Barthes' Narrative Codes.

Barthes' narrative codes help describe the meaning of the narrative. There's 5 different codes, which are:

• Action Code: The audience will recognise an action code in a media text as it is used to indicate what is the next logical step in the narrative.

• Mystery Code or Enigma Code: This code is used to control what and how much information is given to the audience to explain the narrative. It helps grab the audience's attention, by setting up a problem which is resolved during the course of the narrative.

• Semic Code: This code is about signs and meanings to help tell us about its narrative and characters. For example,there may be garlic to symbolise the supernatural.

• Cultural Code: This code is used to help the narrative make sense to a culturally and socially aware audience. It makes reference to elements form the real world, such as the language something is spoken in or written in on the screen.

• Code of Oppositions: This code refers to a narrative that relies on binary opposites.

Whilst we didn't understand or know what Barthes' codes were whilst we were filming our preliminary task, we did subconsciously use some of the codes

We used the action code, when the protagonist was walking through the door, as you could see her put her hand on the handle, suggesting she was about to walk through the door.
We used the mystery code, when antagonist kidnaps the victim and ties her up in the cupboard, as the audience don't know why she has been kidnapped, and therefore this grabs the audience's attention, and this will be resolved later in the narrative.
We used the cultural code, as the film was shot in school, therefore suggesting that the girl who got kidnapped was educated, showing the audience that they're from at least a working class background. This gives the audience indication as to what society the characters are from.
We used the code of oppositions as we used a protagonist and antagonist, therefore our piece relies on binary opposites, as the two characters are contrasted. We could have developed this further by deciding specifically that the antagonist would wear dark clothes, and the protagonist wearing much more brighter coloured clothes.

However, when filming our piece, we didn't include the semic code. We could have included a symbol to suggest why the victim got kidnapped, or to emphasise the fact it was a thriller. This is something we will have to include specifically when filming our final task.