How do the cinematic codes specifically mise en scene and sound in the opening sequence of
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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 signify that the film will be about the celebration of love and it's beauty as opposed to the pain that comes with love. The music is loud and orchestral, immediately capturing the audience's attention; the tempo is also quite slow to begin with. Suddenly changes to a song with a much faster tempo, The Can Can...