Roland Barthes is a narrative theorist who came up with 5
narrative codes which all films follow these are:
Enigma Code – The structure of puzzles and queries in the
text and the way in which we are hooked into the narrative by the desire to
find the answers.
Action Code – The ways in which we identify familiar
situations and actions through conventions of language and the use of certain
key phrases or words; we do not need everything spelt out for us, so from words
such as “betrayal” and “love” we can decode plot elements
Semic Code – Refers to details about certain characters
which enable us to build up a profile of that character
Symbolic Code – Refers to the way in which themes are
developed through the use of recurring symbols usually to convey a message
Cultural Code – Details in the narrative that confirm
cultural context, such as it’s location, when it’s taking place and the kinds
of moral values, ideas and fashions that are associated with that period
In order to make our trailer appealing to an audience we
must include at least one of the narrative codes stated above as it creates a
link between the characters in the film and the viewer. In our trailer we are
planning to utilizing primarily the Semic Code, but also the Action Code. We
hope that this will create an interesting narrative which the viewer would wish
to follow as they would feel a connection to the characters.
Barthes also had a theory concerning Readerly and Writerly
texts. The idea is that the readerly text the reader follows easily, and the
writerly texts make the audience work to construct the narrative for
themselves. Usually a film contains both, a familiar structure for a trailer
is: the first act being readerly, while the second act introduces a sense of
the writerly, then in the final act, which contains a montage is heavily
writerly, due to the fast paced nature of a montage. We wish to mostly emulate
this structure as it will maximise audience interest and will contain a
familiarity to the audience.
AF
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