BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)

UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES

VANESA MENDELYTE
TASK 1
There are many different genres of films, but usually there is, one way, that
audience decodes it especially if its a basic narrative. Auteur directors make the
narrative more unique by adding their own vision to it and by changing the use
of props, colours, lighting tone etc. to make it an interesting narrative that isnt
repetitive.
An example of that would be Horror films, usually they are very predictable and
follow a similar structure. Theres usually a family, or a group of friends that
explore a certain place or live in a haunted house and theres usually some type
of monster or unexplainable creature that is the main idea of the film. In the end
theres either a happy ending or no survivors left or sometimes even in between.
Auteur theory holds that a film reflects the directors personal creative vision, as
if they were the primary auteur (the French word for author).
(Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur_theory)
So an Auteur director is an author director that has used his own imagination,
and his own unique style to change the supplements of the narrative and make it
his own unique idea, that is better than then original one. (Explained in my own
words).
The way that an auteur director could make a basic horror film narrative more
unique is by adding his or her own vision and details that would make it more of
his or her own style. One way they could make it better is by using a different
structure for the film, an example of that would be Paranormal Activity by Oren
Peli, in his films, he usually has a clip in the beginning that at first doesnt make
much sense until you watch the film till the end where then the clip is repeated
and shown in its full length which explains what was shown in the beginning. This
structure makes the film more mysterious and frightening because it sort of
shows you a backstory.
An auteur director would also manipulate with subjects such as mise en scene
(The arrangement of scenery and stage properties in a play.) Props, colour,
lighting and tone to make it better and to represent the film in a way that makes
the audience connect with it more and make it appropriate for the genre of the
film.
What is Mise En Scene?
Mise En Scene has 5 main elements, which are:

Settings & Props

Costume, Hair & Make Up
Facial Expressions & body language
Lighting & Colour
Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

These elements arent obvious to the audience but they are signals that are
meant to make us feel a certain way at a certain point. The way these elements
are used together can change the whole concept of a scene. These aspects are
always done in a certain way for a reason, because it makes the scene look a

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
certain way, an example of that would be scenery; the film creators would either
build it from scratch or look for a real life location that would be appropriate for
that scene. For example a comedy film would probably have a scene in a caf
with people in the background (not too many) and bright lighting with natural
looking characters.
Here we can see an example of
different lighting that can be used in a
scene to set a certain atmosphere and
represent the decade, emotions etc.
We can see that there are many
different ways to manipulate with
lighting and how much it can
emphasise certain features in a scene
and make something the centre of
attention.

This is a picture from a film (Ghost

World) and it shows a lot of the Mise
En Scene elements used and it is a
very good example of how they can be
used to represent certain things. As we
can see the two characters are two
biggest objects in the shot. The woman
is dressed in bright blue shirt although
the rest of the scenery and the male
character use lots of brown/orange and
warm colours that are quite dull and
thats why the woman in a bright shirt
represents happiness, as if she is
making the guy happy. It is a medium

http://www.slideshare.net/sarahlou79/mise-en-scene-14239171
What are the codes of conventions?
There are two types of codes, technical and symbolic.
Technical codes are conducts in which tools are used to express the narrative in a
media text, an example of that would be the way the scenes are filmed (camera
angles, shot type and camera work in general).
Symbolic codes represent what is underneath of what we see. An example of
that would be the emotions represented by the characters and how they perform
certain interactions.

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
Codes like music can fit both of these codes, because it can be technical and
symbolic, meaning that one piece of music can represent emotions and add to
the way we see something.
Conventions are common ways of doing something. There are general
conventions in anything, things like shaking hands when meeting someone new,
conventions are things that the community does because theres an unwritten
agreement that is shared with the community, but there are also conventions
that are detailed and exact.
Codes and conventions are used together in any genre, not only films but other
art forms as well; a code will always have to have a convention explaining it and
how it was used in a certain genre. An example of that would be a camera shot
type, so the actual camera shot would be a code but then someone would have
to explain why they chose this camera shot type and how it affects the outcome
which would be a convention, and it explains the symbol from the creators point
of view.
This is a shot from a film called DEAD
BODY and we can see that this camera
shot has the victim on the right side and
on the left in the dark we can see the
culprits hands which adds more tension
to the whole scene. This is one of the
codes of convention that the creator has
used that helps the audience understand
the genre of the film.
Another example of a code and convention would be lighting, the code is the
technical lighting and how it is used more or less in all film genres. So in a horror
film, dark lighting or maybe even flashing lighting would be used to represent
the fear and the tension of the scene, which is an essential thing in all horror
movies.
In this picture we can see a lighting
example from a horror film; we can see
that night vision was used to be able to
film in a dark room which makes the
scene look very creepy and ads to the
atmosphere of the clip.
http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codesand-conventions
How Audience decodes the symbols from code and conventions in the
narrative to decide what genre the film is?
Horror films
Any genre of a film will be using codes of conventions to familiarise the audience
with the genre of the film by using, codes and conventions, which are de-coded
by the audience. An example of that would be a horror film, in a horror film we
often see dark lighting which sets a scary atmosphere and usually mysterious

