Movie Codes and Conventions for the Genre:

What are Codes?Codes are symbols, shown in the movie having

various meanings such as the colour red. As this can mean blood, death, murder, crime but it

can also viewed as romance and love.Red can connote : Anger, Passion, Love, Danger.

Technical Codes:Are all to do with the way equipment is used to tell a story (technically constructed) – this being

the camera work in a film or the use of typography in the scene. Here’s an example

being used in the BBC Sherlock.

Symbolic Codes:Symbolic codes show what an object or action means figuratively. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling.Connotation- where all the things which draw upon our experience and has a deeper meaning associated with the object in view.Our possible example: A lot of connotations are used in movies in emphasis it’s genre. Here is an example we’re going to use a in our movie is that the killer will film everything. This will hopefully will lead the viewer to see that the killer is making himself a ‘trophy’ after he kills. Showing signs of a typical killer where he can view the video after he’s killed.

What are Conventions?Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. A certain way we expect something to be done usually in a movie, for example the movie native of murder mystery.As there are two types of narratives used vastly with different characters and development. Which usually consists either of open murder mysteries and closed murder mysteries. These are always used but are adapted to the likeness of the target audience, or by the decisions made by the director and producer.

Mainstream Narratives:Standard murder mystery for this type of film is that there’s a unsolved crime, the detective (protagonist) is the center of the plot; who tries to unravel the mystery by putting the clues (evidence) together to catch the criminal.

However these mainstream narratives have developed significantly with the development of technology and people’s tastes changing dramatically. Nowadays the movies consist of more gore and blood with movies like Capturing the Friedmans, The Imposter, Paradise Lost: The child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.

This shows a lot about the development of society, with the acceptance of more gruesome and in depth viewings of people being killed being accepted in movies. The 21st century has widened the gap significantly with what to watched and filmed.

Characters:This usually has a detective (protagonist), to unravel the mystery. Another character would be a criminal who does the murder. Also the victims and the informant that tells the protagonist about the murder.In our movie we will have all these characters. All murder mystery movies have these in them, as they are significant to portray the movie to be the certain genre or murder mystery.An example would be the Zodiac movie (2007)• Serial killer (criminal) - Zodiac• Protagonist – Robert Graysmith

• Victims - Cecelia Shepard (various others)

Settings:These are the places (locations) which wear used for filming at. This would include:• The crime scene• The homes of people who are the leads to the case• The interrogation room.• The office which is used to put all evidence together, the investigators

discuss about the crimes

Editing:Editing is the process all movies go through, where all the clips are put together and to for the full movie. This is were there is editing of transitions of camera shots putting them together chronologically to make the narrative.Many closed murder mystery movies consist with shots fading to black, this emphasis the suspense of the film; with the audience constantly trying to find out who the perpetrator is. ( E.g. Murder on the Oriental Express)On the other hand the Open mystery movies show the perpetrator and the movies is more about how they executed ‘the perfect crime’. This puts the suspense in with how the crime was committed then finding out who carried it out. ( E.g. The Italian Job)

Iconography:This is where we associate symbols on the screen with a certain genre movie. Where symbols are used to show the conventions of the storyline. These symbols put emphasis on certain ideas and links between the the movie and the object being viewed.Icons used to represent western movies are: Horses, guns, jails, sheriffIcons used in a horror movie: dark lighting, haunted houses, shadowsIcons used to portray murder mystery movies: Crime scene, lighting changing depending who’s in the scene and police station (CSI team)

Soundtrack:This the music used in the movie either in the foreground or background. This is commonly used in murder mysteries like other movies. It’s normally eerie music to build tension and suspense for the audience.

Murder movie soundtracks are mostly constructed without lyrics being instrumentals to create a certain emotional atmosphere for the audience. These soundtracks are dark and bleak to emphasis the genre of the movies.

Themes: This means a certain way a movie is made, the theme of a typical open murder mystery movie is the idea of a committing the ‘perfect crime’. This theme is widely adapted by various writers, producers and audience having they have a chance to see the ‘perfect crime’ be committed. These are some examples movies for the ‘The Perfect Crime’ murder mystery movies:• Rope• Double Indemnity• Strangers on a Train