Research : Codes and Conventions Of Horror Films

What are codes?


Codes are signs that create a meaning through out the film. These codes can be divided into two categories technical and symbolic.


Symbolic codes show what is happening under the surface of what the eye see's. This code is usually seen through aspects of Mise-En-Scene. For example, a characters actions show how the character is feeling, and a characters clothing can be decoded to help the audience understand what type of person the character is. Certain props have suggestions or connotations that can be de-coded by the audience.


Technical codes is all ways that equipment is used to tell the story in a media text. For example camera angles, camera movements and camera shots within a film, this is also how the shots are edited together, or the use of non-diegetic sound and diegetic sound. Some codes can fit into both categories, for example non-diegetic sound is both technical and symbolic codes.



What are conventions?


Conventions are the general way of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of quotes in a article, or the use of no signal in a horror movie. Conventions are also genre specific.


How codes and conventions apply in media studies:


Codes and Conventions are used together in any study of genre. There is not enough to discuss about  technical codes used such as camera work because without saying how this code or convention is conventionally used in a genre. For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in film genres. Lighting is a convention of the horror genre and is used of side and back lighting this is used in this way to create mystery and suspense.

Research : Analysing Codes and Conventions In Existing Teen Horror Films

History of Horror Films.

Introduction To Main Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The Preliminary task  involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she or he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

• Match on action is when the continuity of a shot is cut to another shot but the action from the first links to the second shot. For example when someone walks to the door and then grabs the handle of the door, this is two shots that would be filmed to be edited as one shot. 
• Shot reverse shot is when the camera changes to the direction of whom is speaking. For example if character A was to say "hello" the camera would be on them, then if character B was to reply "hello" back then the camera would be on them when exchanging this dialogue. 
• The 180-degree rule is when a rule stating that a camera should be placed somewhere inside 180 degrees on a particular side of the invisible line of a shot containing two people or more filmed in sequence. If the camera crosses the line then confusion can be made as it seems as the character are moving places as the audience is watching the film.

Before we started filming we researched all of the Media OCR terms that we had to include with in are Preliminary task, this was Match on action, Shot reverse shot, 180-degree rule and basic camera shots. I had to know all of these things before filming otherwise the continuity of the footage would not work. Resulting in me not being able to get a high quality film entry for my main task. 
Then with my group discussed what are preliminary task was going to involve, i final result was this: Liam (16) walks up and opens a classroom door. He then walks up to the table and sits down on the opposite chair to Jack(16) who is already sat down doing computer work. Liam then asks about some homework. 
This then allowed us to go onto start planning are storyboarding for the task. This is because we had a idea of what we wanted to happen for are preliminary task. When we started to story plan we had to fit all of are ideas into 12 shots. By going through the process of storyboarding will help to ensure a better end product then just trying to go out and film raw footage because you have to think about the step by step shot that you are going to film, which makes it easier when filming because you know what order you are filming certain shots. But it will also make it easier when editing because you know the sequence of the film. By creating a storyboard it forces you to think about the best angle and movement to use for different parts of the scene. It also makes you realise that you have to get such a big part of film into 12 shots. Within these shots we had to state the location, camera shot, camera movement, camera angle, cast required and if there is dialogue in this shot.
Once we had drew are story board out we then took photos of them and put them on to slide share, so we could post them onto are blog's.

We then started Planning: Mise-En-Scene: Location Planning, we did this by going to take photos of the locations that we was going to use for are preliminary task. Once we had took the photos we published them on are blog's and stated what shot was going to be done in that location and why this location was suitable for are filming.

Then we went on to Planning: Mise-En-Scene:Casting which involved picking the cast to play the characters for the preliminary task. We did this by thinking of two suitable cast member that could for fill the role, to make sure that the footage seemed realistic to the audience. Then we got photos of the two cast members and explained why they were suitable for the role.

Then we went onto practising to edit with Adobe Premiere Pro with some footage of someone else's preliminary task. This allowed me to understand what was involved to make my preliminary task to a high standard. For example when editing with the other footage I found a problem with match on action because the door was opened as he walked toward the door, but then when there is a close up to his hand on the door handle the door is closed. However this allowed me to remember this for when going to film for my preliminary task, so when editing there is match on action.   
Finally, we went on to plan are filming schedule. We did this because we needed to know these things:

Date:

Cast

Location

Props

Equipment

Health and Safety

this is because when it comes to filming you need to know these things so that the process is easier.

When filming the preliminary task there was some slight problems such as:

• when filming there was sometimes other students walking around the school building which was an issue because they got in the way or they was talking over the footage. This meant that when editing there could not be audio for certain shots. Also we had to retake shots because of people getting in the way, which resulted in taking more time then expected.
• when filming using tracking shots there sometimes was an issue with making sure that the camera lens was focused enough to get a clear film, rather than the camera shacking and not being able to see the character walking. This is because we did not have a high tech camera, as we only had an id to do this filming. 
• when filming the close up of the hand on the door this was an issue because when the door closes you can not open it again because it automatically locks, so this meant we had to get the door just right to make sure it still looked closed, meaning that there is continuity for match on action.   

There was some positives though such as:

• We had easy access to all the locations that we wanted to be in are preliminary task. This is because we used are own school to produce the film. 
• Both of the cast members that we used of the filming was confident and did not oh or mess up their lines when exchanging the dialogue, so this made the filming process easier and a lot quicker. 
• We made sure that we included all of the Media term that needed to be included within the preliminary task, this meant that the audience understood everything that was taking place within the footage. 

 

Before we filmed are Preliminary Task, we used someone else's Preliminary Task to practise editing this was to learn how to:

• Put videos and audio into the bin of Adobe Premier Pro.
• How to render the footage before exporting it.
• How to add effects to footage.
• How to fade in and out with music.
• How to cut the footage.
• How to razor out bits of footage that are not needed.  

We also used some photos and films of Eagles to learn how to make them fit with the narrative of the footage.

So when I edited my own Preliminary task I knew how to use Adobe Premiere Pro rather well, I also knew how to add music into the footage and get it to fit with the continuity of the film. 

I think that my Preliminary Task meets expectations of the set brief because it sticks with all of the original plans and it seems to be realistic to the audience. This is due to the continuity of the footage. However, there is two shots that have been edited together and when it goes from tracking him forward, to backwards its looks like he has stopped walking because he is walking at two different speeds. So when it comes to filming and editing for the main task I will ensure that we don't do similar camera shot after each other.

There are many strengths to the Preliminary task such as:

• We had easy access to all the locations that we wanted to be in are preliminary task. This is because we used are own school to produce the film. 
• Both of the cast members that we used of the filming was confident and did not oh or mess up their lines when exchanging the dialogue, so this made the filming process easier and a lot quicker. 
• We made sure that we included all of the Media term that needed to be included within the preliminary task, this meant that the audience understood everything that was taking place within the footage.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task: Filming Schedule

Date: 9thOctober 2015	Cast	Location	Props	Equipment	Health and Safety
11:50	Aaron	Hallway	Paper/homework	Ipad	Don’t trap fingers in the locker.
11:55	Aaron	Hallway	Paper/homework	Ipad	Don’t run/fall
12:10	Aaron	Hallway/Door	Door	Ipad
12:15	Alex	Classroom	Laptop and Paper	Ipad
12:20	Alex  Aaron	Classroom	Laptop and Paper	Ipad

Learing To Edit With Adobe Premiere Pro

•  I learnt how to cut raw footage on Adobe Premiere Pro.

• I Learnt how to add audio to footage.

• I learnt that if the footage is not filmed right then you cannot edit it to get match on match action.

• I learnt how to add effects to footage.