This document discusses codes and conventions in film genres. It defines codes as systems of signs that create meaning, which can be technical like camera work or symbolic by showing what is beneath the surface. Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing things within a genre. The document explains that codes and conventions are always used together, as discussing a technical code without how it is conventionally used in a genre provides incomplete information. It provides the example of lighting being a technical code used across genres, but horror conventions dictate side and back lighting to create mystery and suspense.

1. By Ashley Joseph

2. Codes and conventions are detailed rules of a
genre. They make it easier to understand the
film and also easier to make it.
The foundation of C&C:
• Setting
• Themes
• Characters
• Props
• Narrative and Plot
• Style

3. Codes
Codes are systems of signs, which create MEANING.
They can be divided into technical and symbolic.
• Technical codes are all the ways in which the
equipment is used to tell the story, e.g. camera
work.
• Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface
of what we see. E.g. a characters actions may
show you how the character may be feeling.

4. Conventions
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of
doing something. There are general conventions
in any medium, such as the use of interviewee
quotes in a print article, but conventions are
also genre specific.

5. Codes and Conventions are always used
together because it is not enough to discuss a
technical code, e.g. camera work, without saying
how it is conventionally used in a genre.
For example, the technical code of lighting is
used in some way in all film genres. It is a
convention of the horror genre that side and
back lighting is used to create mystery and
suspense.