Conventions of Vampire Films

For our film, we will be focussing on the vampire genre.


Original horror films were more about supernatural things than the more gore and torture that is common in horror films today. We hope not to use torture and indecent exposure in our film because we consider it cheap and tacky.


Typical conventions in vampire films are:

• Blood

Blood is a key point in a vampire film. Depending on the film and its certificate. Some films have more blood than others, i.e. in Twilight, we see very little blood, whereas in 30 days of Night, there is blood in pretty much every scene.

• Neck biting and prop teeth

Teeth are one of the most important aspects of a vampire film. They are also the most recognizable feature of a vampire and each film does them a bit differently. You can use actual sharp fangs like, for example, true blood- or you can just have normal white teeth but have it assumed they are razor sharp like in the Twilight saga films.

An advantage of neck biting is that if you film it the right way, you don't have to actually see teeth going into skin, you can just see a head on a neck and it is presumed. 

• Night setting

Although we do want a low lit, dark nigh time setting, we have discussed it and decided that shooting in the day time would be more beneficial. This is because we can then edit the footage and make it appear darker, as if we try to soot in low lit conditions the quality of the film will not be as good and start to pixilate. In most vampire films the vampires are burned by the sun so can only come out at night. In many horror films, not just vampire films, bad things always happen at night. I think this is because for most people, the dark and night is very intimidating and through stereotypical horror films- people have come to be scared of the dark and what is lurking in it.

These are other traditional props and places found in vampire films:

• Graveyards

Graveyards are a really good setting for a vampire themed film as there is something creepy about a graveyard- where you are treading on peoples graves. Also due to lots of films using graveyards as places where bad things happen- they have developed a negative connotation. Also they and are often used because of the eery quite that they have and because many people think they are haunted. We would most likely use a graveyard in our film as it sets the theme well and they are easy to film. Also you can get some good angles with tomb stones ect.

• Gothic setting
• Coffins
• Crucifixes

• Holy water

Holy Water is a good thing to use in a vampire film as it is often used a weapon against the threat. It is comforting for an audience to know that vampire(s) can be killed but we probably wont use it as its a little cheesy and also wouldn't a film be more scary if the threat couldn't be killed? :)

I think that if we were to give our victim a weapon then it would be something more original and hard to get like, for example, The Vampire Diaries use a herb called Vervain to poison vampires- but doesn't kill them. I think this is good as i doesn't wipe out our threat but just incapacitates them for a short while. (Megan)

• Garlic

Garlic is the same as Holy water in my opinion- i think that it is cheesy. The current young generation are very focused on horror and fantasy fiction and often things like garlic and holy water are teased for being silly so i think we should take a more original take on a vampire horror and get creative. :)

Other important features are:

• Costume

In traditional vampire films, the vampires are dressed in black capes, whereas in more modern vampire films these features are more subtle, and it is common for a vampire to be dressed in modern day clothes to blend into society. This makes it more realistic and believable. We think we will be aiming for pale skin, red lips etc, but also trying to keep it a little more modern.

• Make up/Pale skin

Pretty much in every vampire film the vampires are very pale skinned , this makes them more scary and dead looking. When we make our film, it will be easy to create this effect using simple everyday make up and a good imagination.

• Indestructible

Typical vampires are strong and indestructible, this makes them more scary as they appear hard to kill. In tradition vampire films, things like Garlic and Holy water can ward off or kill vampires, however in the more modern vampire films, these are seen as myth and superstition, again this makes the vampires more scary and adds a new twist to the vampire genre.