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Ager eh | peneat plc on my tobeSYMBOLS + IMAGES + CODES THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF Meaning in FiLm Visuat meoia PAMELA jAYE SMITH‘bli by Mi Wie Pins 1240 Yea Bld #17 Sui Cin CA te (cs, ue 08 aN) womepcon oe sia by MOF Ine eng by Wa Maa id by Bab Some Pre by MeN & Can Matte inte Unie Se of Aneicn Copy 210 y Fee Sh ‘A ght reseed Nop fh Bk may Be erode in ay rm aby es ‘it pein wig oh sts, x fh lon egos iby of Cong Cain bin Dae Sith el oe Srl codes: sce lang of meng a ae nd inl lnc ogni weleences nd inde 1 Sine amor nef. Vnl cmt, Te ac ing Pinedo Rel SkDEDicATiON To Geoogia Lambert, wisdom teacher extraordinaire, She reveals in fascinating and enlightening ways the many levels of meaning in symbols, images, and codes, from the ‘obvious to the obscure, aswell as the formerly deeply secret. ‘And to Monty Hayes McMillan a man of vision who eught me how to see the hidden mesnings behind many things.TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION HOW TO USE THIS BOOK. HOW SYMBOLS WORK, 1, ASTRONOMY AND ASTROLOGY 2. COMPOSITION 3, NUMBERS. 4. CODES, 5. EARTH 6. AIR, 7, FIRE 8, WATER 9. ANIMAI 10, CHAKRAS, 11, COLOR. 12. THE LEAP a 5 ~ a 2 4a a5 9 13, ANATOMY 14, CLOTHES 15, ARCHITECTURE 16, STEPS AND STAIRS. 17, CROSSES, 18, DUALITY 19, CULTURAL REFERENCES 20, SITUATIONS AND SYMBOLS 21, GOING NATIVE 22, SEX, LOVE, AND ROMANCE, 23, WEAPONS, WOUNDS, AND DEATHS, 24, EXERCISES, CONCLUSION INDEX. BIBLIOGRAPHY ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jot 104 105 m2 weACKNOWLEDGMENTS For inspiration: My Texas grandfather, “Daddy Joc” Smith, for tay first lesson in symbols — brands on cattle, llutrator Arthur Rackham’ evocative atin Oscar Wilde's exquisite book of Fry Tales, My best school frend, Larry Glazenes, with whom I crafted secret code writing inthe eighth grade, Manly P, Hall's books and teachings. Al my friends and colleagues who work in secret mean- ings ofcourse I wont name you ‘Thanks to my contebutors, readers, and supporters on tis books ‘Monty Hayes MeMilla, Georgia Lambert, Aurora Mile, Mike Restino, Bruce Logan John Slik, Ray Bogeo, Vanese MeNeill, Chance Gardner, ete Meliwain, Dave Keplowite, Kathie Fong Yoneda, Linda Seger, Devrah Cutler Robinson, Judith Clare, Rachel Ballo, Carolyn Mille, and Ropats Taylor. ‘Mike Restaino also helped obtain allo the images for this book and deserves a huge thank you for that. And many thanks tothe fine publishing team of Michael Wiese Productions, ‘Special thanks to Bob and Jane Reed, who provided » paradise in ‘which to contemplate deeper meaning| aaliale inTRODUCTION Humans are meaningrmaking ereauses, We se animals in the clouds, Mather Tesesa on cinnamon buns, and Jesus on rusty sereen doors. or was that Willie Nelson? Communication isthe mos important aspest of human interation, and itis accomplished ina number of ways, from utilitarian to artistic, Some ofthe most primitive yet still most effective modes of communication are vswal — that’s just how ‘our brine aze wired About 40,000 years ago humans began creating media They ‘held cheir hands against a rock wall and blew out a mixture of spitand pigment, the first airbrushed images. Geafiti raging begins here. ‘They dipped sight bundles of hae ino hollowed-out stones Pee holding crashed bery juice and with afew exquisite stokes re-created the power and grace of ancient surocsthundesing cross open plains. Dapple-rumped deer skitered away fom stylized hunters, and fearsome cave bears roared silent warnings to say aw.‘Sister Wendy Te Compe Calon ‘Times have changed; the dangers and delights of ovr world are typically more technological than natural. Yer artists continually brave the impersonal swipes of nature and the devices and desires of the human hear to reveal the truths and mysteries of or existence, to instruct us in its ways, and to sevel in is wonders In our rnultculural, instantaneously interconnected global village, we speak hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects with divers and specific cultural Bickgrounds. Haw can we commun cate effectively across all these bodes? Symbols and images affect people emotionally — hence their csceptional effectiveness. Because thet is