Lesson: Roland Barthes - Narrative Codes

Narrative Types:

• Open: (Lots of different meanings)
• Closed: (Only one obvious meaning)

Codes:

• Action Code
• any action that implies a further narrative acion. (when a gun is drawn you know there is going to be a gun fight).
• Enigma Code
• Any element in a story that is not explained and therefore, exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication.
• Semantic Code
• any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation (signs/signifiers)
• Cultural Code
• any element in a narrative that refers 'to a science or a body of knowledge'. In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.
• Symbolic Code
• Claude Levi-Strauss - binary opposites, the contrast between two opposites, the grey are between two complete opposites.

Lesson: Re-Presentation

Definition

mine: Presenting something or someone in an idealistic way appropriate to the chosen audience.

Main: The way the media presents 'something' as though it were real, it is not, merely a copy of something.

Signs and Signifiers

• Sign: Something which communicates a piece of information.
• Signifier: Multiple 'ideas' or 'feelings' behind a sign.
• All signs belong to cultures

Gatekeepers

• The people in charge of what we see.

Ideology

• A belief system.

Rushmore

• Camera angle: Panning Mid Shot.
• Props: Maths work, Blazer, Reading paper, tea.
• Setting: Cold rainy day.
• Acting: Very confident.

1. The film is set in a private American catholic all boys school.
2. The main character is very smart, but isn't liked by other students.
3. He studying Maths
4. First impressions: Stuck up, Geek
5. Dressed smartly with a blazer when everyone else is wearing just t-shirts.