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
music that makes the scene complete. This is one of the codes that the creators
of the film use, the audience de-codes it by seeing codes such as; lighting and
music and by the genre and the type of lighting they use the audience is able to
decide what genre the film is or at least guess it. Another example would be the
emotions that the characters give and the actions they do following to that,
frequently in horror films we can spot a character that is scared and has shocked
facial expressions, which then follows with actions that are appropriate to that
emotion and action and this way the audience can de-code the scene in any film
to decide what genre it is.
Another thing that we see in horror films very commonly is the characters being
placed in an isolated location where you cant find any help, such as; a house in
the middle of the woods, a lake house, an abandoned town, a ghost town or
some historical place that has had paranormal behaviour.

This is a picture of a horror film location

and we can see that it is an isolated
location where the characters wouldnt be
able to find any help. The scenery isnt
that scary but the abandoned building
makes it very creepy.

Usually in the climax point of the horror film the power goes off and the lights go
out, and this adds to the whole horror experience to the audience and it is also
one of the codes of conventions used in horror films.
Another thing that is common nowadays is that the mobile phone of the victim
brakes, runs out of battery or they go somewhere where there is no service. This
enhances the fact that the victim cannot reach out to anyone for help and is all
by themselves.
A further thing that we see a lot is the victim running upstairs or to the basement
of the house instead of escaping the area that is haunted even if there are
open doors and many ways to escape into a safer place.
One of the jump scares that a lot of horror films use is the character standing
behind a door, a car or a window which then has the killer looking out the
window or braking through the door and grabbing the victim and this is a very
commonly used scare that can be very successful if its done right, but we do see
this a lot nowadays.
Another familiar thing in horror films is the character tripping over something
falling over whilst the culprit is chasing after them which makes the scene even
more intense. We can also see a common use of a vehicle or any other motorbased machine not working that could help the victim escape and run away.

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
An example of a horror film would be Insidious, this
film used quite a lot of the things that Ive mentioned
before, and one of the main things is the haunted
house with the dead trying to get into the real world,
the house wasnt in an isolated location but the house
itself was very big and creepy. There was an attic that
was the most mysterious part of the house and it was
sort of like the isolated house but in this case its a
room in the house that was isolated and it made it
scarier. Even though if the house wasnt in an isolated
location the atmosphere made it feel that way since
we didnt see any neighbours in the film and the
characters never went outside of the house.
http://www.slideshare.net/kbamediastudies/codes-and-conventions-in-horror-films

Romantic comedies
Meanwhile other film genres would use different type of code and conventions
and example of that would be Romantic Comedies. Romantic comedies usually
start with a voice over talking about each main character so that the audience
connects to that particular character and lives through their emotions. It is
common to have a boy girl type of relationship or situation. It is also often seen
from the female point of view but can be other way round too. Romantic
comedies would be stylised in a certain way, such as the boy giving flowers to
the girl going to a dinner, getting married etc. These are some of the codes that
the audience can see in a romantic comedy and it tells them what genre the film
is. As we can see it is very different from a horror film, although it has some of
the features that a comedy film genre would have.

This is a romantic comedy called How to lose a

guy in 10 days this is a very good example of a
romantic film because we see it from the girls
perspective and it is a typical girl meets boy
situation. In the beginning the characters meet
each other at a party and after that they meet
privately although near the end the characters
get into a fight which then leads to a happy
ending eventually, this is a very common
structure of a romantic comedy or a romantic
film since theres almost every time a fight
between the characters before the happy
ending. This makes the happy ending look better
after experiencing a break up.