no particular ational ateachment to them, visuals are «universal language that engages our intuition and imagination. Although some of the details may bemuse us, we ate sill impressed by symbols and images hundreds and thousands of yeas old, Erotic carvings on temples in Tndia offer enlightenment advice disguised 1s sexual postions; ancient Egyptian art provides instructions on navigating the afelife; stained-glass windows and stone carvings in Buropean cathedrals conize Bible sores for their once-lterate congregations and easly American builders of massive mound complexes seem to have thought their audience was spirits high in the sky. People have waged war under symbols: the Roman Empire's cag (co-opted by the Nazis) the crusader coss of Christendom, the «escent moon of Islam, the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union. People also accomplish great deeds of generosity and sel-acifice unde icons: peaceful Buddha, Virgin Mary's compassionate sacred hea, the euinbow of many ancient cultures and the modern lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgeader LGBT movement. Codes hold and pass on precious or dangerous secrets: Masonic-alchemicl- Kabalistic keys ro transformation, secret Cele Finger language, Depression-era hobo codes on homes hospitable or hostile, pirates and spies’ mape and markers Symbols and images also convey emotions, states of mind, and actions frozen in time. Bernini’ exquisite marble statue of Sant ‘Teresa of Avila quivers with the ecstasy of adoration. A Slower crashed in Bloody battlefield mud eaprates wars rag futilityRingo of Haren ‘A raised fst commemorates a revolution, a ried flag a victory, and bird in flight valiant act or a release to freedom, ‘The more consciouly you use symbols, images, and codes i your stores, the more effective your message willbe. Using appropriate visuals will heighten the emotional impact of your story and will connect your audience tothe rch steam of meaning — conscious and unconscious — that flows through humanity and our aes ‘This book will show you ways that visuals have been used to great effectiveness and ways tod that in your own projects 20 they too will have more powerful, long-lasting impact.HOW TO USE Kop this book beside your computer as you write your screenplay, novel, o ad copy, and turm to it when you're thinking, “Right, "Show, dont tll; but how do I show this emotion?" or something spectacularly visual right here, but whar would be the most effective?” or “Everyone in the audience should simply weep, nov; hmmm 4 panoply of visuals to expeess and imply emotions, situations, and concepts, this book can help you finda specific i you have the general idea. Tecan also help if youre already scing generic visuals what cue can I give them?” Designed to offer you jn your head hut aten’t sure how 0 use them effectively. The Index section helps you ceorr-rference the specific image to snd from the «emotion situation, o concept ‘OF course you can do so, but you need read this book all the way ‘through to make good use of i, You cat approach it ikea diction ry or thesaurus and just pick i up and use it when you wat t make an effective visual statement and need some extra inspiration and information. Here are the sections in each chapter and how 0 use them THIS BOOK WHAT IT MEANS Explanations from antiquity to modern times and across differ- cnt cultures, Knowing its meaning is essential to using a symbol cffecivly. IN HISTORY, MYTH, AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES Examples sometimes from 40,000 years ago, sometimes from a thousand years ago, sometiates fom yesterdays news. That images have been used across the years and cultures indicates their power to convey meaning and can give you ideas on how to use them in your media, IN MEDIA Symbol, codes, and imagery acct in all media, and presumably all sors of media makers will use this book. For the examples, however, Fuse films, because they are the most universally known and the most accessible. Examples are from the iim classic, lst year's Oscar winner, cul favorites, or tht blockbuster you want 10ec just one more time. Use these examples as both illustration and speptation, You can feshen up an old thing by approaching fom i iiferent