Research: Codes and Conventions Of Horror Films

Codes are of signs, which therefore creates meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories for example technical and symbolic. Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film, the editing or the use of sound (dietetic and non-dietetic). Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. Symbolic codes are usually seen through aspects of miss-en-scene. For example, how a character's actions show you how the character is feeling, a character's costume can be decoded to help us understand what type of person they are, certain props have suggestions or connotations which can be de-coded by the audience, and so on. Some codes fit both categories – non-dietetic music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

Conventions are things that are commonly used in films that give the  film that specific genre. For example in horror films some conventions are that the characters are in the middle of nowhere and can't get help when he/she is in danger. An other example is when someone is being chased in a building and they run past the door that is unlocked and then go upstairs where they are trapped instead of running out the front door to safety, or someone trips over a log or any type of object when they are being chased.

Codes and conventions are combined together in any type of genre. It is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is conventionally used in a genre.
For example, the technical code of  lighting is used in a way in all film genres to create effect. It is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense.