The codes used in the opening 2 minutes of ‘Dead Wood’ use technical and symbolic codes. The technical code of the camera angles and camera shots in ‘dead wood’ use low angles, crane shots, mid shots, close ups, extreme close ups, long shots and a point of view shot. Each of these camera angles and shots help build the expressing what film genre it is. In the first opening scene it starts off with diegetic sound of birds and the wind but then non-die-getic sound is added. The sound added is bass note piano and is sinister sounding. As the opening carries on strings are added to symbolise danger is upon and when danger is hit crescendos are added to create this effect. Toward the end of the opening scene after the ‘thing’ got Rob the non-diegetic mysterious sound fades down and the diegetic sound is a lot clearer.
The conventions used in the opening 2 minutes of this are the secluded location and jump scares, which are mainly caused by the non-diegetic sound added in. The typical convention which is in most teen horror movies is that someone dies in the first 10 minutes on the film but also after that a character has no clue what happened and is left in danger after the event. Another convention which is used in the opening and is in most teen horrors is that there is always a women with minimal clothes on and will end up in danger later on in the film. The use of editing in dead wood is linear which means it is in sequence of the order of the events occurring.
Dead Mary:
The codes used in the opening 2 minutes of ‘Dead Mary’ use both technical and symbolic codes. The technical codes of the camera shots and angles used in ‘Dead Mary’ use extreme close ups, close up, mid shot and long shot. Compared to ‘Dead Wood’ there aren’t as many technical codes in the use of the camera shots and angles but it still works to create the effect of a teen horror movie. The symbolic codes used in the opening 2 minutes included in mise-en-scene which are typical for this type of genre are that one female character has minimal clothes on. This is the same where this occurs is in all three opening. These all symbolises that the women have less power and are more likely to be in danger. The opening 2 minutes start off with diegetic sound which is a sign swing very stiffly on a piece of rope chain. Unlike the other 2 there isn’t any non-diegetic sound.
The conventions used in the opening 2 minutes of this genre are the secluded location which is secluded locations and also minimal conversation between both characters. Another common factor to the typical teen horror movie is that there are mainly different scenarios which may become a danger, such as the phone having no signal, the car running out of gas in the middle of nowhere and the last one is having no radio signal. As there are minimal speech between character the focus is brought off of that and is focused into the ‘danger’ of the scenarios in which are occurring throughout the opening 2 minutes. The editing for this genre is common to be linear and this one is with sharp transitions between cuts to create more of tension in the atmosphere without saying anything.
Wrong turn:
The codes used in the opening 2 minutes of ‘Wrong Turn’ use both technical and symbolic codes as do the other 2 openings. The technical codes used in the camera angles and shots. The camera angles and shots used are bird’s eye, worm eye, close up, long shot and mid shot. Compared to the others opening the first shot in ‘Wrong Turn’ is a crane shot panning across of where the scene is set to give you an idea of the location in which it is. The diegetic sound added in at the start few scene is sinister music but compared to the other 2 there is a lot more speech between 2 characters compared to the other 2. Another diegetic sound which is mid-way through the opening 2 minutes is the dripping sound of blood which is clear to the audience watching that something bad has happened and it is sure to happen again. Towards the end of the opening 2 minutes when the women is trying to escape, danger occurs again and the diegetic sound in this part is a slicing chainsaw noise. However you can’t see the scene in which it occurs you can just hear it. The editing for this opening is linear like the other 3.
The conventions used in there opening 2 minutes are common for this genre of film which was, like the other 2, it always starts in a secluded location which is anything did occur (danger) there is no way out or anyone around to help. by having the women hanging from the rope while the man die shows that the women being near the top is also in danger if she doesnt get something to cut the rope.
Overall there are a lot of similarities throughout all 3 opening such as, the women where less clothes, you don’t actually see the villain, there is a secluded location and the women is always left on her own. The editing for all 3 is all linear due to each scene film has to be put together in order or else it won’t make sense for the genre.
Overall, i feel like the essay went well but i could improve on compareing each code and conventions is all 3 openings but also compare the similarities more in depth.
ReplyDeleteI think that we will need to work on the style of your essay writing Hannah as your writing is currently quite conversational and not analytical or formal enough.
ReplyDeleteYou do enough here to merit a mark consistent with Level 2 but this is BASIC overall as opposed to being PROFICIENT.
I feel that you do make valid points and that there is evidence from the openings to support these.
I would like you to edit the post and highlight in different colours the media specific terminology you have used in relation to use of the camera (shots, angles, movement), sound, editing and use of mise-en-scene.
What do you think this shows about the focus of your analysis of these openings?
Can you please complete the task set out in my reply above.
ReplyDeleteI have done this now and by doing this i have realised that i need to use more technical codes such as i need to talk about the editing, shots, and miss-en-scene more because i did use them just not throughout and when i did it was minimal talk.
ReplyDelete