angle, using a different perspective. Put your wnigue spin ‘on asybol and take our breath sway with the power of these visu- isto bring forth deep emotional responses, vse, ‘When to use the particlar image. For instance, you might want tw indieate a particular emotional/pychologial state (fer, oy, cmv feeling tapped, et.); a certain situation (impending danger, camaraderie, rising tensions, et); oF 2 concept (freedom, loyalty, spictuality, te) se thre levels — emotional, situational, concepeual — expand ‘outward from the most indivdal o the most abstract Use emotional symbols when your character shifts ttitude or motive, when you want to signal his or her growth, flue, « new ‘hope, and soon. An emotional symbol is always very personal and internal and may not necessarily reach beyond that individual. In American Beauty, the image ofthe virginal cheedleader surrounded by rose petals indicated Kevin Spacey’s state of mind and emotions No one else saw that vision, Use situational symbols when things ae changing i the environ= ment or in a group of people. People swepe up together in the emotions ofthe moment often rally around symbols that are ‘te, Shift in political, religious, sports-orented, cultural, ac cconomic or socal status ae indicated via tie catogory of images, In Gone wit be Wind, Scarlet O'Har’ wardrobe and the condition of Tara symbolized what was going on economically before, dusing, and afer the wae Use conceprual imagery to indicate higher spistual yearnings oF abstract concepts that ar hard to shove through action, Tau, loyalty, and fredam are concepts that of courte lead to actions but chy start way up in those abstract planes of though and have 4 wide-ranging influence on people. Flags, eligious icons, and seylized representations eypically indicate concepts, Watch Leni Riefensta’s film Thumph ofthe Will fr a superb use of symbols to clic sign-on toa mythic national cause. or the Lond of he Rings twilogy for acial/pesies warfare causes WRITTEN DESCRIPTIONS In prose you ae the dsectr, at director, costumer, makeup artist, and acting coach fr every aspect ofthe story. Sue, you leave some things for the readers! imagination or your story won engage their imagination, but we want you to create and evoke a sich word for sto explore For scripts robe sold and turned int a visual medium, you must first impress a development exee or reader with words on page ‘Make your pages incredibly more powerful using potent, visceral words that ereste viv images.Scripts also tell the director, production designer, cinematographer, lighting director, costumer, and actors what you envision. Yes, they interpset your vision, but give them solid indications to stare with, Check your thesaurus: foreach word iste, you'l find at least « handful more CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES Symbols, images, and codes aze only effective when they are sppropriaely presented, framed, focused upon, and noticed (or not) by your characters, This section presents suggestions on faming, position, lighting, sound, music, and soon, to create the effect, youre after, OTHER EXAMPLES Fr further research, and to ad your own examples INDEX ‘This separate section a the back ofthe hook will help you find various ways of visually expressing an emotion, situation, or concept by looking it up and thea exploring the chapters that refer to itHOW SYMBOLS, iMAGES, & CODES WORK ‘Ourbins ae built wo process shapes, PET scans and MRIs zevel ‘where particular images cause reactions: squares here, circles there, triangles over here. Some of this s just our animal heritage taken to & mote sophist- ‘ated level, Baby chicks instinctively run and hide from the shadow ofa cardboard hawk. As soon a they hatch, baby dicks imprint a= Moa” the first thing they se, Humane ate sd to have a Tove map” based on ther east experiences of relationships. Our brains are bile 1 ecognize danger aswell as postive factors such as good. ‘ceding material, healthy food, and safe shelter Fiom symbol-recogpition survival mechanisms tothe subtlety of| stylized halos around Stone Age figures (supposedly hallcinations of akered-state artist) to the composition of a shot i a movie to show emotional sepeesion, artists use these tendencies of