Iconography

Iconography is the use of images or symbols to portray a specific subject.

We use iconography in order for the audience to establish the genre of the film. It is made much for the audience to take note of the specific genre with the use of certain props/objects. For example if we were to see a saloon, long dusty roads and cowboy hats, we would identify these in a western film. On the other hand, in a horror film we could expect to see an innocent character(s) due to the fact that we see them as less capable of being able to defend themselves. We would also expect to see the use of dark lighting in order to have a more stronger effect on the audience when a moment of shock occurs in the film. Furthermore we could expect to see 'normal' everyday objects, this is because the film will then feel more realistic to the audience as the props that are used might be things that they use in their everyday lives. Finally the setting that we could expect to see is an abandoned house, this is to make the audience worry for the characters due to the fact that no one is there but is being used as the setting for a horror film so they worry that terrible things could happen to the character(s).