Research Essay: Codes And Conventions of Existing Horror Films

Dead Wood

The codes used in the opening 2 minutes of Dead Wood are technical and symbolical. In the opening, the technical code of camera angles and shots that are used are point of view shot, long shots, extreme close ups, close ups, mid shots, crane shot and low angles. These help to build up what the genre of the film is. Diegetic sounds of birds, nature and wind open the scene. Then a non-diegetic sound is added. It is a bass note on the piano and it is quite a sinister sound. Strings are added later in the opening as this symbolises danger. Crescendos are also added to help the effect of danger. There are then a few lines of dialogue that is said which is non-diegetic and the diegetic sound fades.

In the opening of Dead Wood, the conventions used are in a secluded location and jump scares and these are mainly caused by the non-diegetic sounds. Jump scares is a typical convention that is mostly in teen horror films and normally someone dies in the first 10 minutes of the film. Also in opening of films there is usually a woman with minimal clothing on and they will end up in danger. In Dead Wood, the use of editing is linear which is a sequence in the order of events.

Dead Mary

The codes that were used in Dead Mary were technical and symbolical. The technical codes of camera shots and angles were extreme close, close up, mid shot and long shot. In comparison to Dead Wood, Dead Mary doesn’t use as many camera shots and angles. The diegetic sounds used in Dead Mary were chain noises, nature sounds and a broken radio. This gives us a sense that something bad is going to happen. The non-diegetic sound was a small dialogue between the man and woman and it was at the very end of the opening. It builds up tension because it draws you into the little parts of things that happen in it like the noises you can hear and the crackling of the radio.

In the opening, a convention that is used it silence. It is quiet with little diegetic sounds like the swinging of the chain and the broken radio. It draws you to the film so you keep watching closely and there would be a jump scare in the end. Also in the opening, the woman wears little clothing like the woman in Dead Wood. With women wearing little clothing it stereotypes women, as they are their husbands possession. The way it was edited was linear, the same as Dead Wood, which means that it is in a sequence in the order of events.

Wrong Turn

In the opening of Wrong Turn, the codes were the same as Dead Mary and Dead Wood, which are technical and symbolical. The technical codes of the camera shots angles that are used are bird’s eye, worms eye, close up, panning, long shot and mid shot. Wrong Turn has more types of shots and angles than Dead Mary but less than Dead Wood. There was only one diegetic sound compared to the other two opening, which was a dripping sound of the blood. The non-diegetic is sinister music and more speech in it.

A conventions in the opening is the sinister music crescendos which adds an tension to the opening and gives us a feeling that there would be a jump scare or something bad happening after the music has stopped or just before the music ends. The woman that is in the opening also has little clothing like the women in Dead Wood and Dead Mary. The opening is also linear like the Dead Wood and Dead Mary.