Horror Conventions Analysis

 The horror movie I chose to analyse is "IT 2017" directed by Andrés Muschietti.

  This director’s use of dark colours combined with dim lighting establishes a gloomy and ominous atmosphere to the audience in the film “IT 2017”. Throughout the first opening minuits, almost everything within the scene has a cold undertones, with dark blues and greyish greens being extremely prominent. Even the yellow coat that the character Georgie is wearing has green undertones and is not very bright. These dark colours contrast with the suburban area that is shown in the scene, which might suggest to the audience that although this place is supposed to be the ideal life, there is still a creepy sense of hostility. As well as this, the only colour that shines brightly and shows through even in the dark is the whites of pennywise (the clown) eyes which gives the impression that he is somehow other-worldly, as he is exempt from the dark and grey colours.

Another technique used is high angle shots. When Georgie gets to a drain he looks down into it, and there is then a shot from inside the drain looking up at him. A few moments later penny wise appears from out of the darkness, so that shot puts us in his eyes and conveys to the audience feelings of fear for Georgie as the shot suggests ideas of a predator hiding in the darkness ready to pounce on his victim.

As well as this, the director uses ideas of vulnerability to make the audience scared for the character Georgie. He is seen in a yellow jacket (yellow often symbolising happiness/innocence) and he is shown to be playing a game in the rain with a paper boat and getting hurt. This audience may interpret this as the character being very innocent, as he in enjoying his childhood and being positive even in the rain, where most people would feel uncomfortable and unhappy if caught in the rain. The idea that this character is innocent also suggests that he may be trusting of new people/situations which means he could be easily manipulated. Also, the fact that he gets hurt may imply that he is quite fragile and so easily taken advantage of  which may build apprehension in the audience as they know he has no way of defending himself