Media Language Flashcards
What is genre and why is it significant?
Which theory can be applied?
In its simplest terms a genre is a type of media product, but it is more complex than that; genre provides a way for producers to communicate messages to audiences.
Audiences need to be able to recognise genres and the codes and conventions are established over time.
The audience have expectations that need to be fulfilled and establishing the genre is key to the effective marketing of the product.
(Steve Neal Genre theory)
How does genre have an impact on the production and distribution of television programmes
It affects the way in which they are marketed and scheduled
Context for conventions of the supernatural thriller genre
The supernatural thriller genre has a well- established cultural history and has a recognisable repertoire of elements.
These conventions have evolved over time and developed to reflect social and cultural change and the needs and
expectations of audiences.
What is one convention which is commonly shared within the genre - and is expected by audience members
A narrative with a focus on the appearance of the undead/zombies within a community and their attempts to deal with this.
Narrative structures (Todorov) common within the genre
+ Les Revenents narrative structure
Supernatural thrillers may use a range of different narrative structures.
The programme may conform to Todorov’s theory where the structure is linear from the initial disruption through to a resolution, or non-linear where time and space is manipulated through for example, flashbacks or flashforwards.
In The Returned, the narrative is fragmented and there are
flashbacks to the crash at the beginning and
end of the episode.
THIS IS CALLED ‘in media res’
Supernatural thriller conventions
Narrative disruptions + specific to Les Revenents
Narrative disruptions occur that change the course of the story, these can be events that happen or revelations that are made by characters.
Sometimes the audience are in a privileged spectator position whereby they know more than the characters within the story world.
For example, in the set episode of The Returned the audience is shown Victor’s part in the bus crash, this allows the audience to anticipate how the narrative may develop in future episodes. - Acting as a hermeneutic code.
(Structuralism: Levi-Strauss)
Binary oppositions as a part of narrative structure in supernatural thrillers
+ Specific examples
Binary oppositions function as part of the narrative structure in supernatural thrillers.
In The Returned, these include;
- past vs present
- living vs dead
- illusion vs reality
- the truth vs the perception of truth
- light vs dark.
The resolving of some of these binary oppositions within the story world may reveal an ideology associated with a genre, for example the triumph of life over death is typical of mainstream supernatural thrillers.
(Structuralism: Levi-Strauss)
Binary oppositions as a part of narrative structure in supernatural thrillers
Living vs The dead
Binary opposition between the dead and alive, reccuring theme throughout the show.
Direct binary opposition between the two twins (Camille & Lena) juxtaposition posed where they are both supposed to be the same age as they are twins.
(Structuralism: Levi-Strauss)
Living vs The dead
What is the significance of using twins (Camille & Lena) to form the binary opposition (3)
Use to argue for:
- Les Revenents not as a typical ‘supernatural horror’
- The metaphor behind ‘The returned’
- Destabilizing the Binary of Life and Death – Twins are expected to be identical, but when one is alive and the other is a revenant, it forces the audience to question the boundary between life and death. The contrast between their experiences challenges the idea that these states are absolute or mutually exclusive.
- Existential Horror and Identity Crisis – The living twin serves as a mirror to the returned twin, raising unsettling questions about what it means to be “alive.” If they look the same, behave the same, and share the same memories, what truly separates them? This taps into the show’s broader themes of identity, memory, and existential dread.
Two sides of the same coin analogy? - Emotional and Psychological Impact – The presence of a returned twin creates a deeply personal and emotional conflict for the living sibling. Instead of being purely fearful of the revenants, the twin experiences an intimate, unresolved grief and confusion. This makes the horror of Les Revenants more psychological than supernatural.
What are some plot situations within Les Revenents and how do they communicate meaning to the audience?
- The Dead Returning with No Memory of Their Deaths
The show uses muted color grading, still camera shots, and minimalistic sound design to enhance the eerie normalcy of these events, making the supernatural feel disturbingly mundane.
- The Arrival of the Strange Child ( Victor’s Role as an Omen-like Figure)
His role is ambiguous—he is not overtly evil but carries an uncanny energy that unsettles the audience and other characters. His stillness contrasts with the world around him, and his frequent use of eye contact with the camera creates a sense of direct engagement with the audience, intensifying his eerie presence.
