This document analyzes the codes and conventions of the horror and comedy genres in the films The Forgotten, FlightPlan, Cat in the Hat, and The Grinch. It discusses how these films employ familiar genre elements like similar plotlines, use of sound, camera techniques, lighting, pacing, and props to create recognizable genres and provide pleasure for audiences. Theorists Steve Neale and Tzetvan Todorov are referenced to explain how genres rely on repetition of elements and follow a narrative pattern of equilibrium disruption. Key scenes from each film are analyzed in detail to demonstrate the genre conventions they exhibit.

1. Unit 10: Film Production (Fiction)
For my assignments, I will be analyzing the codes and conventions of the genre Horror, the films I will be analyzing
are The Forgotten and FlightPlan.
Theorist Steve Neale suggests that genre cinema is made up of repetition and difference. The audience expects
familiarity to be present in the film, and Neale argues that audiences get a degree of pleasure from recognizing
familiar genre tropes when watching films, they want the reassurance of some of the recognizable characteristics
that make them enjoy the genre in the first place. Neale’s ideas of repetition can be seen in both FlightPlan and
The Forgotten, both of which employ several recognizable genre stylistic codes and conventions.
In the scene the start of the whole story of the parent waking up and not finding their child, this reveals several
codes and conventions linking to the thriller genre. The parent wakes up and the picture of them with their child
changes to only her and her husband, causing confusion between him and her while viewer knows what is going
on, while the story develops during this time the pace of it as does as-well, which puts the viewer on the edge of
the seat. This is normally what it is due for thriller films as most thriller/horror films try to get you as
uncomfortable as possible, this links into Neal’s idea about genres and how they are similar, during editing sound
effects are usually put over to add intensity (Ref.1, The Forgotten). Similar to The Forgotten, in FlightPlan in the
scene where she goes to sleep and wakes up then her daughter is missing, shows the table code and conventions
of a thriller/horror, making the viewer question where the child is, adding intensity and pace. Sound effects are
also added on to build up suspense. This could be seen as a stylistic code as a non-digenetic sound truck has been
used as she wakes up to find her daughter missing, which intrigues the viewer. (Ref.1, FlightPlan)
Reference to we can see another stylistic code and convention been used to make the thriller film look and sound
intense, camera effects and sound, as we can see in front to the pace and camera move fast when the mother is
looking for her daughter in the park, also the sound builds up to build up suspense and put the view on the edge of
the seat, the camera effects such as POV are used to give a view from the mothers perspective to make the
viewers relate to her, sound used is a non-digenetic it follows along with what is going on the screen, every thriller
film has this in it (Ref. 2, The Forgotten). FlightPlan also uses stylistic codes and conventions of thriller movies in its
manner, for example A similar scene happens like the one in The Forgotten, where the mothers looks for her
missing daughter on the plane (in The Forgotten it’s in a park), the audio and camera effect are used to intensify
and get a viewer on edge, A camera affect also used by the lens is the bokeh effect where everyone on the plane is
blurred out except her or the main characters, give the effect that there is a lot of people but the two main
characters are only important, everyone is also wearing either white or a dark colour, a dark colour scheme, so
when blurred out to give the effect that is a very sad/depressing, adding effect to the atmosphere also influencing
the viewer’s mood and emotions towards the character. (Ref. 2, The FlightPlan)
Again we can see how camera effect in the editing creates the genre, in the forgotten the editing is paced and
choppy as well as camera angles or a lot close up, to give an intense effect compared to FlightPlan they are pretty
similar, when there is a close up shot it brings the viewer closer and it’s almost like a one-on-one for either them to
understand or get their point across when these effects and close-up camera angles are happening it’s what
creates the drama and action and it makes the audience more interested on what’s happening and could them a
thrill.
In conclusion both narratives for The Forgotten and FlightPlan show a number of stylistic codes and conventions
connected to the thriller genre, this lets the audience recognize the film as Steve Neal's says it gives the audience
pleasure by recognizing familiar plots (in the genre), in both films color scheme, that gives dark and low-key
lighting a huge role on how the characters and locations are represented this is done by which is usually done by
balancing out the white and black levels so there's a consistent colour throughout the scene when filming coloured
lens filters are used to either correct colour mistakes or to add colours for a certain effect. Sound, diegetic or non-

2. diegetic plays a huge role on the viewer’s emotions and the sounds that do this to us aren’t always unusual but
their deep or high-pitched signal danger which is irregular noises with large wavelengths. Another is having a
similar plotline which is a grieving mother is trying to cope with the loss of their children when waking up to the
missing, they both go on journeys to find them all while trying to maintain their sanity.
Theorist Tsetzvan Todorv suggests that the narratives will have a beginning a middle and an end.
(Equilibrium – Disruption of equilibrium- Recognition of equilibrium - Attempts to repair equilibrium - New
equilibrium)
Most horrors/thrillers follow this pattern, there is also evidence to suggest that The Forgotten and The FlightPlan
are similar to this, where both journeys have ups and downs, disruptions of equilibriums are the children going
missing, The recognition and attempted to repair is the journey the parents go on to find their children, as not
having a recurring storyline, the audience is presented with her closure and know what happens in the end and
there are no cliffhangers.
The Forgotten (Ref.1) FlightPlan (Ref.1)
The Forgotten (Ref.2)
The Forgotten (Ref.2)
The Forgotten (Ref.3)