conscious ness to convey meaning and emotion, Unlike talent — whic either ‘yu have ot you don't — the use of symbols images, and codes is 2 raft you can develop to improve the effetiveness of your creative projects and to enhance your naturl tent ‘This language of visual communication has « numberof forms and spect + Allegory — symbolic representation, often a play on words oF actions. Arps Fables is human psychology illustrated by animal actions: crafty fx, lyal dog, mindless sheep. Fassnts and Nazis se evil sorcerers and orcs in The Lord of the Rings Jess isthe lion in The Chromic of Narnia, Other allegorical tales include Alice in Wonderland, EI Topo, The Maris, and The Golden Compas. Color — Though color has a universal physiological effect on the ye, colors have diferent cultural mesnings, In China, white is the color of mourning; in European cultures its black. Purple, because the dye used tobe so rare, symbolized royalty, the only class who could afford it. Women in red deeses are universally sexy, and scientific studies prove it, Stdies also show chat le walls in aroom heighten creativity, while eed wall heighten memory and lessen creativitysu Lauren Aaa + Composition — Dynamic ines of tension and isolation of a object, be i sil or moving, move the viewer’ eye azound a frase. One tem small and fie from a large foreground item implies a yawning gulf of diference or separation. Move it away from or towaed the foreground fr significance, lke Shane riding sway across the prairie a the end ofthat fiz (separation and sadness) or Sheif Ali riding across the desert toward Lawrence in Lawornce of Arabia (new best frends orev) ++ Buaggeration — Mostar isan exaggeration of size, effect emotion, ration, et. Hindu sculpeues of gods and goddesses emphasize volupeuousners and devotion tothe beloved. Picasso, Duchamp, Kandinsky, and other breakthrough artist of ealy 20th century Busope incorporated mystical philosophies and ‘modern physics into thie paintings, exggeratedly portraying sultple time lines and simultaneous angles of perception ++ Metaphor —All the world’s a stage’ ae Shakespeare wrote, Or as Persian poet Omar Khayyam observed much eae "Tis alla Cheguerboard of Nights and Dayt Where Destiny with Men for Pes pla Hither and Wither maces, and mates, and lays, “And ane by ane Back in tbe Clee aye Because we perceive the world through our physical senses, the most solid metaphors are those tht reflect physical reality. “Top dog”Lee sna a bass in behavior, as does “limb the conporate ladder” or “beat him down" When seatching for a symbol for your own visual sia, you'll want to come as close to the actual experience as you can and then back off a notch o two for poetic effect. The spiritual metaphors of ritual — Masonic rte, the Chrietian| [Bachatist, many culture’ festivals of Tight — reflect higher and ‘re abstract concepts ++ Synecdoche — the part fr the whole. The White House isthe USS. execative branch, Google is an Internet search In music and visuals it’ leitmoif a phease or image that represents a “The below ald Rob — Cite Kan certain character, situation, or emotion. Think ofthe “dum-dum, dom-dum-dum-dum” of Jaws to announce che shark, or the color sed in Tie Sith Senet indicate a dead person. In Citizen Kane the sled and snow globe ate litmotfe/synecdoches for Kane's childhood, [All ofthese communication tols can be sed in your creative works to speak tothe deeper par of ourselves, the meaning-making ‘mechanis that les within us all. Use them to convey your con= cept, to entertn, to stimulate chought process, to enlighten, and to enrich your audience’ experience.ASTRONOMY & ASTROLOGY WHAT IT MEANS Astronomy isthe science of stars, planets, comets, and the cosmos. Astrology isa nonscienific system of personality analysis and event prediction based on the movements of heavenly bodies, IN HISTORY, MYTH, AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES Since humans Fest noted the repeated appearance of certain stat clusters in the night sky and projected patterns on them, we've had constellations: Leo the Lion, Aries the Ram, Urst Major, Orion the Hunter, We have also personalized the planets: warsior Mars, lover Venus, speedy Mercury, jolly Jupiter, and gloomy Satur, “Mayan astronomy