Common Codes And Conventions

The codes and conventions used in a film opening are particularly important as they inform the audience as to which genre the film is and encourage them to keep watching.

To gain a clear insight into the codes and conventions of film openings we watched and analysed the first two minutes of various films in a wide variety of genres.


Gladiator 2000

Directed by Ridley Scott $103000000 budget
Won 5 Oscars
Started with slow paced non diegetic music, creates tension and signifies something bad is about to happen. Music begins to get louder and faster, increases heartbeat and builds more tension.
Cuts to battle scene, volume continues to increase, sounds evil, drum beat signifies war, Strings and voices of women give eerie effect.
Opening titles and credits are in burnished gold this is also applied to the production logo, anchors genre and signifies film is set in the past.
Shot of battlefield creates narrative enigma, cut away shots, close up and extreme close ups used to highlight emotion.
Words "Germana" appear at the bottom, give exposition to setting.

Dark Blue World 2001

Directed by Jan Sversack $5000000 budget
Titles in white text on black background, money saving strategy. Non diegetic sound introduced, title shown on dark clouds, implies polysemic meaning possibly relates to expression "clouds of war" as is war film genre.
Font in style of world war 2 propaganda poster font, inter textual reference
Non diegetic sound big band, popular in 1940s
Grey tint shows aged setting, names of actors provide anchorage for Target audience, use of German actors.
Close up of object provides narrative enigma, as camera zooms out reveals piece of machinery, old plane sets time period. Red tint applied creates polysemic meaning, could connote romance or blood. Physical interaction between characters signifies relationship.



Wimbledon

Directed by Richard Volcrane $31000000 budget
Cross over appeal to sports fans due to name.
Sound of tennis ball, black on white titles, shot of tennis ball being hit backwards and forwards.
Watercolour effect used possibly signify Wimbledon always being rained off, pathetic fallacy, weather reflects mood. Name of main actors show in titles three times, being hit backwards and forwards like a tennis ball, diegetic sound of crowds reaction. Product placement used, Slazenger.

Monologue of central protagonist begins providing exposition.
Watercolour effect removed connotes back to reality, Slow motion effect used on a series of close ups of tennis ball. Fast Paced editing suggests youth audience.



Hot Fuzz 2007

Directed by Edgar Wright $14000000 budget
Police siren Applied over Universal logo, similar to bomb siren signifies police action genre.
Character with San Serif titles applied over the top, made to look like being typed on a type writer, connoting police files.
Monologue, heavy with dialogue gives full exposition to central protagonist. Extreme close ups used to show emotion and fast paced editing to attract youth audience and action genre. Non diegetic music is fast and upbeat with trumpets this signifies film is hybrid genre and also a comedy.

High School Musical 2
Directed by Kenny Ortega $2000000 budget
Fades into establishing shot, close up of clock, Amplified ticking noise creates suspense and connotes scene is building up to something, titles over shots signifies youth audience being impatient. The film is a sequel so already has large fan base so has to be already familiar to them for example the use of the basketball. Set in day time, commutation test, this would make sense if it was night time.
Pans through various locations in school, actors names appear in serif font along the bottom. Unobtrusive editing gives a sense of calmness. Shots of memorable scenes and locations from first film. No introduction of characters and little exposition.
Shot pans into classroom, accent provides anchorage for location, shot of stereotypical drama teacher. Skull on the desk is an inter textual referees to Hamlet, provides more anchorage for drama class. Over sized clock for emphasis, build of tension contrasts to calm opening.


Trainspotting

Targeted at mature youth (15-34) Stereotypical drug addicts, working class.
Women do not follow male gaze theory however follow motherly role.
Song "lust for life" by Iggy Pop, lyrics contrast with monologue about how people waste their lives away, gives exposition into fact central protagonist strays from society's norms and values.
Binary oppositions shown through two contrasting football teams, one neat and plays by the rules other shambolic, messy and cheat polysemic meaning possible metaphor for drug addicts lives.
Fast paced editing signifies younger target audience however have attempted to gain crossover appeal through use of song from the 70s and scene of football. Use of stereotype when presenting Scots as angry.
We also analysed various horror and slasher film openings to gain insight into codes and conventions we could use or challenge in our own product. We aimed to look at a variety of sub-genres inside the horror genre to get as much information as possible.

Halloween 1979

John Carpenter $300000 budget
Directors name before the title, Auteur theory. "Introducing Jamie Lee Curtis" has appeal to horror fans because she is the daughter of Janet Leigh who played Marion Crane in Psycho.
"Starring Donald Plesecnce" not one of the main characters, but a well established actor in a virtually unknown cast could have appeal.
Writing flickers colours of pumpkin in serif font, camera closes in on pumpkin, shaking slightly. Music speeds up, beat sounds like heartbeat.
Character names such as Nancy Loomis taken from Psycho (Sam Loomis) and used again in Scream (Billy Loomis)
Use of documentary style codes to imply realism such as name of town shown in white on black back ground to give exposition.
Non diegetic sounds of children singing.
Detached house, connotations of venerability and isolation, blue tinted lighting used to create supernatural effect.



