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1. Unit 10: fictional film codes and conventions.
Horror: birdbox, jigsaw
Romance: fault in our stars, 50 firstdates
For one of my film genres I have chosen to do horror as it is one of the most
recognizableand popular genres within the film industry. Thehorror films I
have chosen and the genre its self gives a fantastic opportunity to analyse the
codes and conventions that allow film producers to put these films together in
an effective way to match the genre. I looked at two quite recently made films,
Birdbox (2018) and Unfriended (2015), wecan seehow the generic
conventions, characteristics and codes of the horror film are present. These
films help the targeted audience recognize and understand the genre horror
and they can interact with anything they see on screen.
Steve Neale is a media theoristthat thinks genre cinema is made up of
repetition and difference. He believes that the target audience would expect
familiar scenes to be presentwithin the film based on its genre. It is known
that Steve Neale thinks that particular audiences get a degree of pleasure from
recognizing familiar scenes and acts when watching films. The audience often
like to see characters and scenes that they have seen in the genre before. His
ideas are seen in so many films in different ways. For example, in both of my
horror films they are based around demons and spirits, in films including this
sortof illustration you often get things such as music and non-diegetic sounds
to imply the spirit is near.
The scene frombirdbox which I will be talking about goes along with theorist
Steve Neale’s ideas. Its oneof the mostpopular scenes and one of the first
scenes that give away something really awfulis happening. Ithas a number of
codes that are linked to the horror genreone of them being sounds. when the
character Lydia comes running out, putting herself at risk to help the first
pregnantcharacter Malorie. She tells her to stand up and come into the house
and justas Malorie stands up we hear a sharp whisper which completely
controls the character Lydia. This could be seen as one of the codes of horror
films as Itthen continues with an eerie roar implying the demon is in fact
there, it would have an effect on the audience as they havea mindset of not
knowing whatto expect next. The eerie sound and intensified music continues
until they’reat the door of the housetrying to get into safer grounds. Its an un-
diegetic sound that pulls Lydia into the car and I think this becauseit has a
sound effect over a whisper to add a dramatic effect. This goes with Neale’s
theory as in the majority of horror films have sound effects to create a more

2. intense and fearful atmospherefor the audience and makes it recognizable.
Lydia also talks in a very high pitched and sweet voice as she walks into the
burning car implying sheis vulnerable which would again create an effect on
the audience and make them feel certain emotions.
In reference 1 the camera angle is shotthrough a blind from a safer ground in
the film. Itis a wide shotthat not only shows two women vulnerablein the
hands of a demon but it shows us themass destruction that has gone on
around the houseas in the shot they havemanaged to capture the burning
cars and mayhembehind the two women. Getting a wide shotof the
destruction also connotates the power of the demon, which would be another
perfect code to go along with the genre. The props that they haveare the cars
on fire in the shotto show that, this is what will kill Lydia and the audience
would have a responseto this by possibly feeling on edge.
Ref.1
This reference to the film is a way of showing that the horror film and its genre
often striveto make the audience feel on edge, nervous and shocked by the
actions of the characters.
In this scenethe camera shots arejust like in a lot of films which follows the
stylistic conventions of the film. Itshoots from Lydia’s face, to her husbands

3. who’s is inside of the house and then it goes to the crowd of panicked people
back to Lydia which allows us to see the panic and sadness across everyone’s
faces as the demon is approaching and forcing people to die.
In terms of the PROPPS theory for Birdboxwe can make a clear representation
of which characters fall into which categories. Throughoutthe film it changes a
lot wehave the public people and people in the household who are seen as
our “victim” or the traditional “princesses” who need to be saved and the
demon who awaits them outside is the “villain” which again is quite clearly
seen throughoutthe film. However the role of the “hero” in this theory varies
and changes between each character depending on what the characters are
doing so for example some risked their lives to get food in for the rest of the
group who were stuck in the house, others such as charley saved the group at
the shop by killing his self and threw himself at someone who had gone mad
because of the demon. The villains also change as someonecomes into the
houseacting vulnerableat one point in the film and ends up killing 3 people
who were in the group and near the middle of the film two members of the
group stole the car so they also turn to the villain role of the theory. Unlike a
lot of horror films the Todoroff theory varies throughoutthe whole film.
Directors Peter and Michael Spierig created the gut-wrenching horror film
jigsaw in 2017. Jigsaw is another film that clearly uses stylistic codes and
conventions of horror genre. Itdoes this by using a lot gorier illustrations then
birdbox. Itshows us that the key character and antagonist is john Kramer who
is a mass murderer who seeks to see how others will surviveby conflicting pain
upon themselves. To do this he has what’s almost like an obstacle coursebut is
made up of torture chambers for thoseto confess their sins.
The props in jigsaw are a big, big partof the whole film. The reasoning for this
is becauseit completes the codes of the horror genrewith whatthey do to the
characters. Theseprops fit into Neale’s theory as audiences now detect things
such as saws, guns and knives to be associated with the horror genre. Using a
saw as a prop has made it an iconography prop in the genre, especially when it
comes to gory and violent films like jigsaw. Having this as a prop in all of the
saw films creates a repetitive image like explained in Steve Neale’s theory
which goes along with telling us it’s a horror film and something bad will
happen. The bloodthirsty torturedevices would give off an immediate
responsefromthe audience, these props are placed among the film to make
the audience feel shocked and anguished. Some of these props that create a

