unit 10

Unit 10: fictional film codes and conventions.

Horror: birdbox, jigsaw

Romance:  fault in our stars, 50 first dates

For one of my film genres I have chosen to do horror as it is one of the most recognizable and popular genres within the film industry. The horror films I have chosen and the genre its self gives a fantastic opportunity to analyse the codes and conventions that allow film producers to put these films together in an effective way to match the genre. I looked at two quite recently made films, Birdbox (2018) and Unfriended (2015), we can see how the generic conventions, characteristics and codes of the horror film are present. These films help the targeted audience recognize and understand the genre horror and they can interact with anything they see on screen.

Steve Neale is a media theorist that thinks genre cinema is made up of repetition and difference. He believes that the target audience would expect familiar scenes to be present within the film based on its genre. It is known that Steve Neale thinks that particular audiences get a degree of pleasure from recognizing familiar scenes and acts when watching films. The audience often like to see characters and scenes that they have seen in the genre before. His ideas are seen in so many films in different ways. For example, in both of my horror films they are based around demons and spirits, in films including this sort of illustration you often get things such as music and non-diegetic sounds to imply the spirit is near.

The scene from birdbox which I will be talking about goes along with theorist Steve Neale’s ideas. Its one of the most popular scenes and one of the first scenes that give away something really awful is happening. It has a number of codes that are linked to the horror genre one of them being sounds. when the character Lydia comes running out, putting herself at risk to help the first pregnant character Malorie. She tells her to stand up and come into the house and just as Malorie stands up we hear a sharp whisper which completely controls the character Lydia. This could be seen as one of the codes of horror films as It then continues with an eerie roar implying the demon is in fact there, it would have an effect on the audience as they have a mindset of not knowing what to expect next. The eerie sound and intensified music continues until they’re at the door of the house trying to get into safer grounds. Its an un-diegetic sound that pulls Lydia into the car and I think this because it has a sound effect over a whisper to add a dramatic effect.   This goes with Neale’s theory as in the majority of horror films have sound effects to create a more intense and fearful atmosphere for the audience and makes it recognizable. Lydia also talks in a very high pitched and sweet voice as she walks into the burning car implying she is vulnerable which would again create an effect on the audience and make them feel certain emotions.

 In reference 1 the camera angle is shot through a blind from a safer ground in the film. It is a wide shot that not only shows two women vulnerable in the hands of a demon but it shows us the mass destruction that has gone on around the house as in the shot they have managed to capture the burning cars and mayhem behind the two women. Getting a wide shot of the destruction also connotates the power of the demon, which would be another perfect code to go along with the genre. The props that they have are the cars on fire in the shot to show that, this is what will kill Lydia and the audience would have a response to this by possibly feeling on edge.

Ref.1

This reference to the film is a way of showing that the horror film and its genre often strive to make the audience feel on edge, nervous and shocked by the actions of the characters.

In this scene the camera shots are just like in a lot of films which follows the stylistic conventions of the film. It shoots from Lydia’s face, to her husbands who’s is inside of the house and then it goes to the crowd of panicked people back to Lydia which allows us to see the panic and sadness across everyone’s faces as the demon is approaching and forcing people to die.

In terms of the PROPPS theory for Birdbox we can make a clear representation of which characters fall into which categories. Throughout the film it changes a lot we have the public people and people in the house hold who are seen as our “victim” or the traditional “princesses” who need to be saved and the demon who awaits them outside is the “villain” which again is quite clearly seen throughout the film. However the role of the “hero” in this theory varies and changes between each character depending on what the characters are doing so for example some risked their lives to get food in for the rest of the group who were stuck in the house, others such as charley saved the group at the shop by killing his self and threw himself at someone who had gone mad because of the demon. The villains also change as someone comes into the house acting vulnerable at one point in the film and ends up killing 3 people who were in the group and near the middle of the film two members of the group stole the car so they also turn to the villain role of the theory. Unlike a lot of horror films the Todoroff theory varies throughout the whole film.

Directors Peter and Michael Spierig created the gut-wrenching horror film jigsaw in 2017. Jigsaw is another film that clearly uses stylistic codes and conventions of horror genre. It does this by using a lot gorier illustrations then birdbox. It shows us that the key character and antagonist is john Kramer who is a mass murderer who seeks to see how others will survive by conflicting pain upon themselves. To do this he has what’s almost like an obstacle course but is made up of torture chambers for those to confess their sins.

The props in jigsaw are a big, big part of the whole film. The reasoning for this is because it completes the codes of the horror genre with what they do to the characters. These props fit into Neale’s theory as audiences now detect things such as saws, guns and knives to be associated with the horror genre. Using a saw as a prop has made it an iconography prop in the genre, especially when it comes to gory and violent films like jigsaw. Having this as a prop in all of the saw films creates a repetitive image like explained in Steve Neale’s theory which goes along with telling us it’s a horror film and something bad will happen. The bloodthirsty torture devices would give off an immediate response from the audience, these props are placed among the film to make the audience feel shocked and anguished. Some of these props that create a nervous atmosphere for the audience are placed below as reference 2 and reference 3.