3. The FlightPlan (Ref.2)
The FlightPlan (Ref.3)
Genre 2: Comedy
I’m going to analyze the stylistic codes and conventions of the comedy genre focusing onto the films Cat in the Hat
and The Grinch, Theorist Steve Neil suggest that genres or instances of repetition and he believes that the
audience gets pleasure in recognizing familiar props, sets of current overturning characters, Neil’s idea of
repetition can clearly be seen in both films that I will be analyzing today.
When someone mentions Cat in the hat, one of the scenes that comes to mind is when there are on a cooking
show, and they have an argument, it’s so iconic as the comedy behind it and reveals load of codes and conventions
linked to the comedy genre, the double persona that happens is used to give a comedic effect as it is him watching
himself and talking (Ref .4), this is a stylistic code and convention of the comedy genre. As the scene goes on it
becomes faster and faster, increasing the pace, it's also done through the actions of the characters (speech) this is
done in quite a lot of comedy films. This makes the viewer find it funny (mainly a younger age-based
demographics), as the character encounters himself and hurting himself by mistake could be seen as a funny scene
for kids/adults.
In the same scene we can see how the effect of props has an effect and colour scheme does follow the stylistic
codes and conventions in the back we can see a bunch of silly/comedic props such as weird paintings, the cake
maker and what the cat is actually dressed in, once the audience recognize these props it will add more of an
unserious comedic effects and give them something more to laugh about, we can see a lot of these props have an
effect on the background in most of the film and throughout, most of the props are colourful and this get the
viewer attention, mainly this is for children but anyone who watches will be able to notice that, color scheme wise;
yet again as the props are colourful so is the lighting around and on the characters, as we can see in (Ref.5) outside
and indoors the characters and the sky/background are well lit, giving it a friendly children’s like look, this is done
in most comedy films as it doesn’t want to inflict fear as like horrors or thrillers do. A stylish code used in the film
to make the comedy genre is sound, in the scene (Ref. 5) as we can see there are loads of sound effects put over to
make it sound like the audience is reacting to watch is happening although there isn’t, for example when he is
putting things down the machine there are sound effects to exaggerates what is going on and we see this in quite a
lot in comedy as it almost forces the joke on to us, this pleases the audience and they most likely find it funny.

4. The Grinch is an all-time classic, its watch every Christmas by millions, so this film has the stylistic codes and
conventions of the comedy genre, I will be analyzing a scene were reading from a book in the snow, it also links in
with the cat and the hat in the editing and pace-wise. As he is reading the book a diegetic sound of the cold passing
can be heard, and as he screams we can also hear the book and his echo, sound plays a big role in this scenes as it
sets the vibe of the surroundings, meaning he’s in a quiet place. There are three different angles one of them being
a long shot, medium close-up and the back shot, these angles show what the grinch is doing and what’s around
him, this isn’t typical of comedies but is done in the Grinch and Cat in the hat. Another stylistic code and
convention is the pace, as I mentioned before it’s quite similar to Cat in the Hat as it gets faster and faster, adding
comedic effect, but lighting and colour scheme-wise it goes opposite Cat in the Hat, The Grinch is very dark (Ref.6),
blurry and dull as compared to Cat in the hat it’s very colorful and bright, the grinch does against the typical
comedy genre but while it does have these the grinch for some could be seen more funnier cause of the story
behind it. Props also have an impact on the genre, the costume of the Grinch alone is so iconic and recognizable
but as well as the surroundings, this makes the viewer familiar with the character and make them know what is
going on.
As we can see both in The Grinch and Cat in the Hat, there are multiple stylistic codes and conventions linking in
the comedy genre, this gives the audience the ability to recognize the genre and according to Steve Neal, it also
gives the audience pleasure recognizing familiarities, although they both go against each other; cat in the hat is a
colourful happy funny film mainly for kids and the Grinch using lowkey lighting to give a grumpy dark themed set,
as well as the use of sound is very similar both relying on diegetic and non-digenetic sounds to control the
audiences emotions towards the characters, what is about to happen but to also engaged them in to focusing
more, making sound important, camera techniques also very important as it represents the characters in both
films in different ways, for example in Cat in the hat when the camera is on the cat it’s more of a lower angle
(possibly a POV from the kids) showing that he more superior to them and when it’s the kids it’s more of a fisheye,
higher up angle showing they have less authority in a situation and the Grinch camera angles and techniques tend
to be a bit more choppy and close up giving an evil effect on the Grinch making the audience feel a certain way
about him. v
Theorist Tsetzvan Todorv suggests that the narratives will have a beginning a middle and an end.
(Equilibrium – Disruption of equilibrium- Recognition of equilibrium - Attempts to repair equilibrium - New
equilibrium)
Most comedy/adventures follow this pattern, there is also evidence to suggest that Cat in the Hat and The Grinch
are similar to this, where both have journeyed for the Cat in the Hat; disruptions of equilibriums is the Cat
appearing in the house and causing havoc, the recognition is when things get out of control and they realize it
could get them in to trouble and the attempted to repair is the journey is when they go and try to find the lock for
the box, as not having a recurring storyline, the audience is presented with her closure when they lock the box and
clean the house leaving the audience knowing what happens in the end and there are no cliffhangers.
But in the Grinch the disruptions of equilibriums is the Grinch wants to ruin Christmas, the recognition is when he
encounters Cindy Lou and the attempted to repair is Cindy Lou stopping him from his plans, as not having a
recurring storyline, the audience is presented with her closure when his plans fail to leave the audience knowing
what happens, in the end, leaving no suspense.

5. The films both show and don’t theorist Tsetzvan Todorv’s equilibrium, in Cat in the Hat there is a closure in the
ending leading to no new equilibrium and in the Grinch although he has been stopped there is a chance, he will
strike again-meaning there could be a new equilibrium.
The Grinch (Ref.6) Cat in the Hat (Ref.5)