Analyse The Codes And Conventions Of Horror Films As Shown In The Openings Of 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' And 'Wrong Turn'.

sound
editing 
mise-en-scene. 
Camera shots
Codes 

Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic. Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera works in a film, the editing or the use of sound (diegetic and non-diegetic).

Conventions

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. They are genre specific. An example of this is in a horror film they never get phone signal when they are needed. Another example is when someone is being chased in a building and they run past the door that is unlocked and then go upstairs where they are trapped instead of running out the front door to safety.

Dead Mary

Begins with a blonde girl trying to receive signal on her phone, trying to start the car and trying to get a radio signal while she waits for the other character to return with something useful, although between all of these minor events there is someone or something stalking the two victims from a fair distance and gradually gets closer to the two characters, yet they do not suspect a thing. First of all the technical codes; the use of camera in this film includes a lot of mid shots of the character, extreme close ups of items in the vehicle that did not necessarily work and a long shot towards the end of the opening of the other character reaching the vehicle. The editing in this film involved a lot of focusing shots that would start off very blurry and various cuts in the vehicle showing each specific item. The main conventions used in this film is secluded location, small group of people and no connection with other people

Dead wood

 Events take a sinister turn when a mysterious girl appears in their camp looking for her boyfriend. Soon the nightmare begins as they find themselves lost in an endless wilderness stalked by a deadly force. As those left fight for survival they will discover the true nature of fear. The two couples try to escape from the mountain men while chased by them. In wrong turn we hear no non-diegetic sound until the female slips of the wall as a part of a jump scare, this is the same in dead Mary you hear no non-diegetic sound until the jump scare of the man turning up at the back of the car with the petrol tanks. The editing involved many cuts in between the chase to build suspense and slow motion of the male character leaping across the ditch. The diegetic sounds used in this movie were the branches snapping, leaves rustling which gave the audience the sense of nature which could be interpreted as danger as it shows that they are in the middle of know where and there is no safety or no help that they could receive. They also use the camera to show how isolated they are by using establishing shots to show the vast forest that they are in.

Wrong Turn

Wrong Turn starts off with two characters, one being male and the other female rock climbing in a secluded location that are soon killed. The technical codes, the use of camera in this film was limited to a lot of high angle shots of the characters and location, which gives a sense of power looking up towards the other character. The diegetic sound used in this movie was simply things like the sound of the wire moving or clasping a hook; although the non-diegetic sound real gave the film a sense a danger as the tempo of the music picked up rapidly and increased in the volume and the pace. The symbolic codes; the mise en scene used shows the female being slightly underdressed which is also a common convention in teen horror films, blood on the body to show it was a vicious attack and a vehicle being used as a prop to show the safety however she will never reach the car as the kill has it planned.

In conclusion I think that wrong turn uses the most conventions in the opening for the film as they are split up in the middle of a forest with no one in sight. The male gets killed forest so it leaves the women left leaving their to be more of a threat to the women. There is also a part when she is running through the forest with a POV shot. She also gets to see safety by seeing the car in the distance; however she never gets to reach the car as she is tripped up and killed.