Ref.2                                                                                                   

Ref.3

Another stylistic code for this genre is the lighting and camera shots. A common thing which is shown in a lot of horror films is the wide shot. This shot is often used to show us the mass destruction or the environment that victims, killers, etc are in. it gives us an idea of the setting and helps the audience understand what is going on. we can see this in reference 1. almost all of the lighting on the film jigsaw is low lighting- extremely dark lighting as demonstrated in both reference 2 and 3.  In refence 2 we can see a little bit of artificial lighting which makes the room look cold and vicious and it allows us to see the victims tied up by chains with metal armor on their heads. This would have a very shocked and anxious reaction to the scene. In reference 3 we can see that it is a very dark room and he has some light so we can just make out what the torture device looks like and what it is. There is a lot of light on the mans face too which we can clearly see amongst all of the shadows and darkness which could represent the fact that he has a lot of power in this situation.  In both of these pictures they are set out to be quite dark and cold but have small specs of light throughout them to highlight the main and most powerful thing in the scene and it is like this through the whole of the film to try and keep the audience feeling on edge so they don’t guess what is going to happen or who is going next. Another thing I noticed was in reference 2 they shoot shots of each individual victims eyes which puts us in the characters shoes so we feel the fear and horror that they do and we feel sympathetic towards them. This feel relies on low key lighting quite a lot which endures the audience and motivates them to keep watching to find out why its dark, what happens next and more.

The next one of the stylistic codes and conventions I am going to talk about would be the use of sound in the scenes of jigsaw. In the scene that I have used as reference 2 we hear a lot of diegetic sounds such as heavy breathing, talking, chains rattling, panicked cries and echoing. This would create an emotional effect on the audience as the scenes come across as very nerve wracking. Then the man from jigsaw speaks and it has a voice change over the top which makes it sound very un-diegetic. Then the saws go off and you can hear the saws go off which goes back to a diegetic sound. Using a diegetic sound makes the scene seem much more realistic and fearful.

In reference 3 we hear a lot more of the un-diegetic sounds compared to the first scene I referred to. As he is inspecting the device you can hear what sounds like pulsated music making it more intense. Then he looks up from the device with a more diegetic sound of the machine being turned on which almost brings us back to the sick reality of the film.

If we were to talk about PROPPS theory when it comes to this film we could imply the idea that the victims are the traditional “princesses” that need to be saved by the “hero” in which we could refer to as the police officers who try to find them but are unsuccessful. Then our “villain” would quite clearly be john who is the created of these game like torture chambers. However we could also say that we have a “false hero” who is the man inspecting the jaw breaker in the third reference as he is one of the victims at first and he is a doctor who is “helping” the police investigate and find out who the killer of this mass murder is but he is actually the new one and alongside with john helping he continue creating these games in the future. A lot of films in the horror genre have a very similar layout when it comes to the Todoroff’s theory and it helps the audience recognize the genre which also goes along with Steve’s theory.

The next genre I am going to talk about would be romance. The two romantic films I have chosen are fault in our stars which was released in the middle of 2014, and 50 first dates which was released at the beginning of 2004. This genre was a really good option for me because romance is a very popular genre in the filming industry and has a lot of Steave Neale’s theory in it, in the sense of repetition in the romantic films and it makes scenes familiar which is what makes up the genre. A lot of shots and lighting arrangements are very similar in almost all of the romantic films you see.

The first film from the romantic genre that I would like to talk about would be fault in our stars. The first scene from fault in our stars that I want to speak upon would be scene where they are sitting on a bench in the middle of Amsterdam next to the river that they first road a boat on. In the picture we can see the full of their bodies. Their body language tells us a lot about how they feel and how it fits into the romance genre. In the shot you can see that she has a legs over his and his hand is over her leg, this is typically a romantic gesture and it implies that there is a lot of affection in this scene and it gives us the idea that they’re in love. Augustus has his hand which looks like it is gently lifting hazels chin up and when you watch the scene you see them kiss just after. This is again a traditional scene for this genre which links into Neale’s theory.  If you have repetitive scenes and clips like this within a film you can immediately tell that it’s a romantic film. In this shot you can see that the lighting is natural which could give us an idea that everything involved with their relationship is natural. In the second 5^th reference we can see hazel is sitting in her car and the lighting is quite dark and low key and this could say a lot for what she is feeling. There is a bit of light shining into her car which breaks up some of the dark and depressing atmosphere set by this scene and it gives us the idea that she is happy to have received the letter from her boyfriend.

I would say that for the props in this scene it would be the bench itself because its meant to be a romantic place if its next to the river. It gets linked into all things romantic so with the body language and the bench we can tell a lot about this movie and its genre. If you look into it you could also say that her oxygen tank is a prop as throughout the whole film we see clips of it to show us how she struggles. Having it next to the bench in reference four could imply that she is lucky to be experiencing this and it creates a deep and emotional turn on the scene and makes the audience feel what they feel. Another really important prop from the film is at the end scene (which is labelled as reference 5) would have to be the letter that hazel is reading in her car just after Augustus’ funeral. It’s a crumpled up bit of paper but it has what hazel feels are powerful words about herself by her boyfriend who has just passed. This prop has a very emotional effect on the audience and we tend to sympathize with hazel when she’s reading it. The camera shot manages to catch hazels face and the emotion across it as well as the letter so we get to see her reaction as she reads along to her boyfriends words.

