Codes and Conventions of Existing Teen Horror Films

At the start of 'dead wood' there is scary music which helps too set the scene and makes it apparent what type of movie it is. The symphony of classical instruments juxtaposes against the harsh sounds of the heavy bases and drum in the opening music. This creates an eerie but peaceful start that calms you down before the jump scare as he runs through the puddle and creates a large splash.There is also a jump scare at the beginning as he makes a loud splash when he runs through the puddle. The sound of the splash is enhanced in order to create that jump effect in the movie.The characters are also in a secluded location which indicates that they are alone and there will be no-one around to  help them or to even save them. The secluded location foreshadows the events that are going to take place. It also tells us that they have no signal as they are far away from any people therefore they are not able to call anyone for help when they need it. Furthermore, another convention of 'dead wood' is that someone is killed in the first 5 minutes. These characters are usually irrelevant and they are in dead wood. The character who is running away from the villain at the start is killed as he couldn't get away from the thing attacking him fast enough. When he bites on the blood pellet as he is killed this creates gory atmosphere and it instills fear in the audience. It's also makes us anticipate the fate of his partner. In all of the opening scenes there is a male and female character which is a convention of a horror movie.

Dead Mary is unconventional as it starts differently compared to the other openings. Dead Mary starts in silence with only the rusty swinging of chains being heard instead of the loud, creepy music. Many of the sounds are enhanced such as the tapping of her nails on the car, the swinging of the sign and the chirping of the birds. This helps to create tension and it makes the eerie silence more apparent. It's also makes the people watching more alert and eager as they wait for the 'monster' to attack them.Furthermore in the opening of the movie when her 'boyfriend' gets back he drops the gas canisters on the ground. The sound of them dropping is enhanced and this effect creates a jump scare. He also then says that the petrol station was abandoned which reinforces the fact that they are far away from civilisation and there was no one near to save them. The woman's also tried to use her phone however she wasn't able to get signal therefore further reinforcing the fact that there would be no one to help them. There is also a male and femal character in this story just like the other openings. Whilst the lady is in the car she looks at a gun. This could be the foreshadowing of the weapon that she will use later on in the movie when she begins to get attacked. However although all of these are horror conventions, Dead Mary is slightly different as no one is killed in the first 5 minutes of the movie and the characters seen at the start are the main characters and they are not irrelevant.

Wrong Turn is very similar to 'dead wood' as it also has an establishing shot that shows that they're in an isolated area. It also has scary music that has heavy bass and helps to set the scene. Irrelevant characters are killed in the first 5 minutes which is also a code of horror movies.The language between the two characters is very colloquial and shows they are teenagers which entices teenagers to watch it and keeps hem engaged. There is also a false scare in this opening when she trips while trying to climb the wall. The male character further reinforces that they are 50 miles from society and that they are completely alone. A lot of the sound effects were enhanced such as the loud thud of his body or the dripping of the blood on his face. This creates tension and makes the atmosphere more exciting due to the use of mise-en-scene.As she is running the slicing of her skin as she trips over the wire is also enhanced. This brings in a gory effect to the movie. At this time she also sees the car but never reaches it. This narrative trajectory allows us to see how desperate she is to live and allows us to see how devastated she is as she was so close to surviving. This is a horror movie  convention as they get close to their escape route but they are never able to reach it.

Overall, the majority of the moving openings are very similar however there are slight differences betweenness,. They all follow the typical codes and conventions of horror movies and they use them effectively to create tension and fear in the audience. Horror movies are often dark as they use side and backing lighting which helps to add mystery to the movie. The weather in horror films is cloudy and stormy. This helps create a spooky atmosphere and sets the scene. These horror movie conventions helps us to recognise the type of movie that we are watching and the opening scenes allows us to guess what is coming in the movie and it suggests how the story may play out but only very subtly.