Research Essay : Codes and Conventions of Existing Horror Films

When you watch a teen horror genre, there are codes and conventions that are related to the specific genre. The two types of codes are technical and symbolic:

Technical codes in a horror film include things such as a camera shots, angles and movements, lighting, titles, editing and non diagetic sound and diagetic sound. The technical codes cover the technical aspects of filmmaking and creating a piece of moving image.

Symbolic codes in a horror film include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. There are many different aspects of mise-en-scene such as, costume, make-up, setting and props. For example if the leading man in the film is wearing a bright shirt and acting a fool, the audience will make assumptions about his character and traits. The audience does this because of the symbolic value attached to the clothing and the makeup.

Conventions take a big part within what attracts and audience to view a horror film:  Conventions are the things which are seen by the audience and are expected by the audience when watching a specific and certain genre. For example a common convention in a teen horror film is there being no signal at the point of the character needing signal, or another convention is the character being in a secluded environment.

Three films that represent similar aspects to a teen horror movie are: Wrong turn, Dead Wood and Dead Marry. All three opening use the same convention of having female victim who is dependent on a male. In ‘Dead Mary’, represents the female waiting in the car alone in a secluded environment. This character is represented as a vulnerable character as there is no sign of help.  The director then reinforces her vulnerability through the convention of the radio having no signal and her phone having no signal as well. This shows the limited source of contact and communication this then shows her isolation from any safety. After the audience are shown her vulnerability her male companion then returns with the fuel for the car, this shows that she relies on him, because it was him that went and got the petrol and she stayed there waiting for him to come and save her. This is also shown in ‘Dead Wood’ when the girl comes out of her tent, as her male companion has been dragged down into the bank. But then she starts to call his name showing that she needs him to be safe, this is because she is shown to the audience as a vulnerable character and the male is seen to be the brave one. For the opening of ‘Wrong Turn’ there is similar convention throughout.  The female character is represented as the weaker character because she is struggling to climb up the rocks, whereas the male climbs up with no struggle. However, the audience could see his character as showing off and confident. Throughout horror movies the female is often displayed as more vulnerable and weaker to the male characters in the opening.  All teen horror films use similar conventions because the audience expects to see these things within the film; this is because the conventions used seem to be the most realistic to the audience. Also the characters are used in a certain way so that the audience can connect to them through their roles within the film.

Through the symbolic codes of mise-en-scene of costumes and make up all three women in these opening seem to be very exposed through their clothing.  For example, in ‘Dead Mary the female is wearing a dress that is blue, however she is not wearing any shoes whilst she is in the car waiting. This represents that she does not believe anything is going to happen, and she believes that she is not going to have to get away from any danger.  Then in ‘Dead Wood’ when the female comes out of the tent she is wearing a black knee length skirt which has a split down the front and the back, so the first thing that the audience see of this character is her legs. She is also wearing heeled boots which shows that she does not have much experience with camping and being in the woods. The audience would judge her character through the clothes that she is wearing, so because they have seen her male companion being dragged down they could not see her as an easy target for the murder. Then lastly in ‘Wrong Turn’ the female character is also exposed, even though she is wearing appropriate clothing for what she is doing. Her clothing is still exposing because she is just wearing a sports bra and latex shorts as these clothes do not offer much physical protection for this character. This is because throughout teen horror films they use similar symbolic codes to represent female characters as weaker than the males in the film through their costumes.