Every films has codes and conventions in, every genre has
as well. There are 2 types of codes used in films, these are:
Symbolic
Symbolic codes are what the audience sees in the
film. An example of a symbolic code would be mise-en-scene which is French for
"put in the scene". Mise-en-scene includes a range of things such as
the costumes used, the makeup, the setting and the props used. An example would
be a man is in the woods wearing a big coat and he is bleeding. The coat would
be costume and the blood would be makeup and he is in the woods which are the
setting and he has a hammer as a weapon which would be the prop. Also the
facial expressions of the man would show the audience how he feels.
The other type is
Technical.
Technical
Technical codes are how the camera has been used
such as the angles, the shots and the movement to try and create the effect of
making the audience scared. Other things included can be how the lighting has
been used to try and make the audience scared because the victim has no idea
where the killer could be. The editing and titles come under this as well
because the title can be edited to look scary such as having the title in
different fonts and different colour schemes so when people first view it they
will be able to tell it is a horror. The editing can also be used to increase
the pace of the film when danger could be building up. Also diegetic and non-diegetic
sound which is sound on the set and sound that has been put over the actual
scene to possibly make it scarier. Technical codes are much more important than
symbolic codes.
Conventions play a large role in ten horror movies because
they are used to attract the audience to see the movie in the first place.
Conventions
Conventions are things that audiences expect to
see. An example of a convention would be that the characters are lost in the
middle of nowhere, this gives the audience a sense of vulnerability as they are
nowhere near civilization, if it was set in a city they know that there are
lots of people to get help from, but in a desert there is no one.
The 3 films I watched and analysed
were:
Wrong turn
Dead Mary
Dead Wood
Wrong turn
Wrong turn was the easiest to identify the codes and
conventions. The opening of it had a good amount of editing; this is shown by
the pace in the scene which slowly builds up as it goes on. An example of this
is when the male and female are talking as his goes away to look, but when the
man gets thrown off the cliff, the cuts increase in pace with on cut lasting
not even a second, this makes the movie feel more intense. The pace of this
makes the audience feel a lot more threatened.
In the opening of Wrong
turn starts off with a crane shot of the location which is in a forest. This is
because it is a secluded location and it is to make the audience think that
there is no help available because the camera shows just how big the forest is.
To also show that it is secluded the male says that there is no one for 50
miles. The camera is then a bird’s eye view showing the 2 characters rock
climbing and it shows just how high the cliff is so if they are at danger then
they may struggle to get down quite quickly or get up as well if they are in a
rush to hurry from the danger.
Wrong turn uses many
conventions in its opening. One of these is that the strong male character dies
leaving the female vulnerable. This happens in many horror films such as dead
wood which I will be talking about later. Another convention I am going to talk
about is that it is a secluded location. I mentioned this before but I will go
into more detail now. The camera shows how secluded the location is by showing
the area which it is set and that there is no help around. Instead it is just a
huge dangerous wooded area and the woman is shouting for help and the male says”
we are 50 miles from anybody” so this shows how secluded the location is. One
final convention is where the victim is close to safety, as the woman finds out
that the man is dead, she tries to escape by cutting the rope off so she can
get to safety but she trips over some barbed wire and then is taken away by the
unknown killer, it then cuts to the final shot of the car just so the audience
can see how close she was to escaping from the killing ground.
The Wrong Turn uses a lot
of codes. One of these codes would be the sound that gets used. When the Male
is on the ground after getting thrown off the cliff by the killer and when the
female falls down, there is a shot of the male’s face, just before this shot
there is no music at all but when his face is revealed and covered in blood the
music is instant. Another way sound gets used is when the camera is looking
down on the female, there seems to be a thump out of scene, this could tell us
that the male has been hit with a heavy object such as a rock or a tree.
Mise-En-Scene has been used well because the female how the female has been
dressed would seem quite inappropriate because she is showing a lot of flesh
and is wearing a vest and high shorts. This is not very good for the female
because she is rock climbing and she is not protected very well and if she
fell, she could of easily cut herself because her clothing choice is not the best.
Dead Mary
In the opening of Dead Mary it seemed like it
was going to be quite boring, but in the end it was by far the most technical
of the 3 openings. There is a lot of tension because it is to get the audience
ready as something is going to happen but there isn't. This is done by the use
of music and the different camera angles so the audience are meant to feel
that the person is getting watched and is meant to make the audience
scared that something may happen. But the opening of Dead Mary has been done well
because even though there is no action it is still very intriguing to watch.
Also the use of editing has been used to put the audience in the characters
shoes. As the pace of the cuts gets quicker you know that something is going to
happen.
The camera has been used really well in Dead
Mary because at the beginning there is a sign that isn't up properly and it is
squeaking. The use of the camera on the sign and the road behind it shows that
it is secluded and nobody is around to help them. Also the camera is out of
focus as it shows the girls POV because she is looking in the mirror and the
camera has been done to show the audience what the character sees and shows how
deserted the road is. Also the use of the camera looking through the trees is
meant to feel that the character is being watched and keeps cutting through the
trees. Also the camera has been used the same way as the POV because the road
is out of focus again and there is a person who is also out of focus as well,
so it could look like any random person and it looks a scary for the audience
because it could be anyone.
