Fictional film codes and conventions

Fictional film codes and conventions

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  Unit 10: FictionalFilm Codes and Conventions The horror genre is one of the most popular and mostrespected genres the film industry. The genre is well known for its gory images and gruesomeviolence. Blood and gore is usually associated with the Slasher sub-genreas each victim is killed of one by one in very gruesomeways by either a serial killer more a monster. The props for a slasher are mainly weapons such as a kitchen knife or a chainsaw. Italso uses a lot and fakeblood and fake goreto show the audience how sadistic the killer can be. Horror can also but in to the unrealistic territory with the paranormaland supernaturalsub- genres with various antagonists such as ghosts, demons or even mythical creatures. Horror relies on scares and a scene of dread to make it effective to get a reaction fromthe audience. Horror also relies on plenty of blood to make the audience unconfutableand on edge as fountains of blood sprays every waretheprotagonists arekilled off. According to a theorist named Steve Neale, he said that “Genres are instances of repetition and difference; this is what pleasures for the audience is derived from.” So when the audience goes to watch a horror film, they expect to see a lot of familiar codes and convections such as one of the protagonists wonders off on their own and gets killed off for the first kill of the film. When going into a slasher film, they’ll will expect to see a lot of kills and the drunk teenagers stereotype witch is associated with the slasher. Each slasher is the sameas they are expected to have a high kill count and have the same. For example, in the Slasher horror filmHalloween, it uses point of view shots to make the audience think who are we following and we also get to what he sees when he killed his victims and the audience get pleasure out of this as the audience have come to watch this film for the kills and they get the senseof satisfaction as each person dies.
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  Ref.1. In this scene(reference1), the point of view shot shows theaudience that they are looking through the killer’s eyes. The visuals are restricted and distorted because this viewpoint isn’t as good as the audiences as he is wearing a mask and this makes the film scarier as we don’t know what’s in the room. Italso shows a very gory kill as Michael Myers stabs his sister rapidly and this is satisfying to the audience as they are here to see Halloween for the kills. It’s a very gory kill and it uses fake blood to show the horrific kill in as much detail as possiblewitch is a piratical effect with is common in the mis-en-scenein horror. Halloween is set in the suburbs wherenothing terrible happens. It’s usually the safestplace but in Halloween it makes you think that nowhereis safe as the setting is in the suburbs. This is a convention of a horror film because it is a relatable place it the audience and it makethem feel like nowhereis safe. Michael Myers’ mask is used to hide the identity of the killer. This makes the audience wonder who is the man behind the mask. I think the reason why they wear masks is to show the protagonists and the audience how horrifying the killer is. Italso shows ambiguity as their real identity is hidden to try and keep the audience thinking about who could be man/thing behind the mask.
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  His infamous headtilt shows theaudience that he is sadistic and takes pleasurein stalking and killing people. His head tilt is unnerving for the audience. There is an emptiness interpreted for this action. Itis not an everyday behavior to a normal person. Itcould seem to be used to show who he is through expression and not in speech. I think when the main antagonistin a horror filmact strangeand abnormal, it puts the audiece in a state of panic bacause no normal person would do that in reality. Lighting also play a very importantpart in Halloween as there a lot of dark lighting to limit whatthe audience can see and that will make them on edge at times as the characters arebeing stalked. The use of low key lighting creates a feeling of nervous anticipation as they don’t know when something is aboutto pop out and that is the purposeof most horror films. Its all about the scares. Ref.2. In this scene, where the dead body come out of the dark and scares the main protagonist. The lighting is very limited as we don’t know that that body was
