Friday the 13th - Sean S. Cunningham - 1980

The film 'Friday the 13th' is a film that falls under the genre of horror and the sub-genre of a slasher horror, which entails the conventions of violence and gruesome deaths. This film conforms to the conventions of a slasher horror because in the opening sequence two people die after being attacked with a blade. It also has the the first victims of the monster or killer shown as a romantic couple, which is a traditional convention of horror because the first victims are normally people that resemble forces of evil or sin. This also adds a convention of psycological horror with the reference of good and evil. the title 'Friday the 13th' is enigmatic as it links to superstition because this date is often seen as a day of ill fate, which connotes that bad things are likely to happen to the characters. The fact that the title hints bad luck gives the impression that somebody is likely to suffer some form of misfortune and hints at what might happen during the film. The narrative in this film is an asynchrounous narrative as it flashes back to show the time that the first murders took place in and and only has one story going on at a time, meaning that it is being explained throughout the film. The film is also set at night which also conforms to the conventions of a horror film because it denotes that the murders occur in the evenings and connotes that it is more dangerous to go around on your own at night than during the day.
When the title credits appear on the screen, there is the sound of breaking glass, which denotes that something has broken and connotes that it may possibly have been a from a shattered window or a broken glass. This gives an indication on how some of the victims may die or how they may become victims. When the opening sequence starts, diegetic sound is used to set the scene, such as crickets and the crunching noise of twigs under foot, which denotes a person walking around and connotes presence in a woodland area. A traditional sound within the conventions of a horror film is the creaking door which connotes somebody or something sneaking around, searching for blood. The singing in a camp hut connotes high spirits as it appears they are celebrating something and could possibly be used as a sense of foreboding because of the person creeping around outside. When the antagonist is sneaking around looking for victims, in this case a pair of counsellors, slow low toned music is used in order to build tension before the murders as it helps to build fear and possibly curiosity about what will happen next, thus building an enigma.
By using semiotics to analyse mise-en-scene, we can say that the subtitles used at the beginning of the opening sequence gives the audience an exact idea of the time that the film originally started in, 1958. Tracking shots are used to give the audience a view of the area, slowly tracking towards the hut as the people sing and a BCU is used when the first two victims are shown to highlight the fear in their eyes. This is used to portray the terror of the characters at their fate and this helps to give an insight of the character of the antagonist and what they maay be capable of. High shots are used when looking at the first two victims because it portrays them as people who are rulebreakers and and this gives the impression that they are going to be the first to die. A handicam is used from the characters point of view to give the audience the impression of being in the film and it means that the antagonist can be followed and can show the route that is used to show how the antagonist tracks their victim. There is no direct view of the antagonist so it leaves the audiences guessing who could be portrayed as the antagonist. The crackling fire in the hut connotes warmth and high spirits and no knowledge of the fate that awaits them.

In terms of ideological discourse in the film, the traditional views of women are represented as well as reinforced because the common gender trait of women being vulnerable is portrayed because they are the first to die. The traditional gender trait of males thinking that they are tougher than women and not thinking bout consequences. However they are also challenged later on in the film when an elderly lady appears to be the reason behind the murders and apparent curse at 'Camp Crystal Lake'. Semiotics also portray the women all vulnerable because they all say that they are scared and rely on the male characters to defend them, which connotes that they believe that the male characters are actually responsible for them.

The intended media audience of the film is people over the age of eighteen because there is lots of blood in the scenes and explicit violence. This means that the main intended audience of this film is young aldults and other adults because of the content. The probable reading of this text is that it is dangerous to be on your own at night and that there is danger at the campsite. A possible audience reading of this text is that the past does come back to haunt you and you should never go out at night alone because that is when you are most vulnerable.