Unit 10 - Fictional Film Codes and Conventions

The two genres I have chosen for this assignment are Action and Horror. I feel that the choices I have made are suitable as they both feature iconography of the typical film in that genre.

My chosen films for the genres are; Spectre and Kingsman: The Secret Service for the action movies; and the horror movies I have chosen are The Conjuring and IT, I believe that the choices I have made are necessary as they all feature typical codes and conventions of their genre.

A theorist known as Steve Neale suggested that genre is made up of repetition and difference, as the viewers we can expect familiar sequences in the movies. Neale said that people are satisfied with repetition in film genres, the audience want to see similar codes and conventions within the movie to make it that recognizable genre.

Neale’s idea of repetition can be seen in the two movies; Spectre and Kingsman: The Secret Service, the two both feature and share similarities with the action genre.

Action films usually contain a fast- moving plot, usually contain scenes of violence, it is a film genre in which one or more protagonists are put into a series of challenges that typically include physical threats, extended fight scenes, violence, and frantic chase scenes. What we can also expect in some action films is the same actors or actresses used constantly as they have been linked to this genre; such famous names as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Cruise. We can also get hybrids of films such as: Action comedy, Action adventure or Action sci-fi.

Codes and conventions of action films are as so; we have our characters/hero/villain: our main protagonist is always the hero that controls the action, the antagonist is usually wealthy; they sometimes hide their identity or have a female assistant. The costumes they were are usually expensive like suits or they will wear clothing suited for battle. The storyline regularly consists of the hero fighting against the evil trying to stop them from destroying the world. Editing, there is a lot of frequent fast paced scenes, also CGI such as explosions and more; editors can also add in sound effects to the scenes to make them more immersive. Furthermore, on sound effects such as music, high drum beats, explosions, gun shots, running and car noises for chase scenes to make them sound enhanced. The colors typically used are natural lighting such as day light, however dark colors are often used such as brown or black to make the character look more suspicious; unlike the protagonists who sometimes wear white to make them stand out from others. The setting for the majority of action movies are typically cities but can take place in skyscrapers, banks, underground tunnels and the sky (Mostly used for fight scenes in a plane). Cinematography is key to making a movie, in action movies directors tend to use fast paced shots, also include close ups to show emotion; establishing shots are also key as they help the viewer understand where and what’s happening in the scene. Tracking shots are also very common when the director is capturing a chase scene; this helps make you feel a part of it. Typical themes that are recurring throughout action movies are: Good vs bad, family issues, revenge, death, car chases and gun fights.

Spectre and Kingsman are similar films as they both follow the sub-genre of spy movies; Kingsman may be a slight spoof of the bond films but it takes on a complete different take on the spy movie. Kingsman stars Taron Egerton as the young Eggsy in the movie; Eggsy has been selected for a test to get into a secret service known as the “Kingsman”. The Kingsman face their villain “Valentine” played by Samuel L. Jackson; during the movie, plenty action scenes play out such as the church scene, bar scene and the final scene when the Kingsman find the villains hideout.

Probably the most iconic scene from Kingsman is the church scene. The scene starts with a close up of the villain, the audience can see he is spying on one of the Kingsman as we get an insight through a look at his computer monitor.  We can then see the villain turning up a dial with an extreme close up; which also has an action match of the diegetic audio coming through the mobile phones of the church goers. The movie then has a small scene of slo mo which is used quite frequently as it can help the viewers take it all of the scene in. The church scene is just one continuous long shot that is fast paced to follow the action; the music tempo also keeps up with the pace of the scene. Action movies typically use this style of fast pace as its more exciting for the viewer. Similarly, in the movie Spectre there is one of the many action scenes that take place within the movie; the particular scene I’m going to examine is a fight between James Bond and a minion sent by the villain to stop Bond. The scene starts out with a low-lit room on the train, we then get an extreme close up of a reflective material which reveals somebody is coming into the room; it then quickly cuts to a mid-shot of the intruder who kicks a table into the air, we get an action match with the sound as we can hear items from the table being flung across the room. We then get a close up of the gun which shows the viewers what the focus of the fight is going to consist of. We then get a shot reverse shot of the two fighters, we can see Daniel Craig is in a low angle shot which typically represents a person being more powerful, however Bond is the one who is the least powerful in this situation as he is being strangled and held up high. The sounds used in this scene are very considerably enhanced for example the punching and the kicking sound more powerful and exaggerated to make it sound better. We can see James bond reaching for the gun which can refer to the point about the gun being the main focus of the fight. The scenes setting changes from room to room on the train, this could be done to keep the scene fresh and make it feel different with the setting. The viewers tension is then raised as it looks like the protagonist is about to be beaten; in the background, we can also hear a non- diegetic music that builds more anxiety for the viewer. The woman of the story comes into the shot and starts firing bullets from the gun; she then becomes the damsel in distress as the villain grabs a hold of her, James Bond then comes to her aid and begins to strangle the threat. The scene unfolds and Bond comes out on top, this scene features no dialogue until the end where the villain exclaims “Shit” realizing the trouble he is in.

