'Billy Elliot'

This wonderful film works very well for the 'Into the World' elective but choosing an appropriate related text can be problematic. The trick is to remain conceptually focused and remember that this is  'Texts and Society' Module elective. While the syllabus does not dictate that a different text type needs to be chosen, social texts offer a wide range of rich options for showing transitions and different pathways into the world. Filmic features and techniques need to be well known but students need to do far more than offer a simple commentary and a list of camera shots and angles used to communicate the director's vision.

Narrative Codes are the ways in which the story is put together and how the sequence structure propels the film narrative forward.

Symbolic and codes are signs embedded within the text itself which have strong associative or connotative meanings. Symbolic codes include objects, set design, body language, lighting, dialogue, sound effects, music, choice of language.

Representational codes refer to the thinking behind the film creates a representation of reality and creates meaning. Weir’s auteur director style is included in terms of filmic vision.

Technical codes relate to the professional craftsmanship, and techniques of construction. Technical codes include framing, composition or mis en scene, shot and angle type, lighting, special effects, editing, camera movement, fades and cuts and words on the screen.

Audio codes refer to the way in which sound, both diagetic and non-diagetic, adds another dimension to the film through dialogue, music and sound effects. 

“As students view a film, we want them to pay special attention to those areas of the film

we consider important and to draw conclusions from their experience with the film.  Only

then does a passive viewer become active; for by thinking about the film’s content, the student is interacting with the film.” Resch and Schnicker