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
Action films
However conventions of action films are a bit similar to conventions of horror
films but there are still a lot of differences. Action films usually have a certain
mission that has to be completed in some kind of form. Character wise, theres
usually good and bad guys, and it is very common to look at the good guys point
of view, which makes the audience dislike the bad guys. We also very often see
some type of guns or machines used, in several scenes. Another thing that we
commonly see in action films is a chase scene or outbreaks of doors, cars,
windows or explosions. Moreover we will also see fights between the good and
the bad along with massive destruction. Action films are usually set in big
modern cities and the location changes throughout the film because the
characters are usually chasing each other, which make use of several locations.

This is an action film called Non Stop I chose

this as an example because it has most of the
features (conventions) that action films are
determined by. One of them is that the whole
film is fast passed and uses several locations
even inside the plane. The audience is following
the good guys perspective and the main goal
of the film is to defeat the bad guys. There are
several guns and explosions used in this film
which is one of the main features of action films,
there are also a few fight scenes and it does
have a happy ending. The film uses lost of
suspenseful scenes that make the audience feel
tense and it creates the right atmosphere for an
action film.
Comedy films
Comedy films use locations with a lot of light usually daytime, public places or
social events are also common. The camera shots are used naturally to represent
equality to every character and make it realistic. Sound is one of the important
things because dialogues need to be heard clearly by the audience so that they
could laugh it, which means that the background noise cannot be too loud.
Background noise is usually edited in to emphasize certain features of the scene.
One
ofisthe
commonfilm
things
that
comedy
This
a comedy
called
Life
as wefilms
knowuse
it is props, mostly used are
objects
can
hurt
something random that would make the
and it that
could
also
be someone
classified else
as aor
romantic
audience
of characters
that
comedylaugh.
as wellThe
buttypes
the main
convention
of are
this used usually have someone
thats
a bitfalling
weirdinto
andthe
quirky
with
a group
of normal
film are
action
films
category.
The people, that way the normal
people
emphasize
personality
of theand
weird
film uses
natural the
everyday
situations
it isperson and make a good contrast.
Another
of in
character
isrealistic
commonly
used is also intelligent people
mainly type
filmed
day timethat
with
shot
because
they
usually
fitfeatures.
in with everyone
types and
mise
en dont
scene
The mainelse so it makes the awkward,
which
is funny
toboth
the audience.
These
are
the
codes
characters
are
very different
and
the
guy
in and conventions of a
narrative
help
the audience
separatethat
comedies
this casethat
is not
perfect
for the situation
the from other genres of films.
characters are in and that contrast makes the
storyline funny. The female character is the
more intelligent one and she makes the main
decisions, although she had to go out her way
and change her life completely which makes it
fun to watch and see how she deals with it. The
concept of this film is quite basic but the use of

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE

Semiotic film theory

Everyone in this world is unconsciously looking at signs and
getting information from it, for example drivers look at road signs and traffic
lights which gives them certain information they need, to be able to drive safely
go where they need to be. People also use body language when talking, which
helps them see whether the other is interested, if they are okay with what they
other is saying and if they think what were saying is significant.
Body Language
Body language is very important for teachers and psychologist because this
helps them decide what to say or do in order to attract the audience of students
or to get information from someone thats closed and doesnt want to talk.
Another thing that can be used with body language is words and letters because
using body language helps to make certain phrases stand out and emphasise
certain things that are more important. It also helps people that are foreign
because people can understand words from body language, which helps people
that dont know the language the other person is speaking or if they know a little
bit, body language helps them.
Words and letters
One thing that is very used commonly in films is titles and subtitles, which help
the audience, understand what the characters are saying better. It also makes
the film available for deaf people, since they can read the subtitles and look at
the body language, signs and other types of semiotics to understand the
meaning and idea of the film. This is why semiotics and the symbols used are
very important because it helps the audience to understand what the scene is
trying to represent.
Some of the symbols that films signify can be:

