Cinematic Codes in Moulin Rouge

Cinematic Codes in Moulin Rouge

All four cinematic codes work together in a film to inform the

audience's understanding of a film and to convey meaning and the

ideology in a preferred reading favoured by the film-maker so that the

audience interprets the film in the way intended. In the film Moulin

Rouge (Luhrman, 2000, US) the cinematic codes, mise-en-scene, sound,

cinematography and editing all work well together in the opening

sequence to set up the film-maker's preferred reading.

The film opens with a conductor on a stage in a grand theatre,

signifying a 'show' which links well with the idea behind Moulin

Rouge, informing the audience that it is like a show. The curtains

behind the conductor are red, a motif in this film, which is used

repeatedly throughout the film, and this colour connotes love, death,

lust, danger, sex and passion and these are all vital elements running

throughout the narrative. The character is quite a small figure in

front of a vast background informing the audience that he is not a key

character in the film as he is isolated by the mise-en-scene, his

costume is a conductor's costume and is similar to that of Harold

Zidler's, a character introduced later in the sequence.

The first few seconds include an intertextual reference when the sound

we first hear is the song The Sound of Music playing loudly and

boldly. This song connotes joy and is quite celebratory, as if

celebrating the joy of love and happiness, it signifies themes running

throughout the film such as the idealism of love and how wonderful it

supposedly is. The song informs the audience that this film will be

about love, although it does...

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...matic codes,

especially mise-en-scene and sound informs the audiences understanding

of the sequence, and they all compliment each other in such a way that

the audience take a preferred reading. The techniques the director

uses give the audience one reading, so that the audience read the film

exactly as the director wishes, the sequence first sets up enigmas,

and disorientates the audience slightly. Then gradually throughout the

extract the narrative begins to unfold before their eyes with the use

of the cinematic codes contributing to this and delivering the message

clearly to the audience as the characters are being introduced and the

setting established. The audience are drawn into the lives and

tragedies of the characters and escape into the film, feeling what the

characters feel, and gaining pleasure from the film.