was complex and astonishingly correct. Their feathered serpent teacher god Quetzacoatl is associated with Venn "Theories ace gaining ground that che Egyptian Sphinx and some pyramids were built othe vernal equa inthe sign of Leo 12,500 years go, Athens lost a decisive battle inthe Peloponnesian Wars because of bei in astrology: ‘The Labors of Hercules take him through the zodins “The Persian savior god Mithras i shown slaying a ull interpreted as ‘the precesion ofthe equinoxes asthe bull (Taurus) is sain by a war- rior (Aces), with many ther symbols ofthe zodiac around them King Acthue nd the 12 Knight of the Round Table are associated swith the zodiac, a6 are Jesus and the 12 apostles. A pilgrimage to certain Gothic cathedrals retraces the configuration of Virgo, the Blessed Virgin Mary inthe stars. Some people claim descent from Sirius othe Plies; stroll down Hollywood Boulevatd may convince you thats possibilty. ‘There ace a number of films about the real-life Zodiac Killer (Characters in the 1980s typically made los of references to their astrological signs. use + To describe character vi their astrological sign: Pisces i sens tive, Leo is egotistical yer generous, Scorpio dangerously sex, and s0 0,+ In the cate of astrology, to show a character as woo-woo gullible or, conversely, a sensitive and wise, + Inthe cae of astronomy, to imply intelligence, geckiness, an adventurous spirit, an inquisitive mind reaching off planet ito the stars Jody Foster in Contact came to astronomy as child + Tn sci-fi and fantasy the stars are often the very setting ofthe story + Inn alens-among-us story it could be the homeland they yearn fr or the souree ofthe threat, and you can signal those motions by showing dstan lights in the darkness. WRITTEN DESCRIPTIONS, In prose, describe the constellation shape, Give your character astrological acessories: a Sagittarivs mug, for example, or an Aquasius Ts For scripts, move the camera across a collection of astrology items, ‘Cut to the night sky. Have characters use a telescope or visita planctarive, CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES Technical enhancement: Draw the constellation patterns make those stars sparkle more brightly; bring the stars down to earth and overlay them on some other objector surface; turn them into what they represent — a bull, a centaur, a viegin. Reflect the star pattern ina character’ eyes, ina pool of water, glass of wine, mirror a window, ‘Move away from or onto a spinning globe, an orery asta chat OTHER EXAMPLES: See a planetarium show for clever ways to link viewer imaginations to the stars,+2+ composition WHAT IT MEANS. ‘The way we put things together tells us much about the importance ‘of one thing to another, the nature of che relationship between them, the history and che Forure of that relationship. Composition can create tension o relieve it It can evoke harmony or discord, IN MYTH, HISTORY, AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES Art history often categorizes eras and styles based on changes in compo rived by changes in the color blue. Chinese artistic composition i typically based on even number, Japanese on odd number ion and emphasis, Some Egyptian dynasties are catego A jor aspect of composition is perspective ‘The Hogarth Curve (an *S" curve) is an acstheti layout found in nature and used by atss to guide the flow of vision sround a piece of act. Feng Shut isthe Chinese practice of composing the environment to enhance the Flow oF energy. IN MEDIA ‘The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons books and movies make plot points of the composition of paintings and statues, In The Confrmis, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, the mother, her beauty fang, and her son, ever more distant fous her, walle through dead and fallen leaves; che composition sys the reltion- ship is decaying. Bertolucci also places the protagonist of his marvelous fil in a sori, pressed in upon by his wife and his mistress, trapped by other dancers USE + To indicate a shift in power. + To show isolation of loneliness, + To emphasize nature over man, or vice versa + Toillatrate the scope of «problem,4+ To signal the peychologcal quality ofa character: Show your character agtnst water