Technical codes are camera angles, camera shots and movement, lighting, framing, layout, etc., also called cinematography.Ĭodes include: technical, written (script/dialogue) and symbolic codes.

Codes are technical, written ( script/ dialogue) and symbolic codes. Codes and conventions help the viewer understand and interpret the film. Like visual texts, films are texts that represent people, ideas, and issues/problems to the viewer. Codes create meaning with the structure of signs. Film sub-genres are categories of main film genres with their own distinctive subject matter, style, formulas, and iconography like “chick” flicks, courtroom dramas, detective/mystery films, romances, superheroes, supernatural films, etc.Ĭodes and conventions are styles and features pertinent to a film. Prominent genres include comedy, crime, westerns, war, spy, adventure science fiction, fantasy, horror and drama.

The codes and conventions discussed in the analysis of the two films are universal and can be contextualized to analyse film texts of other genres as required in the film and literature studies curriculum.Ī genre is a categorisation, classification or group of films. This analysis is aimed at entry-level (undergraduate) students of Film and media studies. The film is highly acclaimed, has unique cinematography, and keeps the plot of the film close to the novel. Looking for Alibrandi (2000) based on a novel of the same name is the first Australian Film about the Italian community in Australia, which portrays the growing-up of the character from an Italian background and finding identity in an Anglo-Australian society. However, the scope of this analysis is not on the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597) or to show the similarities and differences between the play and the film, rather, the analysis is on how Luhrmann used codes and conventions to make meaning of Romeo + Juliet to the demands of contemporary young teenage audience and how Luhrmann fulfilled this aim. The former is a modern cinematic adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet (1597) which received both favourable and adverse criticisms. Second, the application of codes and conventions to coming-of-age genre films is discussed with reference to Baz Luhrmann’s production of William Shakespeare’s “ Romeo and Juliet” (1996) alias Romeo + Juliet and an Australian Film, Kate Wood’s “ Looking for Alibrandi” (2000). First, a theoretical review of film terminology, codes and conventions is shown. The coming-of-age genre is analysed with a focus on codes and conventions in films. The stages of production and postproduction measure the success of films. Analysis of a film text warrants a thorough understanding of the genre, and the codes and conventions used in the film to gauge the effectiveness of the film.

Romeo and juliet 1996 script