Formal film analysis of the supernatural horror genre's cinematic conventions and techniques proper to the director James Wan through his Conjuring Universe

The supernatural horror film genre's popularity has always been unstable in the history of cinema due to the fact that it is dealing with scaring paranormal events and supernatural religious malefic figures such as the Devil, demons, ghosts or spirits and witches which can be difficult to reach a huge amount of audience in the world. However, this genre has gained more and more popularity in today's actual society with the Conjuring Universe of the post-modern director James Wan which is dealing with those supernatural malevolent creatures and even with exorcism ritual practice on them in order to survive from their evil manipulations. Although, these movie series were produced as entertainment films, it is interesting to analyze the artistical side of them. This paper provides guidelines for exploring the effective and repetitive visual film language and aesthetic features belonging to this supernatural horror movie series reflecting the director's specific filmmaking style. This thesis will focus on the formal film analysis of the supernatural horror genre's cinematic conventions and technique proper to the director James Wan through his Conjuring Universe by first introducing the emergence of the supernatural horror genre throughout the German Expressionism, the biography and the filmography of the director. Secondly, it will establish the formal analysis of his specific supernatural horror visual film language throughout its narrational structure with its protagonist and supernatural antagonist, mise-en-scène, cinematography, visual and finally sound editing proper to his cinematic conventions and techniques through his Conjuring Universe.