Camera Angles

There are many 'Technical Codes' in media which all manipulate how the audience sees the film to help convey what the directors of films want the audience to be thinking at moments throughout their texts. Camera angles is a main 'Technical Code' which film producers use to show what they are trying to portrait in the way they want it to be shown, to convey certain emotions and feelings about characters and the narrative in the film. A prime example of this would be if a character is shot from a high angle or a low angle, a high angle looking down on the character suggesting little power or importance within the film and a low angle conveying power and status over others in the film.

Here are some camera angles which filmers uses for certain meaning within production:

Aerial Movement/shot: Follows subject from a high view

Tracking Shot: The camera moves to follow the movement of a character or object

Tilt Shot: The camera is stationary but tilts up or down

Pan Shot: Camera stationary but moves left or right

Extreme Close Up: Emotion, intiment, detail

Extreme Long Shot: Setting fills frame, where things are set

Long Shot: Subject in relation to their surrounding

Medium Long Shot: Setting and subject= equal proportion

Medium Shot: Subject cut off at waist, costume and some emotion shown

Over The Shoulder Shot:  Audience involved in the film

High Angle: Makes subject appear weak

Low Angle: Makes subject look powerful

Genre Theory

Daniel Chandler: Conventional definitions of genre tend to be based on the notion that they constitute particular conventions of content (such as themes or settings) and/or form (including structure and style) which are shaped by the texts which are regarded as belonging to them.

David buckingham argues that genre is not simply given by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change (buckingham 1993).

John Fiske defines genres as attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meaning that circulate in our culture for the convieience of both producers and audiences.

Rick Altman argues that genres are usually defined in terms of media language (semantic elements) and codes (in western for example: guns, horses, landscapes, characters or even stars like John Wayne or clint Eastwood or certain ideologies and narratives.

Titanic Binary Opposition Essay

Binary Opposition

A late twentieth Century theory called 'Structuralism' was created by two French theorists called Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes which included and developed the idea of binary opposition. They worked on the idea that reality is always 'out there' and that reality can only exists in the form of ideas e.g. that we can only get as close to reality as the idea of reality itself. This then made the theorists believe that because of this that the meanings we put to things must be 'culturally created' as people accept the meanings of things by what someone else has said ( or has put a signified and signifier together). Binary opposition then comes into play as the theorists realised that meaning can never reside entirely within itself but only from a complex appreciation of its opposite which they called 'binary opposition'.

Words and images act as symbols for ideas and only make meaning because of the difference between opposing ideas. An example of this would be hot, which uses the word 'hot' and the colour of red and orange to symbolise heat which only makes sense in comparison to 'cold' as one cannot be true without the other.

The word 'hero' depends for its meaning on the existence of it binary opposite, 'villain' or 'bad-guy'. One cannot be gauged without the other. There are many examples of binary opposite e.g. 'dark/light', 'good/bad', 'strong/weak', 'gay/straight', 'interesting/boring', 'male/female'.

The Horror Cycle

The theory behind the 'Horror Cycle' is the idea that as a specific style of horror film is outdated and becomes predictable, another style replaces this to keep the audiences of the horror genre unexpectant and interested so that they continue to keep watching new horror films. This then becomes a cycle as there are only a certain amount of ways in which a horror film can be manipulated into becoming a new type of horror, so film makers use history for ideas using a style which hasn't been around for many years to create  new interesting story lines and narratives with old styles of horror. An example of this theory would be how during the 1970s horror films adapted to the style of gore with films such as 'Driller Killer' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. This is because previous styles used the conventions of 'monsters' and other genres like 'Sci Fi' to create a new type of 'fear' which drawed in the interests of horror audiences. As time has passed and more ways of creating 'fear' in horror developed, the decade of the 2000s then brought 'gore' back as a trend in horror films with films such as the 'Saw' movies. Film makers of 'Saw'  brought this style back in the 2000s as typical conventions of horror  in years just before  the 2000s had moved away from 'gore' to styles of 'teen horror' and 'dreams', so the film makers and producers saw this a way of creating new interest in gore as it was different from current trends in horror which were becoming predictable. This is then an example of the horror cycle because as time passes and horror films are being produced, trends in horror become predictable and loose audiences interest so previous trends are reintroduced to revive the audiences interest in horror.

Do generic conventions help or restrict film makers?

Conventions of Films

Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing things. Conventions are also genre specific and genres all have certain conventions which the audience of the film would expect to see.

An example of this would be if you took the genre 'horror'. Conventions of the genre would include:
- Abandoned house                           -Weapons
- Possessed things/people                 - Teen deaths
- Woods                                            - Graveyards
- Darkness                                        - Mythical creatures
- Asylum                                          - Night time
- Devil                                              - Blood
- Monsters                                        - The unknown
- Murderers                                      - Nightmares
- Tense music                                   -Extreme close up shots

These conventions can then be used as blue prints for a movie as the film makers can use these ideas to spark up a storyline and narrative for a new film. Also, audiences like to know they are seeing a certain genre when they go to the cinema so if they went to see a horror movie and the film didn't contain typical conventions of a horror movie, would they be pleased? No is the answer as they would be disappointed as they're expectations would be different. These conventions then keep the audience reassured they are paying to see a certain genre and keep them coming back to watch more of the makers films.