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  going to swingout of the dark to scareus as wecould not see it coming as it was too dark to see whatwas in the dark roomand this is whatmakes the audience scared as they don’t know whatis in the dark roomand then the body come out into the light and scares the audience even more and this is effective as lighting in this scene created tension as they don’t know what’s going to happen in the room. John carpenter’s iconic soundtrack helps the film to become scarier and suspensefulwith the horror heavy music. Its mosticonic piece of non-diegetic music is it main theme with its fastpaced piano music witch plays at the opening credits to show the audience that this is going to be a very scary film with the dark and gritty tone of it. Most horror films use scary and atmospheric soundtracks to get an emotional responsefromthe audience. Another film for example is the supernaturalhorror filmThe Conjuring. The Conjuring uses various amounts of stings to get a reaction fromthe audience. This is whatwill scarethe audience as the buildup to a scary moment in the conjuring is mostly in silence as this will makethe audience on edge as it is to quiet until the sting sound kicks in and all the silent built up hit the audience to make them scared. Itis mainly used in a jump scares. ref.3. In this scene, it relies on the science when one of the protagonist goes to check if there anything in the wardrobe, thereis nothing but silence until one looks up at the wardrobeto see the ghostas the non-diegetic sting kicks as the camera
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  zooms in onthe ghost to create the jumps careto give the audience a shock as It has been quiet for so long hearing a sting that laud and in there face. The conjuring is set in the stereotypicalhaunted house to show the audience that this is going to be a supernaturalhorror filmas haunted houses areassociated with ghosts and demons. It’s a visual iconography in the horror genreas various other horror films such as psycho and the Amityville horror usethe haunted housesetting to create all of it scares and kills. While Halloween relies on bloody and gory kills to scarethe audience, the conjuring relies on jump scares to makethen effective on what they do to make them scary. Horror narrativeis usually structured in the same way and mostly follow narrative codes. According to Todorov’s narrativetheory, a narrative follow five transformations. thefirstone being the equilibrium where everything is normal. Next is the disruption of the equilibrium wheresomething happens that makes this abnormal. Next is the recognition of the disruption where the main protagonists relies that something is wrong which leads onto the attempt to repair the damage where the protagonist’s try to solvethe predicament and then the new equilibrium wherething are back to wherethey were fromthe start. most horror havean epic conclusion as they havea final showdown with the villain with either a fight to the death or a great escape. Both Halloween and the conjuring havea big shown with the villain a they both try to resolvethe disruption. In the present day of Halloween, it starts with an equilibrium as the main protagonistLorie is going through her normal routine of going to schooland hanging out with friends. Next come the disruption in the equilibrium as doctor Lummis discovers the Michael Myers has escaped fromthe metal hospital. Lorie recognizes the disruption as shefinds out that there is someone stalking and trying to kill her on Halloween night and as her friend’s startacting strange. According to a theorist named Vladimir Propp, Lorie is the hero in the film because shehas to protect the kids sheis babysitting to makesure that they are not going to be killed by Michael Myers. Doctor Lummis is the helper as he is helping Lorie to get away and kill Michael Myers as they both attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
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  ref.4. This scene marksthe ending of the film as doctor Lummis potentially killed Michael Myers. Itmarks a new equilibrium for the protagonists as they are safe fromMichael Myers. However, wefind out the Michael has disappeared. This leaves an open ending as the killer had escaped to ready to come back in a sequel. ref.5. This scene shows us thatthis film has an unrestrictivenarrativeas weknow that Michael is back to life to kill Lorie and Lorie doesn’tknow that. This will make the audience feel scared for Lorie as she doesn’tknow that she is still in danger. This
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  is effective inhorror filmas they havegrown a bond with the main protagonist and only with the audience knowing that they are in danger will makethem scared for the protagonist. Like Halloween, the conjuring follows the same structureas they find out and something is wrong in there every day life’s and haveto find help to get rid in the predicament. ends with a new equilibrium as they are both safefromthe antagonist. but in The Conjuring, every loseend is tied and nothing is going to happen to the protagonistever again and there no open endings. But in Halloween and ending is moreambiguous because as we saw in reference 4, Michael’s body has disappeared and we don’tknow where he going to go next, is he going to stay in the Haddonfield to terrorizemore young teenagers or has he moved on to the next city to start the massacreall over again. Halloween sets up a sequel while the conjuring does not. Both films use binary opposition as Michael Myers tires to kill Lorie and battle and in The Conjuring it’s the Warren and Parron family vs the ghost. It’s a battle between good vs evil.