Codes and conventions

    Cards (25)

    • Codes of clothing: The connotations of characters’ clothing and appearance create meanings
    • Clothing is a rapid way of communicating messages in The Returned: the normal, everyday clothing of both the living and the dead challenges the more typical codes and conventions of the genre and establishes the idea of the uncanny within the realistic
    • Gesture and expression: non-verbal communicators are quick ways of constructing meaning
    • Claire’s shocked and confused expression when she sees Camille contrasts with Camille’s apparent normality
      The audience too are confused and empathise with Claire
    • Julie’s gesture in holding Victor’s hand and taking him into her home has intertextual references to the vampire genre
    • Iconography and Setting: the props, backgrounds and settings work to construct meaning and establish the supernatural thriller genre
    • . The binary oppositions of the domestic setting, the isolated subway and the outdoor natural locations of the forest reflect the narrative themes and tensions
    • The opening scene when the butterfly escapes from the picture creates enigmatic unease foreshadowing the narrative.
    • The fact that Camille’s room has been kept like a shrine allows her to assume that everything is the same
    • Camera shots, movement and angles work together to communicate messages and ‘show’ the narrative - technical codes
    • • Close-ups advance the relationships between characters and establish tension and a dynamic. This is evident in the ‘conversations’ between Camille and her parents and her first meeting with Lena
    • Framing is also important in the establishment of characters and relationships, for example the interaction between Camille and Claire creates unease as Claire seems happy to accept that Camille has returned
    • The combination of framing, gesture and expression foreshadows the tension between Claire, Jerome and Pierre
    • Establishing shots are quick ways of communicating information. The early establishing shot of the town serves to create a sense of cultural verisimilitude establishing a real place in which the characters function, so reinforcing their believability
    • Long shots of the undead on the lonely road and Lucy alone in the subway are conventional of the supernatural thriller genre, as is Victor, the seemingly innocent child standing alone outside Julie’s apartment
    • Audio codes - Sound and music are effective in communicating meaning in this programme
    • Music: this effectively establishes characters and the genre. The sinister mood music at the start quickly establishes elements of the narrative and the genre
    • The audio track when Camille returns is disconcerting. When Claire, in a panic, hides the ‘shrine’ in Camille’s room the music is discordant, contrasting with the seemingly normal act of fetching Camille’s bathrobe
    • Diegetic sound: the panicked breathing as Camille is walking home is unsettling
    • The thunder is a conventional audio code in this genre signifying fear and unease
    • Camille’s scream when she realises that Lena is her twin sister but is four years older than her communicates her grief, loss, and confusion
    • The disturbing noise from the film being watched by Julie before she sees Victor outside contrasts with his apparent innocence and offers a warning
    • Dialogue: this serves to establish the genre, advance the narrative, and construct the characters
    • The group meeting at the beginning of the episode adds to the back story and highlights tensions between the characters
    • The questioning by the undead of the living reinforces the strangeness of the situation and their confusion, for example Simon asking for Adele in the bar
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