Dead Wood
As it begins it has a very intense title ' Dead Wood', it
shows the production company and instantly shows a short film where a camera is panning through the trees in quite a secluded location, which is already a horror convention, music begins, quite mysterious music no signs of anything scary happening just yet.
Then powerfully a step into the puddle and the hole scene changes, it's turned into a chase and the fast upbeat music comes on until he reaches a ravine where he's forced to jump but he fails, and you see blood come up and out of his mouth and then he instantly falls. On the other side of the divine was a tent where a lady came out wondering what the noise was. there are plenty of conventions and codes in this film, the dark forest with orange like sky gives us a sense that this isn't a normal forest and there is something or someone in it, lurking. Another code is the editing. At the start it was very slow, just panning around the forest until someone steps into a puddle which is another convention where it's called a fake scare, the editing turns really quick and the music also changes into a fast beat which is a technical code. If the character is unable to hear the sound that the viewers are hearing this is called non diegetic, which means the music was added in post production. The way the man is dressed tells me that he is quite a nerd because he's wearing a loose Hawaiian shirt, with blood all over it which shows us a symbolic code and tells us it's a horror film. There is also another fake scare as the character looks around in fear, the music almost goes next to silent and you have it depend on the character to make a decision which builds up huge suspense which is a vital part for a horror film. The bushes rattle behind him to make it feel like the thing is behind him which builds up so much suspense for him he jumps and holds on, but blood comes out of his which already is another symbolic code to tell me that something has done something to him and blood is everyone's nightmare. The editing then slows down again and the lady comes out of the tent. The codes and conventions are plenty and determine how the film comes out, with the peaceful forest to a chase with violins and fast beats creating that suspense and then that silence when he makes the ultimate desicion to jump across to safety after the rattling in the bushes ( Fake scare ) motivates him for a 50% on life or death, you can watch the opening right here:
Dead Mary
As the film begins there is absolutely no music at all and all sound is diegetic, which is very different from other film openings, a convention there is that the car is in a secluded in a location surrounded by a large forest as the car has no fuel a blonde woman is stuck there waiting for her boyfriend to come back from getting fuel, she doesn't stop fidgeting as there isn't a single piece of music until it cuts to a shot from inside the forest where you can see something and menacing music just begins but it slowly goes back to normal. The opening makes you think that something is going to happen but it actually doesn't. Technical elements of the film such as the editing are very slow, there is no suspense but you feel there might be because the girl is in such a vulnerable location. The girl also tests for signal but there is none and uses the car mirror as a reflection to see whether her boyfriend is arriving with the gas canisters. There is pure silence throughout the opening apart from diegetic sounds such as the trees blowing and insects creating that empty atmosphere, the slow editing just shows her exploring her boyfriends car and she just begins to fidget a lot as her boyfriend has been a while, a symbolic code is the clothes she wears, it tells me that where she is is quite barmy and she's uncomfortable. And as the boyfriend arrives nobody knows who he is until he puts the canisters down and fills the car up. The conventions and codes in this are very limited, there is no music and the editing is slow. The lighting is quite barmy to give it that summer effect. You can watch the opening right here:
The Wrong Turn
shows the production company and instantly shows a short film where a camera is panning through the trees in quite a secluded location, which is already a horror convention, music begins, quite mysterious music no signs of anything scary happening just yet.