Another theorist known as Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov believed that films followed the same narrative structure; at first there is stability in the film also known as an equilibrium, then we have a disruption of the equilibrium by some drama in the film; the character then realizes that there has been a disruption and attempts to fix the disruption. The disruption is fixed and the equilibrium is restored for the finale. This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many “mainstream” film narratives.

The horror genre is a very popular genre for many people, the audience enjoy being scared as it can pump up adrenaline. The two horror films I have chosen are The Conjuring (2013) and IT (2017, these are relatively new horrors to the film scene however the audience will recognize them relating to Neale’s idea of repetition and difference. There are different sub genres in the horror genre varying from; Slasher, thriller, psychological thriller and paranormal.

The Conjuring is more of a paranormal horror as it follows the lives of a family who are being terrorized by a demon; whereas IT is more of a thriller in the genre.

The typical codes and conventions of horror films are as follows: Our characters are usually teenagers that are in a group of friends; there will always be the one heroine that stands out and becomes the lone survivor; there can also be the use of stereotypes such as the simple hot blonde or the aggressive jock. The typical location/setting for horror movies are usually isolated places such as a haunted house, isolated town, countryside, cave or the woods; these places will make the victims look more vulnerable as there seems to be no help. For the sound and music its normally something non-diegetic that’s there to set the mood; for jump scares the audience can expect a sharp ear-piercing noise that will give them a shock. The props used in horrors is usually a weapon of the killer; this can differentiate from a knife, machete, axe or a chainsaw; these weapons are more seen in the slasher sub-genre than any other.

The Conjuring features many pulse raising scenes but the one I’m going to focus on is one of the final scenes where the Warrens condemn the demon back to hell; the scene starts out with a low-lit shot of somebody breaking the floorboards to find a girl, the audience then hear dialogue where he has found the girl. The scene then quickly cuts to the antagonists face to show her emotion as she has realized where the girl is; also as the antagonist scurries under the floor boards she is seen to be picking up a knife linking to the codes and conventions of props in horror movies. The music drastically changes to a higher pitch to raise the audiences heart rate. The scene gets darker with the lighting to almost reflect how twisted and sinister it is; we then get more shots of characters faces to show the emotion with higher pitched non-diegetic music, the scene then features what is known as a jump scare as an intense shriek is heard with also a scream from the young girl. The editing jump cuts quickly from character to character to show their perspectives in the situation; our characters finally meet up as they find theantagonist in the center of the floorboards, we the get another jump scare as the antagonist turns her face to reveal a close up of the demon that is controlling her; this also stacks on top of a high screech that can be heard. The scene is very low lit and only seems to be lighter when it shows our protagonists; this may connote that they are the hope of this scene and are the one that can help. The scene then features a flashback of the family to when they had happier times, the audience can also hear laughter linking with the flashback. As the flashback is playing through the antagonists head we can see light begins to shine down on her as almost its coming from the heavens to help her; the white light could also symbolize hope; also, a choir can also be heard which has connotations to church. The scene then comes to an end with the demon being cleansed from the mother’s body.

Following, I will be looking at a scene from IT; the scene I will be looking at is the projector scene. The scene starts out with our child characters in a garage looking at slides of the towns map they live in. The scene is very quiet apart from our characters dialogue between each other, as the characters get more feared they start to flip out and panic. The slides on the projector then begin to change without anyone touching them and the characters become more panicked; we get a wide shot of the characters so the audience can see the emotions on their face. As the slides change more and more an intense music begins to play raising the audiences heart rate making them more scared and aware. The scene becomes more fast paced with the editing and makes it more startling for the viewers; as the slides change the lighting flashes on and off which makes our young teens frightened, we then start to see our antagonist who is a monster linking to the conventions of a horror movie. The scene then proceeds to slow down as the characters knock the projector over; our antagonist then is shown again before disappearing. The audience are then treat with a jump scare to the antagonist growing to an odd size and scaring the children; whilst this is happening a non-diegetic music is playing causing tension for the viewer making them stressed. There is also a lot of screaming in this fast-paced action to raise the viewers pulse, the scene concludes with our young children getting away safely.