Research: Codes and Conventions

We learnt about codes and conventions and how they are used in the horror genre. This was interesting and useful, as it meant I could analyse and spot the codes and conventions whilst watching the opening two minutes or so of a teen horror film. In addition, it will subsequently help me when it comes to pre-production of my own opening of a teen horror film. Below there is some information about codes and conventions which will assist me.

What are codes?

Codes are elements that can be decoded by the audience to provide meaning. These can be divided most easily into 2 groups; technical codes and symbolic codes.

Technical codes include the 'technical' aspects of creating a piece of moving image media. This includes things such as camera shots, angles and movements, editing, sound, titles and lighting.

Symbolic codes include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. Mise-en-scene is a French term that means 'put in the scene'. This covers things such as costume, make-up, setting and props. If we see a girl in a short dress with bright red lipstick we may, as an audience, make an assumption about her. We do this because of the symbolic value attached to these items.

What are conventions?

Conventions are the expected rules that, as an audience, we expect in a specific genre. For example, in a horror film we expect to see conventions such as a killer stalking a victim, a character being placed in a position of peril, a mobile phone running out of battery or losing signal at a crucial moment.



Black make-up is used on the eyes in this image. The colour black connotes death and mystery. This contrasts her white face which gives a ghostly feeling. These are symbolic codes. The technical codes used in this image is the camera angle; it is a high camera angle, with the girl in the image looking up at the camera, but she's not tilting her head and has only moved her eyes. The lighting is also focused on her face.

Judging from the poster, the genre of the film is a horror. I can deduce this from the poster because on the front of the ship is a skull, which has connotations of death and violence. The title of the film is 'Ghost Ship', which is half submerged in water. The background of the poster is black which connotes death; the front of the ship is also damaged which implies there is something dangerous, or something dangerous happens on the ship. The film was also given a Halloween release date




The genre of this film is a children's comedy. I know this because on the poster it feature a dog DJing whilst wearing sunglasses, with headphones around its neck. It also shows two other dogs, both are wearing hats, and one of them is wearing a jumper with chains around its neck. This is not a serious film; it is light hearted, which is implied not only by the dogs, but by the background as well. It features a bright blue sky with two palm trees. From this I can predict that the film will be set in an exotic location.


Summary

An easy way to think of codes and conventions is to view them as being the necessary ingredients to create a perfect generic film recipe. If you are given the task, which you will be, of thinking of an idea for a teen horror film you can start by creating a list of essential ingredients.

You can, of course, choose to challenge conventions rather than use or develop them. This doesn't happen as often in film as it can disorientate the audience. A convention of most thriller films, for example, is that the hero always prevails. How would you react if a director chose to challenge this convention and killed off your hero letting the villain win?