Thursday, 8 October 2009

Codes and Conventions used in different Film Genres

Horror - Final Destination.
A symbolic Code is used when scary music is played a birds eye view of a boy sleeping. The Music is non-diegetic. This is typical of a horror movie because it always increases tension and suspense that the characters cant hear, but the audience can.
Setting is a boys bedroom at night. It is a dark setting, you can see figures of toys etc. This is typical for a setting of a horror film as it creates a scary atmosphere and creates tension for the audience watching the scene.
Panning used to lead audience to a open doorway. Door opens slowly.
Diegetic sound of wind howling played at this moment to create tension and suspension.
Birds eye view of boy sleeping.
The diegetic sound of the wind becomes quicker, louder as the scene becomes more scary and when the camera is focused on the boy sleeping.
Diegetic sound of girl speaking, calling out.
Close-up of clock that says 1 o'clock and is written in red. Red emphasizes danger, death - blood. It is a bold colour that can be used for warnings, like it is used in this case.
The intended audience of this film is teenagers and adults.

Romance - The Notebook.
Long Shot of couple walking holding hands. This is typical of a romance film.
A symbolic code of a girl wearing a red cardigan emphasises romance, love and passion.
Boy humming making diegetic music while they are dancing.
Over the shoulder shots of them together..
Non-diegetic romantic music playing in background. This is typical for this type of genre.
Panning of them dancing together. Also a birds eye view of them dancing.
Traffic light above them changes to red, which emphasises they are evidently falling in love. This is a symbolic code.
Cross-cutting to them in the future. The girl who is now an old woman is wearing a red jumper still. Emphasises the love in their realtionship is still alive.
Panning of girl running to boy. Romantic, upbeat non-diegetic music is played to emphasise their happiness. Medium shot of them together.
The intended audience of this film is young and old.

Comedy- Little Nicky.
Close-up of man's face.
Music is light upbeat. Very chilled music, relaxing music.
Close-up of flowers which are blue. Blue symbolizes relaxing, calm colour.
Main character wearing yellow. Main character is good. Yellow symbolizes a bright, happy colour which suits the main character. He is also wearing blue gloves and trousers which is a calm colour.
Setting is at a flower shop. Which is a happy setting which is typical of a comedy to make it upbeat.
Panning of people following main character.
Camera is shaky. This shows the main characters point of view when running.
Music is very punk/rock. (Non - diegetic) This emphasizes action especially when the main character is running.
Long shot of man.
Diegetic sound of crowd shouting.
Close-up of basketball.
Panning of the basketball court.
The intended audience of this film is older teenagers and adults.

Cowboy- The Good The Bad And The Ugly.
Long shot of Rocky Mountains and man on horse.
Setting is Rocky Mountains. Typical setting for a western movie.
Panning of man on horse.
Diegetic sound of horse running.
Relaxing, low/quite quiet music playing in the background. Non-diegetic music.
Man wearing dark grey coat and black hat. Dark colours emphasise a dark side to a character and maybe he is quite a dangerous character.
Over the shot of man walking through the cave. Panning following the man as well.
Setting in a tunnel. He is looking at the end of the tunnel and you can see light. However he is standing in the darkness of the tunnel. This could emphasise he is a quite dark character and is lost in the darkness and cannot see the light.
Medium shot of man.
Arc shot. Circling around the character. Music becomes louder as more action is happening, and the storyline is developing.
Close-up of man’s face.
The audience intended is adults.

Sci-fi- V for Vendetta
Diegetic sound of woman on speakers talking in the streets of London.
Setting is the streets in London. It is very dismal, dull and it is an extremely dark night.
Medium shot of woman walking by herself.
Panning of woman running away.
Two men wearing grey. Grey is a dull, dark and links to death. These men consequently are dangerous.
Medium shot of man. His face is darker one side which emphasises he has a dark side to himself.
Close-up of woman reaching into her pocket. Emphasises she has something important in her pocket.
Over the shoulder shot of woman looking at one of the men. This shows you her point of view and invites the audience and makes them seem they are in on the action themselves.
Close-up of badge. This shows the badge holds great importance.
Non-diegetic music played. It is very sinister and scary and gets faster and louder when there is more action and the film gets scarier.
Close-up of man in a mask. It has slightly some light shining on the mask which emphasises that the man in the mask may have a dark side to him as well as a good side.
Close-up of knife which shows that there is going to be action.
Long shot of the masked man dressed all in black. This creates tension and suspense.
Close-up of gun.
Very fast non-diegetic music is played as there is a lot of action.
Over the shoulder shot used when man is looking at the masked man.
The intended audience is young adults and adults.

Evaluation

Last Friday we did a rough first filming task. We were told to make a short horror film within our groups. After making our film we watched them and recieved feedback from our peers. One person said that our film had good camera angles, as we included over the shoulder shots, middle shots, long shorts, close-ups, panning, birds eyes view etc.
However they said we should make sure we keep the camera more steady. Which we should do in order to improve our film and quality of it. Also we should make sure no one looks into the camera unless intentional.
Another peer said we should make sure our video is louder in order to make the short film look more professional and easier for the audience to listen to what is really going on, as our video was quite quiet and you could not hear what we were saying in the video. They however said that we did good editing but need to make sure the camera is kept steady at all times.
In conclusion I think our video was ok for a first attempt. However alot of things could be added to improve it such as the listed reasons above, and also i think with more practice with cameras and media techniques it would improve also.

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