How to Analyse Movies

#2: Signs, Codes &

Conventions
Website - https://www.filminquiry.com/analyse-movies-signs/

Manon de Reeper
December 17, 2013
10 min read

In this chapter, we’ll cover the signs, codes and conventions in a

film that can tell you a lot about the messages that the creators
are trying to convey. Some filmmakers are aware of the use of
signs, codes and conventions in their work, though some are not.
In that case the symbolism may be there, but not on the surface,
which makes it a little harder to interpret.

The study of these signs, codes and conventions in film is

called semiotics, or semiotic analysis. Semiotic analysis is a way
to explain how an audience makes meaning from codes. All
meaning is encoded in that which creates the meaning. No object
or word is without meaning – one cannot read or see something
without associating it to a certain idea, the meaning. Growing up,
everyone has been taught how to decode what they see, read
and hear. We have all learned to decode meaning: it’s how we
make sense of our surroundings, essentially, of the world.

However, what’s important to realise is that the decoded

meaning wasn’t created by the person decoding it, in a vacuum;
instead, the meaning already existed. They merely took the signs
and applied their pre-existing knowledge. For example, if you
read the word “failure”, you decode it by relating it to the value
your culture assigns to the concept of failure and its antonym,
success. This is why someone from a Western culture might
interpret it very differently to someone from an Eastern culture.
Although this doesn’t mean we cannot create meaning on our
own, but 99% percent of the time, the meaning comes from
some pre-established (cultural) notion.

Semiotic analysis is used to “read” (and better understand) a film

and its text. It’s mostly used in academic study of film, and
dozens of books have been published on the topic, though
they’re often pretty dense, and for the casual film viewer, a bit
much. The below is a short summary of what semiotics entail,
and will help you take the first steps into film analysis.

Semiotic Analysis
The study of these signs, codes and conventions in movies is
called semiotics. Semiotic analysis is a way to explain how we
make meaning from codes – all meaning is encoded in that
which creates the meaning. No object or word goes without a
meaning – we cannot read or see something without associating
it to a certain idea – the meaning. In our youths, we have all been
taught how to decode what we see, read and hear, we have all
learned to decode meaning.

However, what we should realize is that the decoded meaning is

not our own idea, but somebody else’s. For example. If you read
the word “failure”, you decode it by relating it to the value your
culture adheres to the concept of failure and its antonym –
success. Although it’s not said we cannot create meaning on our
own, 99% percent of the time, the meaning comes from some
pre-established (cultural) idea.

Signs and Codes

In semiotic analysis, the smallest units of meaning are signs.  For
example, the way someone dresses is a collection of signs that
informs others about the person; clothing encodes the smallest
of signs, e.g. a popped collar means preppy. A black band t-shirt
and over-sized pants signal a music fan, but together they can
create a collection of signs, a code. For example, a band shirt +
baggy pants + black nail polish + dyed hair, could signal a rebel, or
even a goth.

You could say meaning has two “levels”. On its most basic level,
there is the sign: the denotation, which is the literal meaning.  But
when a sign occurs in a group, or in a particular context, it
becomes a code, and it can suggest or connote extra meaning.

Juno (2007) – source: Fox Searchlight Pictures

For instance, the colour red simply denotes a colour, but in a
certain context it can connote emotion, like anger, or love. These
codes are often used in media to reinforce, subtly, the way
audiences should think about certain things or how they should
behave. These are a culture’s dominant ideologies. For instance, a
long-standing cultural ideology is that diamonds (or chocolate)
symbolise love and that people should give this to your
significant other as proof of their love for the other.

These codes are groups of signs that seem to fit together

naturally. Together, they create meaning. To stick to the signs
and codes of romance: the sign of a broken heart means lost
love, and if you add the broken heart to the signs of two people,
the three signs together, the code, anyone will read into it that
the couple has broken off their relationship.

Filmic Code
Four types of signs and codes exist in semiotic analysis of film:

Indexical Signs
These are the most basic of signs in film. Indexical signs indirectly
point to a certain meaning – they act as cues to existing
knowledge. For example, smoke means fire, panting means
exercise, a ringing bell means end of class. This type of signs is
constantly used in (all types of) media and are very common.

Symbolic Code
Symbolic codes often denote something they have nothing to
do with at first glance, but only because the code exists and
because we use them society-wide. For instance, the red heart
symbolises love, the white dove symbolises peace, the colour
green symbolises jealousy.