Scream 1996

Wes Craven
Title word flashing on screen white to red like siren light, connoting danger, slashing sound signifies slasher. Scream title links to mask killer wears which is a reference to The Scream painting by Edvard Munch.
Establishing sound is phone, suggest phones play a big part in movie. Use of phone is slasher movies is common, first used in "When A Stranger Calls"
Sound of prison door slamming and long draw out eerie strings similar to music in Psycho.
Heartbeat sound creates own heartbeat to become irregular, makes audience feel unconsciously tense.
Establishing shot blonde, busty female, shallow depth of field, background out of focus creates lack of identity and narrative enigma. Tracking shot gives sense of being followed or stalked.
Deep sinister male stereotypical voice at other end of phone, basic stereotypes used.
Light from TV is blue, cold, blue tinted lighting.
No curtains on windows, anyone can see inside creates sense of being watched, amount of glass creates vulnerability, Dutch tilt on camera signifies something is not right.
Emphasis on porch gives false sense of security, means of escape.
Blue light and swing moving on its own signify supernatural, Middle class house, remote, detached, overhanging trees create entrapment.
As popcorn rises so does sexual tension. Girl picks up knife flirty, sexual link as knives represent phallic objects (Freud) and a symbolic form of rape. Girl flirts and denies having a boyfriend, sexually available.

A Touch Of Evil 1957
Orson Wells
Continuous tracking shot following bomb attached to car, signifies thriller genre.
Narrative enigma as to why bomb is there and who couple driving the car are, both attractive so appeal to men and women.
Crane shot focus shifts to different couple then first couple come back onscreen, unusual for tracking characters.
Non diegetic quick paced music to build tension, shifts to over exaggerated non diegetic jazz music suggests more mature target audience.
"Stop" sign on road narrows down possible locations.

Psycho 1960
Alfred Hitchcock
Cross cutting title sequence signifies slasher, key stars are shown in title sequence
2 shots dissolving on one another. Establishing shot is extreme long shot, we are given exposition to the location by words on screen in a documentary fashion.

28 days later
Danny Boyle
Social realism style, uses codes of documentary to create verisimilitude.
Contrast between fast paced and calm scenes creates tension.
Exposition given by modern technology, world presented in state on anarchy by television pictures. Dutch angle and blue tinted lighting used to signify something is not right.
Camera flashes and stills, anchoring social realist style.
Fast paced editing and theme suggests targeted at mature youth audience.

Bride Of Chucky 1998
Ronnie Yu
Long drawn out strings connote horror genre, blue lights and dutch angle give clear Anchorage for this. Sharp abrupt noises used, uneven letters in font suggest chaos.
Policeman enters, generally useless in horror films. Source of lighting comes from lightening.
Inter textual reference to Friday The 13th (Jason's mask) link into post modernism.
Use of false scare and male gaze used.

Jason X 2001
James Isacc
Hybrid genre to appeal to wider audience, slasher, sci-fi, comedy.
References to Laura Croft and WWF, post modernism.
Mocks typical horror film codes and conventions when girls act provocatively and drink to encourage Jason to try kill them.

Leprechaun 1993
Mark Jones
Titles on black background faded into opening shot, Celtic style writing in titles.
Glitter and sparking sounds misleadingly signify film is children's fantasy genre.
Stereotypical Irish drunk and name O Grady

Trick Or Treat 1985
Ned Morehead
Narrative over titles, low angle shot used to make actor look domineering, Heavy metal rocker wearing make up with long hair.
Dark deep voice stereotypically male. Sharp edged font used. Stars Ozzy Osbourn and Gene Simmonds, cross over appeal.
Large speakers, turntables, skulls, studded belts connote age and personality, school setting anchors age.

From our research we have taken various codes and conventions to apply to our own media product for example the films which involved shot cuts were aimed youth audience, which is the target audience for our product however after trying some short cuts we decided to challenge this convention and have longer takes as we felt, and found from our audience feedback that this created a better overall effect.
There is always narrative enigma in a film opening because the audience are unsure of the characters and their role in the film. Some openings deliberately mislead the viewer giving them polysemic encoding as to who the central protagonists are for example in A Touch Of Evil when the establishing tracking shot follows a couple and then shifts focus to another. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4. Another example of polysemic encoding is in Leprechaun, the audience is lead to believe it is a children's fantasy film when in fact it is a slasher. The tracking shot used was also unusual because it was a continuous crane shot, these are rarely seen in the opening of a film. Narrative enigma is important to keep an audience engrossed and relates back to Thurlows theory of the active question to keep the viewer engaged in the text.
Non diegetic music is important in openings as it can help set the atmosphere and signify the target audience for example in Trick Or Treat heavy metal music is playing which connotes the audience is youth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqpSvOMykQU. The music in horror films generally has long draw out eerie notes and a beat similar to heartbeat is often used in the opening scenes off horror films as it sub consciously speeds up the viewers heart rate which causes them to feel tense. We are going to use this technique when we create our music.
Exposition can be given in various ways, we found some of the most common techniques are monologues as in Hot Fuzz, Wimbledon and Trainspotting however it is not commonly used in horror therefore we will not be using this technique in our production. A common technique used in horror is showing date or location in text on the screen, as seen in Psycho and Bride of Chucky. We have decided to use flashbacks to provide our exposition, similar to the TV clips shown in 28 days later.