Umbra Hominis - Codes and conventions

Most people find psychological horror movies scarier than other sub-genres of horror movie. This is because the main focus is usually on everyday life, and it is implied that the events that happen in the movie can happen in real life.

This differentiates from other sub-genres of horror due to them being more supernatural or science-fiction based and therefore less believable (which in turn means that in general, they aren't as scary).

Due to the psychological horror genre being the specific sub-genre that Umbra Hominis is classed as we need to complete research into the codes and conventions of these types of horror movie. This is so that we can make our movie as believable as possible.

Codes

• Films of the psychological-horror sub genre tend to rely on the characters beliefs, fears and characteristics as a way of exposing the evil that hides behind everyday normality.
• The killer or nuisance that is messing with (or killing) people looks normal.
• Jump scares using everyday objects are used to inflict fear rather than excessive gore or weapons, instead of the focus being on these things it is instead on the antagonist's twisted mind.
• Common settings for psychological horror movies are those that are everyday or normal. These can include schools, hospitals, normal houses or warehouses. These settings aim to create a sense of realism due to them being places that people are likely to have been to or seen at some point. They therefore help the viewer to imagine themselves in the situations presented by the movie.
• The antagonists of psychological horror movies are usually looking for revenge for one reason or another. The victims of this revenge differ however a large amount of them are female. A popular choice of antagonist is children. This is due to society seeing them as innocent, which makes the viewer want to know what has happened for that person to reach the stage that they are in. 

Conventions

• Many movies of this genre have the main character as the person who is tormenting and scaring the other characters (although this isn't usually revealed until the end of the movie)
• Flashbacks are used in order to inform the viewer of how the antagonist has reached the mental state that they are in.
• The music used in this genre usually doesn't match the action that is on the screen. This is used to contradict what is on the screen and helps to scare the viewer based on what it is they are seeing compared to what it is they are hearing. 

Codes and conventions in the opening sequence

In the opening sequence of Umbra Hominis we meet and subvert a wide range of the codes and conventions that people will expect to see in the film. Any that we didn't meet or subvert would likely be addressed in the full product.

We meet the code of the opening relying on the main characters beliefs, fears and characteristics because the villain is a physical manifestation of Tom's fears caused by his psychosis. This isn't made blatantly clear in the opening however we would ensure that as the film progresses it is made clear to the viewer. As a result of meeting this code we also meet the code of the main character looking normal. This is met due to Tom wearing his normal clothes whilst still continuing with his normal day.

We have half met the code of using jump scares to scare the viewer, this is due to the music in the opening getting louder when the Umbra Hominis shows up in the corridor. We would make sure to meet this code in the full product with key scenes from our treatment such as the taps all turning on in the science room.

We have also met the code of using an everyday setting, this is because our movie is set in a school and the rooms that we filmed in for the opening are clearly in an actual school due to the displays that can be seen in the background. This also links to the code of the main character looking normal because he is just attending school like he normally would.

We have subverted the code of the antagonist looking for revenge. This is because instead of him looking for revenge on other people, the dark side of Tom's brain (which presents itself in the form of the Umbra Hominis) is looking for revenge on Tom due to being locked away in his mind for years by his psychosis tablets. 

Linking in to my previous paragraph, we have also subverted the convention of the main character being the person who is tormenting others. This is because it is the main character's mind tormenting him and due to his psychosis this is treated as a different person but it is actually just Tom.

We haven't used any flashbacks in our opening however we may in the full product. We may end up using them to show that Umbra Hominis has been a part of Tom's life for years but he was unable to make him do anything because he was weakened by the psychosis tablets.

We have also subverted the convention of having a soundtrack that doesn't meet what is on the screen. This is because we have a soundtrack that may be more at home in a thriller. Our soundtrack in the opening is designed to create suspense that something bad will happen. However this isn't to say that in the finished product we wouldn't be able to have the soundtrack change suddenly in a scene in order to make the viewer jump. This could be through the use of diagetic sound such as a phone ringtone 'snapping' Tom out of one of his hallucinations.