Body language
Gestures
Letters
Words
Pictures
Visual illustrations

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
These are some of the methods of how someone can give out a message to
another by using these symbols, in the film industry they are commonly used to
help the audience understand the genre of a film and to express various
meanings in a film scene. It helps the creator and director to communicate with
the audience through the film.
Structuralism
Structuralism is a very important aspect when using semiotic theory because
usually symbols on their own dont make much sense until they are with other
elements and the relation makes the signs express a certain meaning.
The structure of a scene can give out certain symbols as well, for example if
there was a shot of a monument that has a name of a mother and then we would
see a childs eyes full of tears we could feel the sad emotion that is expressed by
the director/editor of the film. These images would convey a meaning to the
audience and the creator of the film and the scriptwriter has to plan every scene
in a way that it would have a meaning.
Other things such as lighting, timings, angle and juxtaposition (the fact of two
things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect) and this can
change the meaning of a scene very easily because one little modification can
make the scene represent totally different emotions.
Signs
All kinds of signs can also be used in films. There are two types of signs, ones
that we can see and ones that we hear and they usually stand for something
else. Those signs make expressive communication with the audience it also helps
the audience engage with the characters. Signs can also be shown by body
language, for example thumbs up is a positive sign and thumbs down is a
negative sign.

Signified, the meaning or

idea expressed by a sign,
separate from a physical form
in which it is expressed.
Signifier is a signs physical
form, such as word, image,
sound or image.
Sign is an object, feature or
event whose presence
signifies the presence or significance of something else.
(Source Google search)
This is an example of a sign, and as we can see there is two categories that a
sign can be divided into, one of them being the signified that is the idea that is
expressed by the sign and the other is signifier, which is the physical form of the
sign, in this picture we see a sign of a dog and the image is the signified because
it only gives us an idea of what it is, in this case a dog, and the words tell us

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
what physical form this thing is, lets say we didnt know what a dog looked like,
in that case the signifier would tell us what it is and the signified would show us
what it looks like. Signified and signifier always have to be together in my
opinion because in order to visualise we need an image and in order to know
what it is we need to know the meaning of it.

Denotation and connotation

Denotation is the most simple and basic way to name an object, for example a
mobile phone, sofa, chair, or girl. Although Connotation signifies the signs s
(rose) and gives meaning to it such as passion and rose.
In films denotation and connotation are often used together to give meaning to
certain objects, and this way the audience is able to identify the emotion that is
being portrayed through a certain symbol.
This table is a very good example of
how denotation and connotation work
together, as we can see denotation is
just what we see without any emotion
or description to it, however,
connotation explain that symbol in
detail and gives meaning to it which
is why fill creators have to put a lot of
thought into props that are being
used because every object can have
a different meaning and they have to
chose the right one that will fit with
the meaning of the scene.
Some of these have more meanings
than others and this is because some
of these denotations can have
different meanings in a structural
sequence, so the director of the film
has to pick the right structure and the
right things to show to be able to
Codes
Codes are the way that different signs are organised into different types of
codes.
There are these types of codes:
Cinematic codes (for example editing style, shot type, camera work,
locations)
Cultural codes (for example class status, greeting, race, traditions,
family background, home)
Aesthetic codes (for example body language, gestures, facial
expressions)

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
In everyday basis we see a lot of different types of codes that can be interpreted
in different way depending on what context it is based around, although the way
people watch television and the way they observe reality are similar, because
they use conventions or codes to decide what meaning its giving out.
Other types of codes could also be visual, technical, or audio based. This way
using different structures and codes can be used to create a certain meaning in a
film. For example if there is a scene that has to represent sad emotions, these
three types of codes could be used together to help that emotion touch the
audience. The way the visual codes could be used is if there would be shots of
someone crying or something sad happening and then adding sad music over it
and changing the lighting would make the sad emotions more emphasised. Using
props could also make the scene more emphasised with sad emotion.