Blade Runner (1982) – source: Warner Brothers

Iconic Signs and Code

These are the literal signs and codes: a cop means a cop. They
are meant to appear like the thing itself. However, they always
represent more than just the thing itself. When we see a cop, we
also associate this with our cultural ideas of “justice” or “the law”,
or even masculinity or toughness. These codes also reinforce the
ideas we have about these concepts in our culture, it reinforces
the ideological meaning of those concepts.

Enigma Code
This is an important type of code used in film: it creates a
question which the film “text” will then go on to answer. This is
often used in trailers of movies as well as posters. They make
people wonder. For example, “who murdered the protagonist”,
or “how will they survive the apocalypse”. They pique curiosity
and intrigue the viewers, with the intention of making them go
see the movie.

Convention
Convention is another important concept that you’ll see
discussed frequently in film analysis. It indicates the
“establishment”, the established way of doing something, or
understanding something, or presenting something.

They are the generally accepted norms. It’s behaviour and ideas
that we see as natural; they’re so deeply embedded in culture
that we’re generally not aware of them, and definitely don’t
realise what their effect is, or how they affect us.

In film, conventions are used to represent certain topics,

characters and events, and more. When you start to scrutinise
these conventions, you’ll find that, often, they are used to shape
how we think about a character or event. When it comes to
characters, conventions can easily turn into stereotypes.

You’ll find that they don’t always represent reality, and can even
be harmful to how audiences perceive the world. A common
convention, for instance, is how Muslims are always terrorists,
and to state the obvious, that’s not the case in reality. Indians
don’t always have thick Indian accents, especially when they
were born outside of India. Nonetheless, these are stereotypes
you will find in film abundantly.

Other common conventions can be found in how women are

portrayed in film. For instance, in film noir, female leads are
either the helpless dame in distress, or the femme fatale – there
is rarely an in-between.

Mildred Pierce (1945) – source: Warner Brothers

Nowadays, women are still frequently portrayed as damsels in
distress, though while we see more female superheroes, they are
generally clad in tight outfits, and their characters are
underdeveloped; they are just there to serve the male main
character’s plot.

Furthermore, women in film are substantially less frequently

portrayed as having a job. These are all conventions that
reinforce the convention that women are helpless, frail, and
need to be protected by the masculine male. There are
exceptions, of course, but you’ll generally have to delve into the
realm of indie film to find them.

Another common convention is how the portrayal of good and

bad guys. Cops can often get away with killing bad guys without
consequences. Or, even more typical, Batman and Superman
(in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) can lay waste to an
entire city and kill thousands of innocents, but they’ll still be
considered heroes.
Villains, however, are so villainous that they’re evil through and
through. These are very black and white conventions and don’t
properly represent the great variety of greys in the real world.

Moreover, genre and narrative can add to the sense of

convention, like action film or romance, or film noir and
superhero as discussed, but a film’s editing or certain shot types
too can reinforce conventions (e.g. a close-up of the poor damsel
in distress). We’ll discuss these topics in later chapters.

Lastly, I’ll say it again – culture is very important in the way we

interpret signs and codes. It is important to realise that culture
always determines the meaning a sign or code communicates.
Your interpretation of Bollywood film, if you’re from the West,
will likely be different to the interpretation of someone from that
area of the world.

Practice!
As with so many things, practicing will make you better at
whatever you’re doing. It’s the same for film analysis.

At first, when you’re going to watch a movie with the intention of

keeping track of all the signs, codes and symbolism, you’ll be
very overwhelmed. There’s so much to keep track of. Instead,
why don’t you first watch a movie in its entirety, and try to study
its thematic symbolism? This type of symbolism is more
overarching and you’ll find the film tries to deliver a “hidden”
message as a whole. What is the filmmaker trying to tell you?

As you get better at distilling a film’s overarching message, you

can start looking at how they deliver the message, scene by
scene. Start looking at more than just the characters -where are
they? A movie that may initially be boring to you may get whole
new dimensions purely because you are learning to understand it
better and differently.

You can go even deeper than that and analyse a film’s semiotics
shot by shot, and that leads me to what we’ll cover in the next
chapter: mise-en-scène, everything that’s presented in one shot.

What are some of your favorite codes or symbols? Do you

often pick up on them or are you usually unaware of them? If
you have any questions at all, please let me know in the
comments!