4. nervous atmospherefor the audience are placed below as reference 2 and
reference 3.
Ref.2
Ref.3
Another stylistic code for this genre is the lighting and camera shots. A
common thing which is shown in a lot of horror films is the wide shot. This shot
is often used to show us the mass destruction or the environment that victims,
killers, etc are in. it gives us an idea of the setting and helps the audience
understand whatis going on. we can see this in reference 1. almostall of the
lighting on the film jigsaw is low lighting- extremely dark lighting as
demonstrated in both reference2 and 3. In refence 2 we can see a little bit of
artificial lighting which makes the room look cold and vicious and it allows us

5. to see the victims tied up by chains with metal armor on their heads. This
would have a very shocked and anxious reaction to the scene. In reference 3
we can see that it is a very dark roomand he has somelight so we can just
make out what the torture device looks like and what it is. There is a lot of light
on the mans face too which we can clearly see amongstall of the shadows and
darkness which could representthe fact that he has a lot of power in this
situation. In both of these pictures they are set out to be quite dark and cold
but have small specs of light throughoutthem to highlight the main and most
powerfulthing in the scene and it is like this through the whole of the film to
try and keep the audience feeling on edge so they don’tguess what is going to
happen or who is going next. Another thing I noticed was in reference 2 they
shootshots of each individual victims eyes which puts us in the characters
shoes so we feel the fear and horror that they do and we feel sympathetic
towards them. This feel relies on low key lighting quite a lot which endures the
audience and motivates them to keep watching to find out why its dark, what
happens next and more.
The next one of the stylistic codes and conventions I am going to talk about
would be the use of sound in the scenes of jigsaw. In the scenethat I have
used as reference 2 we hear a lot of diegetic sounds such as heavy breathing,
talking, chains rattling, panicked cries and echoing. This would create an
emotional effect on the audience as the scenes come across as very nerve
wracking. Then the man fromjigsaw speaks and it has a voice changeover the
top which makes it sound very un-diegetic. Then the saws go off and you can
hear the saws go off which goes back to a diegetic sound. Using a diegetic
sound makes the sceneseem much more realistic and fearful.
In reference 3 we hear a lot moreof the un-diegetic sounds compared to the
firstscene I referred to. As he is inspecting the device you can hear what
sounds like pulsated music making it more intense. Then he looks up from the
device with a more diegetic sound of the machine being turned on which
almost brings us back to the sick reality of the film.
If wewere to talk about PROPPS theory when it comes to this film wecould
imply the idea that the victims are the traditional “princesses” thatneed to be
saved by the “hero” in which we could refer to as the police officers who try to
find them but are unsuccessful. Then our “villain” would quite clearly be john
who is the created of these game like torturechambers. However wecould
also say that we have a “falsehero” who is the man inspecting the jaw breaker
in the third reference as he is one of the victims at firstand he is a doctor who
is “helping” the police investigate and find out who the killer of this mass
murder is but he is actually the new one and alongside with john helping he

6. continue creating these games in the future. A lot of films in the horror genre
have a very similar layoutwhen it comes to the Todoroff’s theory and it helps
the audience recognizethe genre which also goes along with Steve’s theory.
The next genre I am going to talk about would be romance. The two romantic
films I havechosen are fault in our stars which was released in the middle of
2014, and 50 firstdates which was released at the beginning of 2004. This
genre was a really good option for me because romanceis a very popular
genre in the filming industry and has a lot of Steave Neale’s theory in it, in the
senseof repetition in the romantic films and it makes scenes familiar which is
what makes up the genre. A lot of shots and lighting arrangements are very
similar in almost all of the romantic films you see.
In both of the horror films, we see a lot of similarities for example when we
come across the gorier scenes. In jigsaw it focused on the blood and gore and
when somebody dies it focuses on the dead body to intrigue the audience and
make them feel an emotion towards it. There is also a scene like this in
birdbox. They’redriving and the camera pans down on a dead body that they
run over, we see the body and how its rotting and grey which would also have
the effect on the audience. However, in this scene on birdboxwe don’t actually
see the car run over the body we justsee the people in the car bump up like
they’regoing over a speed bump so it plants an image of what happened in
our head. In jigsaw they actually show you the body or person being tortured
whether that is them being put in a shredder or burnt or anything else that is
torturous.
The first film fromthe romantic genre that I would like to talk about would be
fault in our stars. The firstscene from fault in our stars that I wantto speak
upon would be scene wherethey aresitting on a bench in the middle of
Amsterdamnext to the river that they first road a boat on. In the picture we
can see the full of their bodies. Their body language tells us a lot about how
they feel and how it fits into the romance genre. In the shotyou can see that
she has a legs over his and his hand is over her leg, this is typically a romantic
gestureand it implies that there is a lot of affection in this scene and it gives us
the idea that they’rein love. Augustus has his hand which looks like it is gently
lifting hazels chin up and when you watch the scene you see them kiss just
after. This is again a traditional scene for this genre which links into Neale’s
theory. If you have repetitive scenes and clips like this within a film you can

