the generic conventions of paranormal-supernatural films. The emphasis of the minimum amount of light within the film(s) enhances the audience’s fears of not being able to see-meeting the film convention as a result.

■ Dark and light lines are used to give the extremes of certain situations within the subgenre.

Special effects:

■ Supernatural movies use lots of different effects like: ■ Make up effects ■ Editing ■ Lighting• All these features play an important role in the productions of films.• Most films will have the same camera angles. e.g. to show a tense look

they will do a close up and to do a and to show a fast pace scene they would have different angles every couple of seconds.

• With make up it’s the same they all have similar bruises and scratches if they have been injured like on there face above their eye or on their neck.

• Lighting plays a massive roll because they can use it to show a shadow coming p behind somebody or have a a silhouette of somebody getting hurt without actually showing someone.

Editing techniques:

■ Examples of what to expect:■ Crossfade: This transition that fades out one scene, has a moment of

black before the next scene fades in, is a generic convention of supernatural films as it signifies to the audience that time is running out for the protagonist (something dangerous is approaching).

■ Cut to: This commonly used transition is implied by a change of scene (it intensifies a characters change and emotional shifts within the film); by doing this, the audience can clearly see what is happening to a certain character over a period of time e.g in the film Carrie (1976) the audience sees a degeneration in the characters well-being (she gets more and more depressed-causing her to lose control of her emotions).

Narrative structure:

• The narrative structure of a movie in the supernatural genre is usually the same all the way through:

1. The family move into a new house which is massive and in the middle of nowhere

2. First couple of nights the house is ok. Its NORMAL3. They find something creepy in the attic or basement.4. After they find that supernatural things start to happen5. The Youngest family member gets possessed first6. Family try to get rid of the ghost but it doesn't’t work 7. They all either die or they move out.

Examples of supernatural films…■ Carrie 1976- Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is an introvert teen who faces abuse at school

(from classmates) and at home (from her discourteous mother). During the film, Carrie sees that strange occurrences have taken place when she gets angry or upset. An example of this, was in the scene in where Carrie (in her first period at school) was crying out for help-her fellow students ridiculed her-throwing tampons and sanitary towels at her and as Carrie White became livid, a lightbulb snapped. So, from that event, White started to believe that she had supernatural powers. When she was invited to prom by an empathetic Tommy Ross, she started to let her guard down… but when they were elected prom king and queen, things took a dark turn.

■ Poltergeist 2015- A suburban home is invaded by angry spirits-these spirits kidnaps one of the family’s children (Maddy) through a television set.

■ Scanners 1981- A scientist sends a man with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him (a group of renegade scanners plan to create a race that will rule the world).

Carrie 1976: DIRECTED BY BRIAN DE PALMA ■ De Palma uses…

■ A split screen to extend action sequences■ Tracking shots to create uneasiness ■ Seventies red filters to symbolise blood. ■ CARRIES GETS ANGRY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=YOhPdUMzXjY

Poltergeist 2015: DIRECTED BY GILL KENAN

■ Weird things are afoot in the Bowen’s new home…■ In this movie a young couple decide to buy a house because they just

got married and they needed more space for their three children. They spent the first night in the house with almost no distractions but a couple of noises through the night. Later on the dad finds a box of clown dolls which obviously signifies something bad is going to happen. During the second night there youngest daughter is found staring at a static television in the middle of the night, when one of her family members comes downstairs, the youngest daughter says “they’re here”. This is the first moment of supernatural possession. During the third night, one of the kids is dragged through the wardrobe due to the POLTERGIEST.

Scanners 1981: DIRECTED BY DAVID CRONENBERG■ Scanners is a film about a large military company, set out to create

"scanners" (no not the printer kind). Scanners are robots, similar to humans but with distinctive features to prove otherwise. They are a military weapon yet one scanner had escaped and become known as Revok, he is set on starting a war against ConSec. The company ConSec soon discover this and deploy a scanner called Vale. This chase between Revok and Vale, intensifies the Humans hatred for Scanners as in order to escape Revok, uses his military grade weapon of telekenisis (that every scanner has) to find new exits. This could be anything from exploding someone's head to reading someone's mind to find a secret exit. This leaves a constant struggle between good and evil but also morally right verses wrong. This could be because although Revok is good, he is morally wrong by putting humans in danger constantly.