Convention - means something that you expect to see in a certain genre or form. For example a soap opera you would expect it to have a pub. So the main characters of the soap can meet there, such as Eastenders using the Queen Vic. They would commonly use cliff hangers to keep viewers interested in what happens next. So they would watch the next episode when it is on.
Codes - means that when technical elements such as camera, mise - en - scene, sound, editting or special effects are used to create a certain atmosphere with the audience and leading the audience on. For example a man wallking down a dark corridor with light flickering on and off and at the end of the corridor is a door, the person always opens it in slow motion and we would think that there is something behind it when really the monster/creature would be behind him/her.
Codes and conventions in a western
| Typical villian |
Cowboys are a typical convention in a western. There are always a herioc cowboy wearing light/tanned hat, boots and jacket/cloak, normally a ladies man and there are always villians which wear black/dark tanned hat, boots and jacket/cloak. The codes of cowboy would be that the villian leads the audience to thinking that he has got what he wants and then the hero would come along to save the day.
Convention - Horses
Code - the code with a horse would be that there are no cars to travel so in a western they would ride on horses. A villian would ride a dark horse and a hero would ride a white horse or lightly tanned.
Conventions - pistol shoot outs and bar fights
Code - with bar fights and shoot outs show that they are rivals trying to show who is stronger than the other or a better shooter, most of the time it is to impress an attractive lady.
Convention - (country) music
Code - this represents the time of era cowboys were around. In a bar there is always a man playing the piano or guitar which stops playing when a outsider enters the bar. The music in a western would play slowly and rather deep to show that the villian has arrived or got what he was after. The music for when the hero enters or saves the day is high pitched and rather quick.
Convention - tumble weed
Code - this shows that the city which use to be busy until the villian showed up, so now it looks like the place is deserted.
Codes and conventions of a sci-fi
Conventions - alien/monster
Code - normally when an aliens talk sub-titles would translate what he was saying to show that it was talking a different language.
Convention - UFO/Spaceship
Code - normally the alien needs to get back to his home by finding his spaceship/UFO and some humans try to help the alien but the government try to capture the alien.
