Codal Analysis By Grace Cambridge

The Notebook

The sunset over the lake is a very romantic setting and the fact that it is red gives of the connotations of Love and Lust.

The women in the house suggests to the audience that she is lonely and the fact that the birds fly across her face leaving the scene suggests that her love left her.

Visual Codes

The slow classical music suggests to the audience that the setting is quiet and there is not much going on.

There is no non-diegetic sounds in the opening of the Notebook and the use of only one instrument suggests to the audience that the characters shown in the opening are lonely and sad because that is the emotion that the music seems to give off.

Audio Codes

The story is not completely clear from the opening 2 minutes but we understand that the women in the house is important to the story and so is the setting. The audience gather that the character on the lake is important but they don’t now who the character is, this creates an enigma code.

Narrative Codes

A pan is used to set the scene and allows the audience to establish the setting and understand the time of day as it is either sunrise or sunset.

The long shot is used to show another setting (the house) the shot allows the audience to see that the house is on its own.

The tracking shot used to follow the boat and shows the audience that this is a place where people can go out and do what they want at any point in the day.

Technical Codes

The opening creates many different enigma codes such as

Why is the women on her own? This gets the audience thinking about what is going on within the scene and the rest of the movie. Who is the man rowing down the river? This adds an element of mystery to the opening as the audience don’t know who the character is.

Enigma Codes

Dear John

The opening starts at war and gives the audience a look into the main characters life, this gives the audiences some background information.

The flashback also gives the audience a look into the characters life.

The film is a flashback showing the audience the two main characters lives with each other.

Visual Codes

The non-diegetic sound of the main characters inner monologue is the only sound that can be heard by the audience

When the scene at the beach can be seen, diegetic sounds can be heard such as the dive into the sea and the chatting between the characters.

Audio Codes

Narrative is constructed well in the opening of Dear John because it is shown the life that the main character had and what happened to him. The piece at the beach shows a lot of what teenagers do on their days of, this gives the audience a look into teenagers lives.

Narrative Codes

The close up used on the main character gives the audience a change to recognise his face.

The extreme close-up of the cons allows the audience to understand exactly what he is saying with in the monologue.

The tracking shot of him surfing is used to set the new scene along with the long shot of the beach.

Technical Codes

There are a few enigma codes created within the opening of Dear John

One example is the question Why did he save her bag? This makes the audience wonder if they know each other or not. Another example is Why did he get shot and does he die? This keep the audience engaged in the film.

Enigma Codes

Love Actually

The people being reunited with their family and friends tells the audience that it is a romance film because all the shots are showing love between the people.

the audience can see the reaction of all the people on their faces and can tell that everyone is happy.

Visual Codes

The only sound heard in the opening of Love Actually is the non-diegetic sound of the monologue spoken by Hugh Grant. The fact that he is speaking about love reinforces the fact that the film is a romance film.

The fact that there is no sound allows the audience to really focus on the screen and what is happening between the people.

Audio Codes

It is hard to establish any form of narrative as none of the characters are established and you cannot learn anything that is going to happen as you can’t make associate any of the characters to other characters.

Narrative Codes

Most of the shot are medium shots which allows the audience to see the peoples reactions to finding their loved ones but the audience are not too close to the persons face that they can’t appreciate them being reunited with their loved ones.

Technical Codes

There is one main enigma code created in the opening of Love Actually

Who are the characters? as none of them are established this keeps the audience interested in the film.

Enigma Codes