7. immediately tell that it’s a romantic film. In this shot you can see that the
lighting is natural which could give us an idea that everything involved with
their relationship is natural. In the second 5th
reference we can see hazel is
sitting in her car and the lighting is quite dark and low key and this could say a
lot for whatshe is feeling. There is a bit of light shining into her car which
breaks up some of the dark and depressing atmosphereset by this scene and it
gives us the idea that she is happy to have received the letter from her
boyfriend.
I would say that for the props in this scene it would be the bench itself because
its meant to be a romantic place if its next to the river. Itgets linked into all
things romantic so with the body language and the bench we can tell a lot
about this movie and its genre. If you look into it you could also say that her
oxygen tank is a prop as throughoutthe whole film we see clips of it to show
us how shestruggles. Having it next to the bench in reference four could imply
that she is lucky to be experiencing this and it creates a deep and emotional
turn on the scene and makes the audience feel whatthey feel. Another really
important prop fromthe film is at the end scene (which is labelled as reference
5) would haveto be the letter that hazel is reading in her car justafter
Augustus’ funeral. It’s a crumpled up bit of paper but it has whathazel feels
are powerfulwords aboutherself by her boyfriend who has justpassed. This
prop has a very emotional effect on the audience and we tend to sympathize
with hazel when she’s reading it. The camera shot manages to catch hazels
face and the emotion across it as well as the letter so we get to see her
reaction as shereads along to her boyfriends words.
Ref.4

8. Ref.5
The sound in this scene is similar to a lot of romantic tragedy’s which are like
fault in our stars and again it follows along with Steave Neale’s theory when it
comes to these types of genres. In the background of reference 5 there is a
calming tune played with Augustus’ voiceplaying over it in the idea of him
reading out the letter to hazels but in her head. This would be an un-diegetic
sound as its music and a voice which isn’t there in real life as it’s a voice over.
This creates an emotional effect on the audience as it’s his voice after he is
dead yet it still remains in her head and never leaves because she is in love.
In reference 4 we here again really soft music and calming music when they’re
sitting on the bench. This is ironic in this scene as he has justtold hazel grace
that he has cancer all over his body and is going to die so in this tragic event of
their love story its still calm and they don’twant the cancer in him to differ the
relationship.
In terms of propps theory it’s a lot more difficult to explain who fits into which
role as the victim could be both Augustus and hazel but hazel helps him and he
helps her so the narrativein this theory isn’t as clear as what it would be in a
lot of other films.
This film has a lot of different turns and reactions on the audience. Just like in
every typical and traditional romantic film you would see the emotion love
which could make the audience feel exited like in the scenes at Amsterdam
and when they first met for example. Then there is parts that the audience
would feel extremely sympathetic about like when Gus and hazel each get sent
to hospital or when Gus dies and hazel is left heartbroken so the audience
connect and feel thoseemotions too.

9. The next and last film that I would like to talk about is another film from the
romantic genre that has many different and similar stylistic codes and
conventions. However it is different to fault in our stars becauselike the
traditional romantic film genreit doesn’tend in a tragedy. The next film that ill
be talking about will be 50 firstdates which stars Adam Sandler and drew
Barrymore. They have both stared in many films that are in or related to the
romantic film genre. In the film he has to try and get a girl to fall in love with
him everyday as she has memory loss and there are a lot of different stylistic
codes and conventions that suggestit is a romance.
The firstthing I would like to talk about would be the camera angles and
lighting of both references 6 and 7. In reference 6 wehave the mosttraditional
and classicalcamera shotand angle. as you can see in the picture below you
have a medium close upon the couple kissing in the rain. In the shot we can
justsee his arms wrapped around her and you can clearly see them kissing in
the frameso their body language says a lot about them and the type of genre
the film is. When it comes to the lighting it’s a nighttime so its dark outside but
there is a light shining into the Centre of the picture which allows us to see the
romantic gestures that are made by the stars within the film.
Ref.6
Ref.7

