Research Into Generic Codes and Conventions

8/3/2019 Research Into Generic Codes and Conventions

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/research-into-generic-codes-and-conventions 1/7

Angela Michael



Typically the paranormal subgenre of horror

begins with a person or people who are young and

living normal life. Strange things happen which

builds up to an event. As this point the story goesone of two ways, they try to hunt down the force,

or run away from it fearing for their lives. An

example is Paranormal Activity (2007) normal life is

portrayed then an incident occurs which changesthings or turns their life around.



Young people are often used. Usually the audience for thistype of film is quite young (15 30) so it gives the viewers asense of identification with the characters. The non-believer who is sceptical about the existence of thesupernatural force or beings, is usually the first one to bebrutally attacked or killed, therefore removed from thestory. The central protagonist typically survives until the endand has to deal with the suffering from losing theiraccomplices which were lost along the way. Sometimes theprotagonist is innocent making it easier for the audience to

sympathise with them. An example is Insidious (2010) ayoung innocent character is the victim and is unable tocontrol what is going on. His family try to help him comeback from being lost in the supernatural world. During thefilm an secret past is uncovered.



Dark locations, with dull or shadowy backgrounds. Aneerie atmosphere. Sometimes graveyards are thesetting, as there is a sense of death and ghostly beings.At other times there is a big creepy haunted housewhich has some kind of reputation or historicalreference to strange happenings. Usually night time iswhen the most of the bizarre events happen. Anexample is Insidious (2010) a big creepy house with

creaky floorboards is the location. The house is mostly,if not always darkly lit. This can actually help trigger aninnate fear / on guard reaction of the audience makingthem feel scared.



Seeing things which arent there. Can happen is two

ways, the character double takes because they

thought they saw something that isnt there. Or

something is shown, but when it is shown again,something is there. A good example of this is in The

Strangers (2008) the audience sees a white face

appear in the same room that the character is in,

but the character is unaware that they are there.This makes the audience feel fear for the character

who does not yet feel it.



The cinematography is similar to other types of horror films,but has its distinguishing features. Paranormal Activity (2007) uses home footage as its source of camera work. Thiscould connote the element of humanity of the characters asinstead of a close up to show an emotion, the whole body isvisible and nonverbal communication plays a big role. They look like normal people and it seems like peering into reallife. This diegesis really works for the film as you sometimesforget that it is just a film.

Other cinematic features include that the camera keeps

rolling even when no one is in the shot. This is usually doneto show something to the audience which the characters areunaware has happened.

In terms of shots, a lot of mid-shots are used to show justenough of the character but also reveal something peculiar.



The sound effects for paranormal horror movies can include lightghostly sounds such as whispering or breathing, but morecommonly they have shock sounds, by this I mean, sharp unexpected sounds which create a jumpy reaction in theaudience.

Scores often make use of the screechy sound produced by aviolin, for example in Psycho (1960). However the low tones of the violin are also popular as they create a dark emotion in theaudience. Again, the ghostly and whistling wind sounds can beused as undertones in the scores.

Soundtracks can be used ironically for example in Insidious (2010)

an unexpected part where the boy appears to be dancing in theliving room when he is supposed to be in a coma the soundtrackTiptoe through the Tulips (1929) is used. This is creepy anduncomfortable adding to the paranormal experience.

Research Into Generic Codes and Conventions

Documents

Transcript of Research Into Generic Codes and Conventions