Codes and Conventions of a Horror - Halloween

There are many different codes and conventions of a horror film such as:

• Red herrings
• Death
• Scare
• Survivor/hero
• Darkness
• Devil
• Teenage victim - young girls/innocence
• Fate/chance
• Jump
• Gore
• Evil
• Supernatural
• Scary music and sound.

In lesson we watched 'Halloween' and most of these codes and conventions came up. There were many different camera shots such as point of view shot, objective shot and long shots came up the most. There was a point of view shot at the house, after this there is a zoom onto the house. There is a close up on Micheal's face so show you who the killer was. The house is very dark inside as there is no lights on. When there is little lights on you can see shadows, this gives you a scared, intense feeling. As the light turns off in the top bedroom where the young girl and her boyfriend have gone there is a high tone screech. As the film starts after the credits there is music with children singing Halloween songs. There is also a very high pitch tone in the background. This shows you that it is not a calm film as it is a horror. The set is in a suburbia street therefore the killer could be your next door neighbour. There is a knife involved in the opening. Micheal is wearing a clowns outfit as some people find clowns scary. He is also wearing a mask which decisis his face, the killer.