for an emotional fel, aginst the earth fora more grounded fel, withthe sky behind them for an open minded fel + nan argument, place the characters so that there's different and significant background foreach, such a8 a window behind one, a sold wall behind the other; ora wall of hooks behind one (logical, inellectual) and curtains behind the other (more Highty and insubstantial. WRITTEN DESCRIPTIONS Use active, descriptive word: ‘The wall loomed over he, the sea churned behind him, they huddled together, he paced a the fot of| the bridge CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES Split screens: The TV series 24 uses multiple steens to give more information and suse the ension The film (500) Day f Summer has side-by-side sereens labeled “Expectation” and "Reality, show- ing what the protagonist wants to experience a a party given by his former gielfiend (them togehes) and what's really going (her with her new boyftiend) ony s Bernardo Bertolacs ea genus with composition, Watch his ims ‘The Conforms and The Last Emperor for exquisite examples of speaking volumes about emotions, situations and concepts through AMPLI setting,NUMBERS WHAT IT MEANS From the infan inspecting her own Fingers and toes to wientits ansing supercomputer equation, numbers have always fascinated ts, Some cll mathematis the language ofthe divine, and divine {quiltes have often been assigned to numbers. Anything that exis an be described in numbers, and numbers often stand in for the ‘hing tel IN HISTORY, MYTH, AND ‘The earliest writings seem to have been accountng records; those NTEMPORARY TIMES who know numbers — bankers, census takers and the ike — can sanipulate those who don't The Fibonacci numbers underlie natute's perfect shape, the sical, and perfect proportion, the golden mean. In this pattern each ew number isthe sum ofthe previous two: 1, 2 3, 5, 8,13, 21,34, and so on. This pattern appears in pineapples, unfuling ferns, seashells, spiral galaxies, and many other phenomena Sounds and colors can be expressed in numbers representing their wavelengths, The musical note “A” is 440 cycles per second; the wavelength forthe color blue is about 440 nanometers Marie! peWHAT THE NUMBERS MBAN 0 — Emptiness, extinction, the void, no thing/nathing. 1 — Unity, wholeness, individuality, isolation, rotality, uniqueness loneliness. 2—Union, polarity, duality (male-female), balance, connection, entanglement, mating. 3. —Tiinity: Many mythologies have a crative tro, often «family + Hinds — Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva: eeator, preserve, destroyer. + Bagyptian — Orirs, Isis, Horus: creative spark (ithe), creative ‘material (mothe), creative result (hil). + Christian — God the Father, Jesus the son, Holy Ghost the sistant Jadeo-Christanity has tie for millenia to keep the feminine out ofthe equation, but humans inherently go the hence the persistence of the Visgin Mary, Spirit, matter, conscousness/soul i the trinity of the Mystery Schools + Energy force, substance — the eretive trinity of metaphysics. ++ The etna eriangle of forbidden love 4+ The sexual ménage a tri. 4 — Seasons, cardinal directions (north, east, south, wes), elements (earth, ir, fre, water). 5 —The four directions pls the center pvor pol, tre, arrow, rod, column, ete + Hlumanity: two arms, wo logs, head. ++ Humanity: ive senses. + Elements in Oriental systems (earth, aie, fre, water, metal. + Points on a symbolic sar, Sides to a pentagram, Percentage ofthe universe chat i visible mater. ‘Yuvan by Lena Ds Vin ~The Seine 9 eS4 — Two tints, balance, stasis, the connections between spiritual tl earthly rads 7 ‘The divine trinity plus the earthly quaternasy, traditional prinber of major chakras {§ — An auspicious number in Burmese culture, influencing even the oppressive military rules, 9 — "The tinitysimes thee, a lucky number for the Chines, 10 — Fingers and toes, Biblical OM Testament commandments, Sephitot ofthe Kabals, ast days of Ramadan considered especially hl, bass of many mathematical systems 12— Solar months, constellations of the zodia, Labors of Hercules, apostles of Jesus, Knights of King Arthurs Round Table 13 — Lunar months, the above 12s his the Tender (Jesus plas apostles, Arthur plus knights). 