Visual & Technical Codes

• Visual codes such as the codes of clothing create meaning. For example, Alice has red hair, red lipstick and dresses in suits or tight-fitting clothing connoting intertextual links with the femme fatale character (a stock character from early 20th century films - an illustrious but ultimately villainous woman with dubious morals who sets out to ensnare a man for her ends.)
• Visual codes such as the codes of clothing create meaning. Luther's clothing suggests his rank within the police but he is often dishevelled connoting he doesn't always conform to expectations and may be more of a maverick
• Luther's visual codes such as gestured and expressions often show his inability to control his emotions as he behaves violently and unpredictably (e.g. when he punches the door in Zoe's home and flips the table in his office). These all convey aspects of his personality and contribute to tension within the narrative.
• Alice's visual codes such as gestures reinforces her need to control her psychopathic tendencies (e.g. her arm around Zoe's neck, the initial use and reference to the hat pin and her hand reaching out to touch Luther's face in the flat)
• Technical codes such as camera shots, movement and angles work together to communicate messages and 'show' the narrative. Luther has high production values and a cinematic style which is used to convey information without the use of dialogue.
• Close-ups advance the relationship between characters and establish tension and a dynamic. The interview with Alice after the crime uses close-ups and shot-reverse-shot to communicate the change in Alice and Luther's realisation that she is the perpetrator.
• The camera establishes enigmas, for example, repeated shots of the murdered dog which initially seems unimportant but whose role in the narrative is eventually revealed.
• Iconography related to the genre or the character, for example, Luther's overcoat becomes synonymous with his character. Other iconography includes crime scene tape, a weapon and uniforms denoting rank