CODE: The implicit rules by which meanings get put into social practice and can therefore be read by their users. Codes involve a systematic organization of signs. For example, there are codes of social conduct, such as forms of greeting or styles of social interaction that are understood within a given society. One situation in which codes become evident is when they are broken. Semiotics shows that language and representational media, such as cinema and television, are structured according to specific codes. Cinematic codes include lighting, camera movement, and editing. Codes may cross media, and various sets of codes may inform a single medium. For example, the painterly codes of chiaroscuro lighting or Renaissance perspective may be used in photographs or films. The term "code" has also been used by Stuart Hall to describe how cultural texts, such as television, can be encoded with meaning by producers, and then decoded by viewers.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 19:37:09 +0000
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