22 — Bones in the human skull, connections in the Kabalintic tre, 23 — Percentage ofthe universe that is dace mater, arbitrarily assigned sigaificance in Robert Anton Wilson's writings and Joe! Sehumacher's movie The Number 23 133 —Verechene in the human spinal column, steps of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, age of Jesus at his death-reurrection-accnsion, Kabaistie connections (22) plus the Sephiot (10) plus the hidden Sephirah, Daath, 40.— Year the cites wate inthe Sina after ecping from yp day Jen pet in the wikercs bing tempted hy St, days of Lene, Srunuptercovegences before repeating in the rosin, work of himan pregnancy. 42 — The answer to Lif, the Universe and Everything according to Douglas Adams’ Hitbhiters Guide toe Galas. The number of call division cycles dozing human in-utero development. 52— Number of years inthe Aztec Big Shea of yeas 172 — Degrees in one-fifth of a circle (72 5 = 360), number of lawyers at Egyptian bad god Ser’ tril for killing his brother Osiris, numberof virgins alloted a Muslim martyr (an unfortunate mis- translation of astronomical plotting ofthe heavens, percentage of the universe that is dark energy 452 — Base number for Hinds Vedic time counts of the cycles of the cosmos, 1A 2012 is based on the Mayan calendar’ count of astonomical eyes. In See, serial Killer Kevin Spacey used the seven deadly sins to plot and execute his murder, The NumBer 23 with Jima Carey I 21, Kevin Spacey isa professor who teaches math whizzes to count cars in Vege,USE + Toillusrate the mysterious complexity of nature, To imply intelligent design. To imply intelligence in a character. To ‘mpl madness in an obsessed o OCD character. To signal secret connections to scentfi secrets like alien life, weapons Aexign, new materials, WRITTEN DESCRIPTIONS For visual emphasis vse numerical Figures rather than words, especially for 10 and above: 22, not ewenty-two CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES Hiave a character write out the number, oriFlow enough, count it off on her fingers. Have someone count aloud, or physically touch the tems being counted, Flash-edit onthe things being counted and emphasize it with sound OTHER EXAMPLES: A Beantful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, The Let ‘SymeWHAT IT MEANS Soperhero decoder sings, secret languages, cryptography .. secrecy tnd exclusivity are consistent human tats and one ofthe best places to ide something is ight out in plain sight. Language isa oie fr meaning, and writen language is «code for both sound and meaning; Unlike stand-alone symbols and numbers, a code is ‘complex system using substation (this for tha) asa guise and requiring & hidden key to wnlock, IN MYTH, HISTORY, AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES Early tribal codes of smoke signals and jungle druus evolved into Morse code and semaphores In Greck myth, Ocdipus was the ist wo successfilly salve the ‘idle ofthe Sphinx — good thing, because the penalty for failure was death, European fey tales are replete with riddles involving symbolic codes and wordplay and the hezoes in many stories must solve complex poles to win the day. Brule ta physical code for the blind (Clic bards used a secret Finger Language, touching specific knuck- les and joints for specific words; Frank Herbert uses something Similar in the Dune novels ‘The periodic table ofclements can be an entire vecret cade: 8 = yen 6 = carbon, the base of life as we know iti 238 = uranium, used to generate micas weapons or power. Libraries use the Dewey Decimal Systems, websites use URLs, and sofeware is a code Cryptography uses codes to transmit hidden messages, be it tea- sures ofthe gods, enemy tates, o assignations for forbidden love. Codes often use keys suchas “every third letter in every fourth word” to spell out secrets, Solving Nazi Germany's Enigma code helped the Allies win Werld War Il, Ako in WWII, Navajo code talkers simply used their own unique and unfamiliar Amerindian language to fil the enemy. Encryption is the tind step in code-making: 1) Start with letters 2) Turn them into numbers. 3) Tusn them back into diferent letters —or se symbols and numbers or letters and sybols, Just remem ber you need two sets of information cros-refernced.Iv MEDIA