Conduct Research Into Codes And Conventions

The typical story line for horror is that there is always a murderer normally with a past or a bad childhood e.g. got bullied. The story line always builds up with new people enter a town and they don’t know what happened and once they do find out its too late. There is always one person that survives in typical horror film.

Most horror films the characters are teens or a family one or the other. Using teenagers helps younger audience to watch the film and engage with it. The lead character is the one that has to come face to face with the killer and has to defeat them and try to kill them. The killer/monster has a trademark they have a certain pattern of killing and a weapon they use.

Most horror films are set in a small town/city there normally isolated and urban environment. The setting is usually a large space environment which helps the killer/monster ran around in big space and also the characters can try to escape. If it is set in a house it is normally dark like shadowy light.


When it comes to horror most of the films have the same type of iconography like the lighting that is used most of the time its a dark light normally used to show shadows.The lights are normally dark or red this is used in a horror film to represent evil.The lights are non naturalistic it just causes an enigma.
The props used in a typical horror film is a chainsaw,mask,knife ect this helps the audience to identify that it is a horror film.The props used in a horror film helps create a tension and helps the audience engage with what is going on.The reason all these props are used is to make the audience panic and fear what is going to happen.


The cinematography that is used is Establishing shot this shows the location and how isolated it is.Another shot that is used is an extreme closeup which emphasis the subject.A long shot to show what danger the character is in.Tracking is used when the killer is running after the characters.A dolly shot makes out that the characters are getting watched.A point of view shot is also used to show what the characters are seeing.


Normally the start of a horror film has eerie music this plays when the titles are shown this just gives you an edgy feeling.The music tends to be orchestral which creates an haunting effect.Also the sound that is used is a theme for the film and it is also non diagetic,it is only used to emphasis what is happening.Most horror films also have a very high pitch when the killer is approaching  this just creates an edgy feeling.

Analyse a film opening sequence(Titles)

Se7en (1995)
0:04 New Line Cinema Presents
0:06 An Arnold Kopelson  Production
0:10 A Film By David Fincher
0:14 Brad Pitt
0:18 Morgan Freeman
0:24 Se7en
0:30 Gwyneth Palthrow
0:33 Richard Roundtree
0:38 R.Lee Ermey
0:42 John C.Mc Ginley
0:46 Julie Araskog,Mark Bonnie Junior
0:53 John Cassini,Reginlad E Cathey,Peter Crombie
0:58 Hawthorne James,Michael Mossee,Leland Orser
1:03 Richard Partnow,Richard Schiff,Parnala Tyson
1:10 Casting by..Billy Hopkins,Suzanne Smith,Kerry Borden
1:17 Music by Howard Share
1:21 Costumes Designed by Michael Kaplan
1:25 Edited by Richard Francis -Bruce
1:27 Production Designed by Arthur Max
1:35 Director Of Photography Darius Khondji
1:40 Co Producers Stephen Brown,Nana Greenwald,Sanford Panrich
1:43 Co Executive Producers Lynn Harris,Richard Saperstmin
1:50 Executive Producers Gianni Nunnari,Dan Kolsrud,Anne Kopleson
1:53 Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
1:59 Produced by Arnold Kopelson,Phyllis Carlyle
2:08 Directed by David Fincher

Analyse A Film Opening Sequence

The film that I am analysing is 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' the film was directed and produced by Tobe Hooper. The opening sequence allows the audience to establish the genre of the film which is horror. I know this because the opening sequence of the film shows a very dark background slowly fades in showing a picture of a baby. The baby doesn’t seem to have a normal face which helps the audience to adapt the film’s storyline. The open sequence the light flashes to cause the audiences to become enigma it also shows a shadow of a man this tells us that he is looking at the pictures. The camera then quickly pans across and shows a police document with the name “Thomas Hewitt”. This starts to gives us a brief idea on what is going on. The lights start to brighten and it shows a man wrapping another man’s face with bandage this starts to introduce the characters and shows us that the man who is getting wrapped is Johnny. This also tells the audience that the film genre is a horror.
The narrative is established straight away when the police document are shown telling the audience something had happened in the past. It also shows little clips like the man with the dirty hand burning the picture of the baby. The editing also helps establish what is going on especially by the montage. There are many scenes put together that show us the whole town and it c
The sound that is used is non diegetic sound which helps adapt the scene. The music is spooky and violins are played. Diegetic sound is also used when the man says “Don’t worry about it Johnny” .this introduces Johnny as the man that is getting the bandage wrapped round his face. The Texas chainsaw massacre open sequence doesn’t have many characters. It just shows us a brief introduction to the story.
ross cut showing us what is happening as well.
The opening sequence builds a tension which makes the audience feel uneasy because they don’t know what is going to happen it makes them feel uncomfortable. 
The sound that is used is non diegetic sound which helps adapt the scene. The music is spooky and violins are played. Diegetic sound is also used when the man says “Don’t worry about it Johnny” .this introduces Johnny as the man that is getting the bandage wrapped round his face. The Texas chainsaw massacre open sequence doesn’t have many characters. It just shows us a brief introduction to the story.