Then powerfully a step into the puddle and the hole scene changes, it's turned into a chase and the fast upbeat music comes on until he reaches a ravine where he's forced to jump but he fails, and you see blood come up and out of his mouth and then he instantly falls. On the other side of the divine was a tent where a lady came out wondering what the noise was. there are plenty of conventions and codes in this film, the dark forest with orange like sky gives us a sense that this isn't a normal forest and there is something or someone in it, lurking. Another code is the editing. At the start it was very slow, just panning around the forest until someone steps into a puddle which is another convention where it's called a fake scare, the editing turns really quick and the music also changes into a fast beat which is a technical code. If the character is unable to hear the sound that the viewers are hearing this is called non diegetic, which means the music was added in post production. The way the man is dressed tells me that he is quite a nerd because he's wearing a loose Hawaiian shirt, with blood all over it which shows us a symbolic code and tells us it's a horror film. There is also another fake scare as the character looks around in fear, the music almost goes next to silent and you have it depend on the character to make a decision which builds up huge suspense which is a vital part for a horror film. The bushes rattle behind him to make it feel like the thing is behind him which builds up so much suspense for him he jumps and holds on, but blood comes out of his which already is another symbolic code to tell me that something has done something to him and blood is everyone's nightmare. The editing then slows down again and the lady comes out of the tent. The codes and conventions are plenty and determine how the film comes out, with the peaceful forest to a chase with violins and fast beats creating that suspense and then that silence when he makes the ultimate desicion to jump across to safety after the rattling in the bushes ( Fake scare ) motivates him for a 50% on life or death, you can watch the opening right here:
Dead Mary
As the film begins there is absolutely no music at all and all sound is diegetic, which is very different from other film openings, a convention there is that the car is in a secluded in a location surrounded by a large forest as the car has no fuel a blonde woman is stuck there waiting for her boyfriend to come back from getting fuel, she doesn't stop fidgeting as there isn't a single piece of music until it cuts to a shot from inside the forest where you can see something and menacing music just begins but it slowly goes back to normal. The opening makes you think that something is going to happen but it actually doesn't. Technical elements of the film such as the editing are very slow, there is no suspense but you feel there might be because the girl is in such a vulnerable location. The girl also tests for signal but there is none and uses the car mirror as a reflection to see whether her boyfriend is arriving with the gas canisters. There is pure silence throughout the opening apart from diegetic sounds such as the trees blowing and insects creating that empty atmosphere, the slow editing just shows her exploring her boyfriends car and she just begins to fidget a lot as her boyfriend has been a while, a symbolic code is the clothes she wears, it tells me that where she is is quite barmy and she's uncomfortable. And as the boyfriend arrives nobody knows who he is until he puts the canisters down and fills the car up. The conventions and codes in this are very limited, there is no music and the editing is slow. The lighting is quite barmy to give it that summer effect. You can watch the opening right here:
The Wrong Turn
As the film begins the camera pans around the forest which is in a secluded location where there seems to be a couple rock climbing, there is music in this but isn't very scary and no signs of it being a horror film until then music gets sharper and the editing gets quicker. As the bloke gets to the top you hear a grunt and a thump indicating something is wrong, his body hangs off the edge of the rock and shows him to be dead. blood then drips from the mans mouth into the girls eye giving us a symbolic code of telling us something has murdered this man. The body is then thrown off the edge and the person o top is pulling the line up, this is when the fast pace music introduces itself along with the fast cutting and it seems to be like she is in danger, the clothes she is wearing is also a symbolic code because it shows me that she is dressed up like she could be going rock climbing which she is. The fast violin gets introduced and that fast editing is used to build up suspense, she jumps and falls on to the ground next to the dead body and starts running where she trips over something, tripping over something is quite common in horror movies whether there is something there or there isn't. These two characters who were introduced at the start of the movie had actually nothing to do with the real film, they were used for the murderer to kill to which the director can tell the audience there is this monster lurking about, dramatic irony, the audience know something is out there but the characters do not. The technical codes such as the music and editing played a key role in portraying the opening scene, the music gave it suspense and the quick editing gave it that fast panic. This makes the audience sit on the edge of their seats as they wonder what would end up happening to the woman as the man got slaughter, symbolic codes like the clothes they were wearing definitely told me they were rock climbing or hiking and once the blood dripped on to the woman's face you automatically knew something was up there and she was the next one to go. The conventions in this film are a secluded location, they were rock climbing out of complete nowhere, someone trips over and is caught under death's hammer and the fact that someone dies in the first 5 minutes of the film. These two characters were completely irrelevant to the main story but were only used to introduced this murder wielding monster. You can watch the opening scene right here :
Evaluation
I think the essay went well, I think I explained the technical codes and conventions correctly, I also liked how I mentioned sound a lot as I know personally sound whether it's digetic or non digetic plays a huge role in the world of horror and films, I also think I typed the right amount and explained as fully as I could, however.
I feel like I should improve on my knowledge on symbolic codes because I could only pick out blood and the type of clothes the characters were wearing, I also think I could of mentioned more conventions and codes to fully explain each film better. I also should look for the real task instead of doing something completely irrelevant, but I do believe the other essay may help me in the near future.
So to conclude I think my knowledge on technical codes and conventions when applied to a film is great, especially when I talk a lot about the music, however I should work in more depth in that and relearn symbolic codes to make sure the next time I come across this I know I can mention more things and achieve the highest mark possible.
I think the level I have achieved is a level 3 as I used a good amount of terminology and explained codes and conventions some what detailed.
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