Semiotics

Semiotics

Ferdinand de Saussure is a French theorist and believed that all the ways in which humans communicate, such as through flags, smoke signals, religious ceremonies and cloths, could be looked at and analysed as if they were actual language and Saussure named this as 'semiotics'.

De Saussure believed that images can be categorised in three ways. Firstly, images can be symbols, such as a shot of a flag means 'patriotism'. Secondly, images unlike words can work through resemblance. The image of a star resembles the actor/actress with that star career. When an image communicates through resemblance it is referred to as an 'icon'. Thirdly Saussure also developed the idea that an image can communicate non visual information through a casual link or symptom. For example, smoke when seen in a film comes to signify fire. This type of signs is referred to as an 'index'.

Signifier and Signified

Signs and Meaning

All of the images above are 'signs'. They consist of two things called the signified and the signifier. The signifier is the printed image itself and the signified is the idea or meaning of the image e.g. a green square with a cross means first aid.
Without both the signifier and signified there cannot be a sign.

Symbolic Signs have no obvious connection between the object and the sign. An example of a symbolic sign is the word Dog as it has no link with a furry small animal. Nether the less we understand the word Dog as when know that when these letted are put into a certain order that meaning is created.

Icon
Iconic is the simplest as it physically resembles what it stands for. Examples of Icons would be a picture of your face is an icon of you, an image of a magnifying glass in the corner of your computer as it is an icon for the search feature. Words can be pronounced iconically swell : his nose grew waaaay out here.

Symbolic
Symbolic meaning is assigned arbitrarily or is accepted as societal convention. An example of something symbolic would be the alphabet as its meaning of each letter has been made because of its arbitrary mean, another would be flag colours as it has arbitrary meaning to the country.

Indexical
Indexical signs are when the signifier is caused by the signified. An example of this would be smoke as it signifies fire. Another example would be puddles on the ground as it signifies that it has recently rained.

Hybrids

As genre and film has changed and has progressed throughout time, many narratives and story lines has changed the ways in which these genres of film has been produced. Because of high demand of a certain 'genre' when in its prime, producers have found it hard to create many story lines to fit the typical conventions of a certain genre, so as time has passed genres have developed into things called sub genres or hybrids. 

A hybrid is when the conventions of two genres are collaborated together by the writers of film to create a film containing elements of both genres for a new type of film. Hybrid films exist as there are only a certain amount of story lines and narratives that can fit within a film of one genre without conventions of others,  so this repetition lost the interest of the film producers audience. Hybrid films were then created as something new for the audience, as a creative storyline of the two genres gave the audiences something new and unseen which makes them want to watch the films and keeps the audience seeming a corporations films. 

An example of a Hybrid film would be Back to the Future. This is because of its collaboration of genres between science fiction, with the time travel and futuristic car, and romance as the main has to ensure not to fall in love to save his future of existence. This collaboration of genres then made the film successful as it contained twists which were added as two genres conventions were combined to form this difference in the film which was different from a typically Sci fi or Romance film. This then made the film appealing to a larger audience and the film became even popular because of this.

Genre Production and Genre Consumption

Genres in cinema became systems of understanding and appeal for audiences, providing blue prints for film makers, keen to serve markets with a recognisable product.

Some of the earliest film makers learnt to rely on generic patterns in order to standardise production producers, to reinforce the audiences expectations and to create institution identities for the corporations themselves. Example of this would be Hammer films, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Gainsborough and Melodrama, who all have used generic patterns to create the production needed which has then attracted their audiences and has made a name of their corporations. The corporations use the cycle of genre as a structure to ensure that genre alters to keep film current so that they can continue producing films people want to see. An example of this would be how horror gained an element of gore in the 1970s with films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Driller Killer which then died down and became popular again in the 2000 with films such as Saw.

Genre is important when studying film because of its many processes which can be individually analysed which go towards the production of the film and the ways that these processes manipulate the film into becoming the specific genre. An example of this would be Cinematography which is important to film and its genre as it is the art of photography and camera work in film making. This can then manipulate the genre and film as the way in which the clips are captured for the film ( e.g. using certain camera angles, lighting and sound) can alter the genre portrayed. Once a film is produced and sold with portrayal of a certain genre, the more copies sold then exposes the audience to the genre and the business accelerates and can produce and sell more films to further attract the wanted audience in the future.

Audience is a big part of genre as they distinguish what genre is wanted and what isn't in film. A specific genre of film is wanted when another dies down and becomes 'predictable', which is when a phase of a specific genre of film has been worn out by producers. An example of this would be if Sci fi films became popular and many sci fi films then were produced. This genre would then become unwanted by audiences as the 'familiar reassurance ' of the conventions of that genre ( e.g. cowboys and showdowns in a western) would become too predictable and many films storyline would be similar which would bore the audience. This then links to the idea of a 'Genre cycle' as that genre would die down and another would take its place in popularity which would maintain the producers level of income and the amount of people watching their films.