Evaluating Use of Genre Codes and Conventions

Titles

• The main title appeared by fading into position, making it look mysterious and written by an outside agency, thus fitting our genre.
• We made the writing red to associate it with the common connotation of the colour; danger
• Red was used throughout our piece to create connotations of danger and blood, we wanted to make this apparent to the audience
• Each letter appeared individually and slowly to allow the reader to take in the title and to give it a type-writer effect
• We added a non-diegetic heartbeat on top of the title to add to the spookiness of our piece. It made a impact on the audience as people listen closely to hear the subtle heartbeat.
• The choice of the title itself is also significant - the door could be holding back something unpleasant or a gateway into another world. Ambiguous titles are important in our genre e.g. Sixth Sense (who has it?) or What Lies Beneath (beneath what? the water? or the person?)

Other Credits

• We used grey to make a contrast between the red blood flowers and to introduce a ghost-like feel as there are suggestions in our film of some kind of paranormal activity.
• The dirty grey colour added to the sinister atmosphere, linking in with the non-diegetic bass hum.
• Again, the writing appears mysteriously as if being written by an unseen hand.

• We chose simple credits as the atmosphere is a little sombre even when the girls are laughing.
• The credits appear in different spaces around the action to not distract the audience from what is happening on the screen
• The font is consistent and is simple but effective and floats on and off screen in a ghost-like way to create a sense of mystery - this is quite conventional in our genre.

Characters

• The representation of the mother goes against the common image of a homely, loving woman and she very much taps into the Disney stereotype of 'the evil stepmother'. Although she doesn't look evil from her image, but parts of her evil personality are shown as the piece goes on.
• We created protagonists and antagonists in our piece as it creates an atmosphere for the audience as the two groups of characters fight against each other.
• The sisters show a mixture of feelings towards each other  one moment they are arguing and then they are having a serious conversations showing their caring side. We wanted to make it as engaging as possible so by making the sisters act this way we were increasing the verisimilitude.
• By using young, vulnerable characters we were fitting into the genre of thrillers as most of the characters used are children to make the young adult/adult audience more scared and to have a more impactful effect on them.
• The old sister seems to look after the younger one, taking the mothering role as we discover the mum isn't around a lot. This fits into the genre as there is usually a unexpectedly wise character that takes care of the more vulnerable characters.
• From our research we found that use of young actors was common in films such as 'Paranormal Activity' and 'Insidious' as they are more vulnerable and are seen as weak.

Paranormal Activity

Insidious

Mise-en-scène

• The setting was a conventional family home. Although most thriller and horror films are set in desolate locations in the middle of know where, by using a common home we felt made it more hard hitting and scary for the audience, as they feel it could happen to anyone. This is a convention used since "Hallowe'en" in the 70s.

 

• By using a normal home also added to the verisimilitude as it is an everyday location.
• The  second location of the grave created a hallowed atmosphere, as the use of religious iconography of the statue of Mary and the flowers made it seem quite sinister and creepy. This kind of location is extremely common in thriller films as it adds a layer of the unknown to the plot and makes the themes of good and evil explicit.
• The costumes selected matched the ages of the characters, and they were ordinary clothes and added to the verisimilitude of our piece. It also had an effect on the audience as fear is increased when strange situations happen in what is perceived as a normal life.
• The props used such as the letter and the boiling pot of the mystery soup create a sinister feel as they lead the main characters to a key place and reveal things to the audience about the characters. The use of the love letter leads the characters and the audience to identify the door as suspicious and leads to the main plot of the story. The mysterious soup shows us the mothers evil nature as we do not have an idea of what is in it, and the red lumpy texture to it makes us think of the worst ingredients.

Props from "True Blood"

 

• Low key lighting is used when characters are alone to show the uncertainty of their safety and to show the dismal mood in the house and between the relationships.

Camera work

Feels as if mother is being followed in ghostly way

POV filming connects us with characters

 

• We used many close ups in our piece to show extreme significance of emotions or objects. For example the door handle being pulled down by a mysterious entity or person. This shows that there is more to what is seen, and that there is more to the story than what is first seen. This is a common convention of the genre.

Bath is significant in What Lies Beneath early on

 

• The variation of shots used to portray the sisters relationships show the different feelings they have towards each other. Two shots show their sisterly bond, showing their closeness however it can also show the hostile tension between them.
• The close up of the soup the mum makes show us that there may not be something right with it, as you can see the bright red colour and the lumps in it. These shots are used to make the audience question what they are seeing.
• The tracking shot of the mother in the grave yard makes it look as if she is being followed by someone, showing us that she is not meant to be seen or what she is doing is highly suspicious. It also gives the audience an idea of where she is going.

Editing

• By using transitions like fade to black we showed a change in location or time. This allowed the audience to get back into the extract and to realise that something has changed or the scene has ended.
• Shot reverse shots creates transparent editing, making the piece look more realistic, therefore adding to the fear factor. It also shows the relationship and mood between the sisters. Its quite slow showing the serious topic but is at equal heights showing both sisters are equal with each-other.
• Although these techniques are not genre specific, they are extremely common in opening sequences of many films - so we are sticking to formal conventions as well as genre conventions here.

Sound

• Our main sound used was the low bass hum, which we found to be common in thriller films. We made the sounds ourselves so that it matched exactly what we wanted and so it was genre specific.
• The music played when something significant was going to happen, for example the movement of the door handle or the serving of the soup. This is to show the audience that something is not right and to show an increase in tension.
• The dialogue shown between the characters allows the audience to build relationships with them. Also the more dialogue we put in, the more it matched the gender. Something new was revealed about the characters every time they spoke.
• The children as they are younger speak softly and gently, representing their characters nature. On the other hand, the mother speaks slyly and sharply.

Overall

We have not been very innovative here and have largely stuck to conventions, but this is true of the vast majority of texts. Our genre conventions are most obvious, and have been pointed out above. However, we have also kept carefully to the conventions of an opening sequence too - using credits, showing the title, establishing an atmosphere and introducing the characters without doing too much.