There are not a lot of conventions used in Dead
Mary but uses some. One convention would be that it is set in a
secluded location and many horror movies are set in locations like these
because it is to make the character feel that there is no escape from the
killer. In Dead Mary you can tell that this is a secluded location because
their car is the only one there and it is a wooded area which can mean that the
location is secluded and if they are in danger nobody can help them. One more
convention would be that there is a sense of threat. Both characters are in
danger because the female is on her own and she is very vulnerable, the man is
in danger as well because he is going out on his own to find petrol and he
could easily get jumped and killed by some people. The final convention is that
the phone has no signal this is used when the female is trying to get hold of
her boyfriend/Dad/Brother but she makes the audience think that the phone
doesn't work by holding it up to the sky to try and get a signal and she also
makes the audience that the phone doesn't work by throwing it in anger.
There are a lot of codes that are used in Dead
Mary. One of these would be the diegetic sound that is used. These sounds were
the birds tweeting which can indicate that it is set in a wooded area and that
there is nobody else around. Another sound that was diegetic was the sign
creaking. This can show that the location is very secluded as well because
there is nobody around to possibly fix the sign and it is one of those noises
that unease’s the audience. The Mise-En-Scene used is that the woman's outfit
is inappropriate as she is showing a lot of flesh and she is very vulnerable
and not ready. However the man is fully clothed and looks like he is ready if
any danger was to happen to both of them. A prop that the audience sees is a flare
gun, this could be foreshadowing any later danger that could occur and in the movie.
Dead Wood
In the opening of Dead Wood, there is a crane
shot of the location and this shows the audience that this place is very
secluded and big so there is a difficulty of escaping. A way of the editing
being used is that the male victim is trying to get away from an unknown danger,
but before that the use of sound is slow and steady but then as the man is
trying to escape, the music starts to get quicker because the audience knows
that something is chasing him and he is in danger. Also the editing has been
used very well because the cuts gradually get quicker because it shows that
danger is building up.
Dead Wood uses a range of different conventions.
Some of these are the same as Wrong Turn. One convention would be that there is
a death in the first 5 minutes. This is when the male is trying to escape from
the unknown killer and he has a jump to make which seems quite a difficult one
to make ( even though he just don sent climb down and climb back up is beyond me).
But he doesn’t make the jump and blood pours out of his mouth where he is
presumably killed. This convention is used so many times in horror films
because it is meant to get the audience scared and frightened of what’s going
to be on in the next few scenes. One more convention would be that the person
is running through the trees where the person is very vulnerable because a
branch could hit them, they could trip up or they could get lost quite easily
and running through the trees is not a very safe way. One other convention
would be that the woman is in danger and that she is victim because when the
male dies, she is on her own and she has no power because she doesn’t have the
male to rely on meaning she is a very vulnerable character in a very vulnerable
situation and the audience are meant to feel scared because they will be
wondering what is going to happen to that woman. Another convention would be
that there is a false jump. This is where the camera is lowering down to ground
level and there is a splash and this is where the man is escaping and the
audience are meant to feel that more jumps are going to be expected in the
movie. But in Wrong Turn the jump has been used by non-diegetic sound whereas
Dead Wood uses Diegetic sound. One final convention would be that the
location is very secluded. It is in a huge forest where there is no sign of
anybody being around so the audience is already feeling that the characters are
going to be in danger because of how secluded the location is. So the people in
danger would find it really difficult to get away
The opening of Dead Wood has a lot of codes. One
code would be the use of Mise-En-Scene. This is what has been put in the scene.
The male has a Hawaiian T-Shirt on. This shows that he hasn't experienced
camping before because what he is wearing. Most campers wear thick clothing and
coats but he is wearing a shirt which doesn't suit the camping environment. On
the other hand the female is much better dressed than the other 2 females in the other films, she is actually wearing some clothing the covers her body. One
other code used is the use of sound. This shows how secluded the location is by
having birds tweet to tell the audience that the only noise would be the birds
and nobody else and that it is a woodland. Also the music has been used by
making it deep and mysterious then gets louder as the chase is going on so it
is building up the tension. The camera is down low and tilted upwards to show
how far and high the jump is so it is difficult to make but if he fell it would
be very difficult to get back up without death.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think Wrong Turn uses the most and better codes
and conventions. In the Wrong Turn the use of different sound has been used
very effectively because the sound that has been used would really make the
audience feel uncomfortable and very uneasy. Also the way the camera flies over
the wooded area and you would expect them to be around a camp or something else
but they are half way up of climbing up a wall which was pretty unexpected.
Also Wrong Turn is the best in making sure that the female is really vulnerable
and an easy target by using a range of conventions and codes to make the
audience feel that the woman is in a lot of danger. Also the use of costumes,
props etc. are all used very well and that there is an actual point to these
being used. Also the different conventions and codes used in Wrong Turn are
meant to make the audience feel that they are in for more.
The first location we considered was the Brambleside woods. The location was a possible option that would fit the requirements needed for our and opening, because it was a well wooded area which was able to fit into our originally decided location and premise. This was also the most appealing to our group, mostly because it was the closest place to film, and easiest to access. The location was also quite large so we were more flexible in terms of which area to choose to film. This could come in useful in case we needed to re-film at all, perhaps due to lighting issues in particular. With the benefit of the size comes a possible flaw to the location, with the potential for audio problems. This is due to the road that is in vicinity of the area we want to film, and could be very busy while filming. 
