INVESTIGATIO
N IN HORROR
THE SHINING, ARMY OF THE DEAD,
SHAUN OF THE DEAD
In this assignment I am investigating the codes
and conventions of horror using 3 movies that I
have chosen to investigate those movies are The
Shining, Army Of The Dead, Shaun Of The Dead
INTRODUCTI
ON I will Identify and explain the different codes and
conventions of the horror/thriller genre, and
explore and develop the fundamental media skills
needed to produce a piece of work within my
chosen genre
Horror is a genre that is depicted as being eerie, bloodcurdling or
mysterious and it has less of an emphasis on reality. This creates
fear and phobias of horror itself and of the scenes in the movie.
One of the main goals of the horror genre is to make the audience
feel uncomfortable
Horror has a load of sub-genres such as:
DESCRIBIN
G HORROR • Slashers- These usually have a masked killer who kills in very
gruesome ways and for sport.
AS A GENRE
• Giallo- These films derives from a series of cheap paperback
mystery and crime thriller novels.
• Supernatural- its based on religious views and features
iconography and plays on peoples beliefs on the afterlife
SLASHER CODES AND CONVENTIONS
CAMERA ANGLES:
• POV: point of views: in slasher films we see what the
killer sees. The director does this to show the
perspective of the killer.
• Close ups: to show victims emotions during the scene
and how scared they are. The director uses this to show
the fear in the victim’s face.
• Establishing shots: to show surroundings of where the
killer is and where the victim is. Some of these places
are in schools, college, camps and house parties.
The director using music in slashers used synthesizers
because they didn’t have big budgets they use the music
to build tension and signify the killer's whereabouts.
They use major keys and minor keys to display emotion
as
MUSIC IN
SLASHER
FILMS Major keys are used to make a scene sound jolly and
cheerful and when a killer has died or during a sex
scene.
Minor keys are used in slasher films to build tension and
What are codes:
Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be
divided into categories – technical and symbolic
• Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell
the story in media, for example work in a film other examples of
this are Lighting, Sound and Editing.
CODES AND • Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see.
CONVENTION For example, a character’s actions show how the character is
feeling .
S What are conventions:
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something.
There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of the
interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre
specific.
ANALYZE THE
CODES AND • In the shining there is a constant theme of
CONVENTIONS OF the colour red reoccurring in it showing
THE SHINING that there is danger in it a lot. The floor has
red on it so does the jacket of Lloyd and
the blood in the elevator.
• You can see the supernatural events occur
as the movie goes on and some scary
events for the characters such as the close
up of Wendy screaming because Jack
broke the door with an axe.
ANALYZE THE • In Army of the dead Zack Snyder uses
CODES AND lighting to create a dark area that makes
CONVENTIONS OF them feel blocked in. The darkness makes
ARMY OF THE DEAD them feel anxious and scared because they
can't see much also making the audience
confused and scared because we can see as
much as the character can.
•
ANALYZE THE • In Shaun of the dead Edgar wright uses
CODES AND sweet music to show how Shaun and the
CONVENTIONS OF gang don't know what’s going on until near
SHAUN OF THE DEAD the end of the movie it also calming.
• Edgar wright uses a wide shot to show the
emptiness of the movie near the beginning
when Shaun goes to the shop and when
Shaun goes to talk to Liz. The point of the
story is that Shaun has to grow up and
become a leader, he also must make difficult
choices.