Ref.4

Ref.5

The sound in this scene is similar to a lot of romantic tragedy’s which are like fault in our stars and again it follows along with Steave Neale’s theory when it comes to these types of genres. In the background of reference 5 there is a calming tune played with Augustus’ voice playing over it in the idea of him reading out the letter to hazels but in her head. This would be an un-diegetic sound as its music and a voice which isn’t there in real life as it’s a voice over. This creates an emotional effect on the audience as it’s his voice after he is dead yet it still remains in her head and never leaves because she is in love.

In reference 4 we here again really soft music and calming music when they’re sitting on the bench. This is ironic in this scene as he has just told hazel grace that he has cancer all over his body and is going to die so in this tragic event of their love story its still calm and they don’t want the cancer in him to differ the relationship.

In terms of propps theory it’s a lot more difficult to explain who fits into which role as the victim could be both Augustus and hazel but hazel helps him and he helps her so the narrative in this theory isn’t as clear as what it would be in a lot of other films.

This film has a lot of different turns and reactions on the audience. Just like in every typical and traditional romantic film you would see the emotion love which could make the audience feel exited like in the scenes at Amsterdam and when they first met for example. Then there is parts that the audience would feel extremely sympathetic about like when Gus and hazel each get sent to hospital or when Gus dies and hazel is left heartbroken so the audience connect and feel those emotions too.

The next and last film that I would like to talk about is another film from the romantic genre that has many different and similar stylistic codes and conventions. However it is different to fault in our stars because like the traditional romantic film genre it doesn’t end in a tragedy. The next film that ill be talking about will be 50 first dates which stars Adam Sandler and drew Barrymore. They have both stared in many films that are in or related to the romantic film genre. In the film he has to try and get a girl to fall in love with him everyday as she has memory loss and there are a lot of different stylistic codes and conventions that suggest it is a romance.

 The first thing I would like to talk about would be the camera angles and lighting of both references 6 and 7. In reference 6 we have the most traditional and classical camera shot and angle. as you can see in the picture below you have a medium close upon the couple kissing in the rain. In the shot we can just see his arms wrapped around her and you can clearly see them kissing in the frame so their body language says a lot about them and the type of genre the film is. When it comes to the lighting it’s a nighttime so its dark outside but there is a light shining into the Centre of the picture which allows us to see the romantic gestures that are made by the stars within the film.

Ref.6

Ref.7

In reference 7 the lighting Is a lot lighter and it almost has a yellow tone to it which makes it look extremely happy and romantic. In the camera shot you can see both od the romantically connected characters sitting at a table eating breakfast together. In this shot you can also see them both smiling and looking very happy, this again makes the film seem like the genre was most definitely romance. The props included in reference 7 could be the waffle as it makes the scene seem more romantic and one of the first romantic gestures that is made by henry is when he goes over to Lucy and helps her out with creating a little door for her “waffle café”.

If we talk about the sound in reference 7, we can hear a very calm and happy song in the background as they’re speaking in the café and this gives off a very romantic vibe throughout the film. This is where the romance in the film starts properly and having a song like that one really helps enhance the fact it’s a romantic film. In reference 6 we can hear the sound of the rain which is a diegetic sound and they’re talking and then it goes into a dramatic and romantic tune that makes it seem a lot more “fairy-tale” like and romantic, and this part of the film is the most classic and memorable part because of that.

In terms of propps theory we could say that Lucy is the princess in this film as she has her memory loss and she gets help from henry and he comes across as the hero because in the end they have a moment where Lucy begins to remember him by painting and drawing pictures of him from memory.  Not only would henry seem to be the hero for allowing her to get part of her memory back, but he’d be classed as the helper since he helped her. However, you could also say that at the beginning of the film henry comes across as the villain as he is almost the womanizer of the film until he meets Lucy.

If we were to talk about audience responses we could say that with the 6^th reference we felt emotional and exited because they actually made their romance official and the fact that it was in the rain which is your classical romantic shot makes it seem so much more special so we would feel the same excitement as them from the audience. In reference 7 we could say that the audience would feel relaxed and happy because of the lighting and they layout of the camera shots like mentioned before.

Section two

In 1928, Propp said that all stories follow a narrative structure. in almost every film the theory of props is used to create characteristics and plots. In all four of the films that I have chosen the propps theory has been noticeable in them.

Propp devised a list of characters which are apparent in many narratives: The Villain, The Dispatcher, the helper, the princess, the donor, the hero and the false hero. Some f these characteristics did definitely fit into the films that I had picked.

Steve Neale’s theory is another theory that I spoke about at the beginning because especially with the two genres that I had picked it fit into and was shown and seen very clearly. In both horror and romance the camera angle’s, scenes, takes, lighting, body language, sounds and many more stylistic codes and conventions were the same and repeated within the genre and the reason being is so that its recognized by the audience and they can clearly see what genre of film it is and it helps when it comes to analyzing and predicting what will happen next.