Genre Conventions - Media Langauge DRFT

Summary







SCREAM

Sounds
- High pitched female scream 
Very stereotypical in slashers, helping create suspense but also helping to anchor a preferred reading 
- Heart rate speeding up 
Helps create suspension and build up fear throughout the trailer 
- Phone ringing 
Again helps to create suspension, and the ring sound the phone makes is very average which helps anchor the slasher genre
- Crash sound effect
Not only helps build tension to the literal breaking point but also serves as an audio distraction so that the viewers are distracted by the sound so its harder to focus on what just showed creating sense of mystery 
-Wolf howl 
A stereotype to the slasher and horror genre, again anchoring the preferred reading 
- Knife slashing sounds 
Another stereotype to the slasher and horror genre. Could be an intertextual reference to past slasher classics
- Gunshot 
Again not only helps build tension to the literal breaking point but also serves as an audio distraction 
- Violin 
Massive effect on the tension, and an intertextual reference to Psycho 
- Audio Bridge
Helps keep the audience engaged 

...

(Scream trailer)
...


First shot

Jaun of the Dead Film opening 

Juan de los muertos

Jaun de los muertos (Original title of Jaun of the Dead) is a Spanish film that follows a group of working class protagonists as they face an army of the living dead.
It's an action, comedy and horror genre hybrid released in 2011, by an Indie film company.

Due to the film heavily intertextualising Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead, it is a good movie to gather inspiration from for our film opening.

It has several interesting outliers, compared to the usual conventions used in other hybrid genres or other Indie company productions. An example is the lack of special effects used (Connotes low budget which is normal for an Indie company)

First shot

The first shot is a extreme long shot from a birds eye view, this applies itself as an establishing shot as it reveals a lot of exposition as well as being at the beginning of the film, with a black curly haired man with a white tank top, blue jean shorts and a brown leather belt on a raft that is made of different planks of woof some fishing net and 3 visible cannonballs to weigh the net down down and other pieces of sea junk in the middle. The man is laying face up on the raft spreading out over the whole raft. The camera zooms into a long shot from birds eye view, and using the rule of thirds, this connotes to the man being the main protagonist (Possibly connoting to the proppian archetype of a Hero, however its not fully clear as other characters need to be revealed) as he's centre frame as well as the camera zooming in on him.
The clothes he's wearing as well as the state of the raft connotes to the man being a working class protagonist, which connotes to an indie film company as well as the film being a horror film. An example of this is in Warps Tyrannosaur (warp is an indie film company and tyrannosaur is a horror film produced by warp) the main character is a working class protagonist with complex motives. On the other hand Bridget Jones' Diary, a working title film (working title is a subsidiary of Universal one of the big 5 conglomerates) the working class characters have very shallow personalities and are often made to look like idiots
The birds eye view angle connotes to the character being in trouble.
The immediate showing of the main protagonist isn't as effective as a first shot as it removes some of the narrative enigma. A similar start as in the warp film For those in Peril
There is also a slight yellow tint on the camera which connotes to a zombie/ horror genre


The mise-en-scene also connotes the character being in a bad financial situation as he can't afford a basic boat. The lack of shoes also connotes to him being stranded as he appears to have discarded his socks and shoes, and this is anchored by the fact he is wearing a brown belt