10. In reference 7 the lighting Is a lot lighter and it almost has a yellow tone to it
which makes it look extremely happy and romantic. In the camera shotyou can
see both od the romantically connected characters sitting at a table eating
breakfasttogether. In this shot you can also see them both smiling and looking
very happy, this again makes the film seem like the genre was mostdefinitely
romance. The props included in reference7 could be the waffleas it makes the
scene seem more romantic and one of the firstromantic gestures that is made
by henry is when he goes over to Lucy and helps her out with creating a little
door for her “waffle café”.
If wetalk about the sound in reference 7, we can hear a very calm and happy
song in the background as they’respeaking in the café and this gives off a very
romantic vibe throughoutthe film. This is wherethe romancein the film starts
properly and having a song like that one really helps enhance the fact it’s a
romantic film. In reference6 we can hear the sound of the rain which is a
diegetic sound and they’retalking and then it goes into a dramatic and
romantic tune that makes it seem a lot more “fairy-tale” like and romantic, and
this part of the film is the mostclassic and memorable part because of that.
In terms of propps theory we could say that Lucy is the princess in this film as
she has her memory loss and shegets help from henry and he comes across as
the hero because in the end they have a moment where Lucy begins to
remember him by painting and drawing pictures of him from memory. Not
only would henry seem to be the hero for allowing her to get part of her
memory back, but he’d be classed as the helper since he helped her. However,
you could also say that at the beginning of the film henry comes across as the
villain as he is almost the womanizer of the film until he meets Lucy.

11. If wewere to talk about audience responses wecould say that with the 6th
reference we felt emotional and exited because they actually made their
romanceofficial and the fact that it was in the rain which is your classical
romantic shotmakes it seem so much more special so we would feel the same
excitement as them fromthe audience. In reference 7 we could say that the
audience would feel relaxed and happy becauseof the lighting and they layout
of the camera shots like mentioned before.
Section two
In 1928, Propp said thatall stories follow a narrativestructure. in almost every
film the theory of props is used to create characteristics and plots. In all four of
the films that I havechosen the propps theory has been noticeable in them.
Propp devised a list of characters which are apparentin many narratives: The
Villain, The Dispatcher, the helper, the princess, the donor, the hero and the
false hero. Some f these characteristics did definitely fit into the films that I
had picked.
Steve Neale’s theory is another theory that I spokeabout at the beginning
because especially with the two genres that I had picked it fit into and was
shown and seen very clearly. In both horror and romance the camera angle’s,
scenes, takes, lighting, body language, sounds and many more stylistic codes
and conventions werethe same and repeated within the genre and the reason
being is so that its recognized by the audience and they can clearly see what
genre of film it is and it helps when it comes to analyzing and predicting what
will happen next.
In both of these films we see a lot of traditional romance acts in it. A lot of
them arevery similar to one another too. They both have an emotional
moment in them which pulls in the audience and makes us feel the passion
and love that is within the film. For example, in fault in our stars, like explained
earlier, the male character ends up passing away dueto having cancer spread
all over his body. We see the emotion and feel it in moments where hazel(the
female character) is trying her hardestto keep him with her like when she
holds u the letter to her chest at the end of the film. Itshows thetrue passion
and love that fills her up and its emotional for the audience because the male
character has had such an effect on her and it’s her firstlove, we see that she
is trying to hold on for as long as shepossibly can.
In 50 firstdates we have a similar story that the female character had been in
an accident so shehad lost all of her shortterm memory and lives the same

12. day over and over again, so when she meets the male character he is trying to
get her to fall in love with him we see that he also has the hope and faith in her
remembering him and remembering they’re in love. We see the samein both
films whereit starts with a “sob story” to havean emotional turn on the
audience and draw them in for the traditional ending where we see the true
love come out.
However, they also have their differences. In fault in our stars we see an
ending that isn’tusually common in romancefilms, but it emotionally affects
the reader as the loved dies. This wouldn’t be classed as your traditional happy
ever after ending which makes it more powerfuland unusual, the scenes in
this film are a lot more modern too. Whereas in 50 firstdates we havea happy
ending where he manages to get her to remember by creating a video
everyday for her to remember him and their daughter who is later born. So,
this film actually has moreof a traditional happily ever ending and it has
scenes like the one in the rain which is a very traditional scene in the genre of
romance.
Both films fit the genre and in different ways which makes them so interesting
to write about. In differentmoments in both films each one challenges the
codes and conventions of the film genre.
Both of these films show your traditional horror scenes and stylistic codes and
conventions as well as some moments that show morethan the usualhorror
film or even less.