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic meaning

Paradigmatic relations is the way different signs get meaning from relationships
with other signs
Syntagmatic relations is the way signs get meaning from the sequence or order
that they are put in for example the grammar in the dialogue, different events
that make up the meaning or the way that shots are put together to create a
certain emotion like hunger, sadness or fear.
For example paradigmatic relations are just things that the film director would
choose, a costume or a hairstyle for a character and the syntagmatic relations
would bring meaning into it by using other signs, such as using the setting,
lighting and props to make the scene come together.
Myths
Myths are chains of ideas that we use to understand our world. For example the
myth of cowboy or the myth of romance, these are symbolic myths that are
agreed by the community so widely that it becomes a natural thing.
Metonymy
Metonymy signifies the ability to represent a whole thing by one sign, for
example the Eiffel tower would represent Paris and the tower itself would be the
metonym for Paris. A church would be a metonym for wedding or religion, but
this could also vary since different religions have different types of churches.
Films use metonyms greatly but its only effective if the metonym of something
is very significant and well known by the audience. Metonyms are an easy way to
use symbols very effectively and it is quite cheap.
http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/terminology.html
http://www.slideshare.net/nicgorman/semiotics-3430310

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE

This is a frame from a horror film called Insidious. I have chosen this frame
because there is a lot I can talk about in terms of props, lighting, body language,
setting and colour.

Settings & Props

This scene was set in the place called the further and it is a place where the
dead travel through the real world to whatever is next for them. What we see
in the background is the living room of the familys house whilst the father
(Joe) is using astral projection to be able to see the dead and rescue his son
that is stuck in this place. The scary thing is that the family is still living in the
same house but only people that are using the astral projection can actually
see the dead. One of the main props that was used is a lantern in the fathers
hands. This lantern creates that green lighting which makes the dead look
even creepier. Because this is a low budget movie, there wasnt a lot of props
used but in my opinion this makes the movie more realistic.
Costume, Hair & Make Up
The costumes used for the doll girl and her family suggests that she may
have lived in the 1950s and it represents a perfect family for that time since
they were all dressed very nicely and quite expensively with a lot of jewellery
for those times. The hair and makeup was also representing the 50s and I
think that this is a very good way to represent a certain year or decade, by
using costume hair and makeup of that time. This also tells the audience that
the family has been in this place for a long time. The fathers costume was
the same as when he left to the astral projection state and because its dark
we cant really see his outfit but his outfit was modern.
Facial Expressions & body language
The facial expressions are a big part in this frame because even if we cant
see this in action we are creeped out just by the faces the characters are

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE
making. They are all grinning in a very creepy way and the lighting creates
shadows on their faces which makes it look very sinister. There isnt much
body language used because they are all still and the father never seen them
in motion, they look like wax figures but at the same time they are very
realistic, but they do not make any gestures or use body language, although
the fact that they arent moving is the scary thing because things do happen
later on where the doll girl shoots her whole family but we dont see her
moving once.
Lighting & Colour
The lighting is quite dark but not to the point where we cant see anything, I
can see that there is a green tone of light used which is supposed to replicate
the light coming from the lantern but this was probably made with the help of
editing and colour correction. We can also see that the father is blacked out
but we can still see that its him standing there, we are looking at the creepy
family from OTS (over the shoulder) type of shot which makes us focus on the
family rather than anything else. There isnt a big variety of colours used
because the whole frame except the sides of the frame have a green tint to it
which adds a very interesting effect to the atmosphere of the scene and
makes it cold which represents the dead. Another thing that is widely used in
this frame are shadows and we can see that with the help of lighting and the
position of lighting, a lot of shadows are created which makes the characters
look sinister and their facial expressions are emphasised. The green colour is
standing out from the others which makes it the primary colour.

Positioning of characters/objects within the frame

This is a medium shot where we can see the characters from their waist up,
there are 4 main characters in this frame which is the doll girl and her family
and the secondary character is in the right corner which creates depth to the
shot by using an over the shoulder shot. The family isnt centred and neither
is the father and the camera is positioned lower than the characters in the
frame so that way we can see all the shadows on their faces which makes the
scene and their facial expressions look creepier. We can also see that the
family takes up most of the frame which makes them the focus of the frame
and draws our attention to it. We can also see that the family is in focus
unlike the father since he is a bit blurred out which makes the family
dominant in this shot.

BTEC LEVEL 3 Sub Diploma CREATIVE MEDIA PRODUCTION (TV AND FILM)
UNIT 26 FILM STUDIES
VANESA MENDELYTE

So as we can see the mise en scene elements were very well thought off for
this single frame because everything that the director chose to do adds some
uniqueness to the storyline and makes it creepier.
Source: http://www.vox.com/2015/6/5/8733793/insidious-movies-reviewexplained
http://insidious.wikia.com/wiki/Doll_Girl