codes and conventions essay

Codes and conventions help horror films attract the aimed audience.

Their are two different types of codes technical and symbolic.
overall a code is where parts of the film can be decoded by the audience watching it. Technical codes in a horror film include sound(diagetic and non-diagetic),camera shots, movement and lighting, titles and editing.

Symbolic codes covers make-up, setting and props. The French term includes the main elements of symbolic codes this is 'mis-en-scence' which translates in to 'put in the scene'. The audience make assumptions of what the character is like by what they are wearing. An example of this is if someone is wearing all black the audience will make an assumption of the character such as they do not want to be seen or they may do something bad later on in the movie. 

conventions on the other hand are expected rules from an audience when watching a certain genre. For example if the audience are watching a children's movie they expect it to be happy and have appropriate language in. Children's films will have different conventions compared to horror films, in horrors the audience will expect to see someone being killed, stalked or in trouble when they are in a secluded location.  

The plots and openings of 'dead Mary', 'dead wood' and 'wrong turn' are all different but use the same type of codes and conventions.

DEAD MARY CODES AND CONVENTIONS

plot- Kim and her boyfriend Matt recently broke up, together they travel to a cottage near a lake to spend the weekend away with their friends. Kim and Matt have a small argument and one of their friends suggests for them to play 'Dead Mary', in front of a mirror Matt and two friends Eve and Dash repeat the name 'Dead Mary' three times. Throughout the night Matt starts to hear odd noises and is killed he is then brought back to life while other members are possessed. Without knowing who is possessed the rest of the group fight to survive.  

Dead Mary betrays a typical horror movie opening with the non-diagetic sounds of the natural background in the woods. The first character we see is female she has a lot of skin on show as she is wearing a vest top and small shorts, allowing the audience to make assumptions of the character which may be that she is a vulnerable victim and will be easy to kill. Point of View shots are used from the known and unknown character this helps as the audience can see the surroundings from different views. From the females point of view we can see that she is in a secluded location and if help is needed she wont get any. Their is a sense of threat and enigma in the other point of view shot as it is an unknown character within the trees watching the female character quietly making weird noises. The director reflects back on the secluded location and shows that the female is lonely as she fails to get any radio or phone reception, she chucks her phone down on to the dashboard creating a loud thud to show that if she is in trouble no one can protect her. As she is rummaging around in the drop down of the car she picks up a gun, their is a close up shot suggesting she may use it later on in the film. The close-up shot helps the audience see the details of the prop and remember it if it is used later on. A faded silhouette of a person behind the car is used effectively as it is another unknown character it is also a type of jump scare as it turns out she knows the male character but the audience don't know this and from seeing the faded figure think he could be bad.

Dead wood plot- Four friends go in to the woods to camp as a holiday, but mysterious events start happening when a sinister girl arrives and mysterious force starts hunting them.

The opening of dead wood has a diegetic sound, this tells us where the film is set which is in the woods. they used a crane shot to show us the setting and that it is in a secluded location. a close up shot of someone's foot is shown it then moves quickly and the sound of orchestral music is heard this tells the audience that the character is running away from something bad. the symbolic codes tell us that the character hasn't been camping in the woods before as he is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and normal campers would wear thick  clothing such as jumpers. A jump scare is used as the male character nearly falls off the cliff but then it becomes real as he does jump off the cliff and die. The director reflects back on the secluded location as they show their tent which is In the middle of no where. A female character is introduced she acts lost and scared and will be the biggest victim.  
 

 wrong turn plot- opening with two friends rock climbing and then being killed by a mysterious creature. six friends find themselves in the same woods being hunted down by the cannibalistic mountain men.

the opening of wrong turn starts of with a carne shot of the location clearly showing like the other two that it is a secluded location. With an introduction of deep orchestral music giving a sense of threat, Their is a couple rock climbing the male reaches the top first showing the male has power power. the female is struggling and asking for help showing how she doesn't have much power, their is a jump scare of the girl falling but the girls rope being let down but she doesn't fall off the cliff. Their is a non diagetic sound of a thud from the males dead body when chucked over the cliff and screaming from the female this shows that she is now the biggest victim. props are used such as knifes to cut her rope and jump over to the other one to get away from the unknown killer its tense as we don't know if she Is going to make it a hand held camera is used to get shakiness and make the film more effective. The female falls off the cliff and their is a close up of the males hand with blood on this is a sense of reality to the female as she knows she is in trouble. their is false hope as we think she is going to get away from the killer but she is then tripped by a wire.