- Slow Door Openings to Reveal What is on the Other Side
The show frequently frames characters behind doors, in thresholds, or through reflections, emphasizing the idea of liminality—the space between life and death, reality and the supernatural. Specifically through compositions such as closed frames
- Flickering Lights to Connote a Strange Event
The cinematography often uses low lighting, with shadows obscuring parts of the frame, reinforcing the idea that something unknown lurks just beyond visibility.
How are these plot situations significant to Genre formation?
By incorporating these familiar supernatural thriller elements, Les Revenants positions itself within the genre while subverting some expectations. Instead of using them for jump scares or overt horror, the show employs them to deepen the psychological and existential themes, making the horror more ambiguous and atmospheric.
These media language choices—long takes, subdued sound design, symbolic use of lighting, and restrained performances—shape Les Revenants into a psychological supernatural thriller, where fear emerges not from violent threats but from the quiet, uncanny disruption of reality.
Steve Neal Genre hybridity
Story arcs within Les Revenents outlined
Story arcs and narrative strands occur in and
across episodes of an episodic series.
In The Returned, as the first episode of a new series, there are several complex, enigmatic narrative strands, which will be interwoven across the episodes.
Including: the focus on each of the returned in future episodes, in the first one the focus is on Camille, the dam, the quest to find the truth and the impact of the returned on the community of the living and the dead
What is significant about the enigmatic narrative strand within the first episode in terms of genre conventions/formation
Camille
- Convention:
The return of the dead, unexplained supernatural events, and eerie disturbances in the town are all common conventions of the supernatural thriller genre. - Application in Les Revenants:
• Camille’s return, along with other revenants (the dead returning without knowing they’re dead), creates an unexplained event that sets the tone for the mystery. The supernatural element of the dead returning serves as the foundation of the show’s mystery-driven plot.
• The slow reveal of supernatural occurrences (e.g., the dam, unexplained changes in the environment, the water levels) is crucial to building the genre’s suspense.
- Subversion:
Unlike typical supernatural thrillers that may focus on overt horror or violence, Les Revenants focuses more on the psychological and emotional impact of the return, emphasizing existential dread over direct threats. The supernatural events are uncanny, not purely monstrous.
What is significant about the enigmatic narrative strand within the first episode in terms of genre conventions/formation
The Quest for answers
- Convention:
Mystery is a central element of the supernatural thriller genre. A key convention is the quest for answers (Todorov: quest narrative) as characters investigate the strange, supernatural events. - Application in Les Revenants:
The first episode introduces characters who start to piece together the mystery of the revenants, but the answers are elusive. As Camille’s return raises more questions, the town’s characters (like Jérôme and Claire) search for answers, setting up the slow-burn mystery element typical of the genre.
• This gradually builds the intrigue of the genre, where information is doled out sparingly, and each answer leads to more questions, keeping the audience engaged in a puzzle-like narrative.
- Subversion: The show withholds direct exposition, opting for atmospheric ambiguity over easy answers, creating a gradual revelation rather than a fast-paced uncovering of secrets - focusing more on the ‘master narrative’ which could hint at an ideology more than simply life vs death
What is significant about the enigmatic narrative strand within the first episode in terms of genre conventions/formation
The dam
- Convention:
The setting in supernatural thrillers often plays a key role in creating an unsettling atmosphere, such as eerie locations (old buildings, desolate landscapes). - Application in Les Revenants:
The dam functions as a symbolic and literal source of mystery and unease. Its physical deterioration and the strange changes around it, including the dropping of water levels, mirror the gradual breakdown of the town’s sense of reality.
The dam also acts as a boundary between the known and the unknown, emphasizing the liminal space between life and death.
- Subversion:
Unlike more traditional thrillers that might focus on an overt haunted house or monstrous threat (focusing on visual horror) the dam creates a metaphysical space—it is not just eerie because of what happens there, but because it evokes themes of repressed histories, hidden traumas, and the collapse of normalcy.
What is significant about the pairing of stock characters
The pairing of stock characters as binary oppositions often contributed to tensions within the narrative
The Pairing of stock characters:
(Character based binary oppositions - Levi Strauss)
Victor & Julie
Victor
- The eerie, silent child, embodies the unresolved trauma of the community.
- His silent suffering and his supernatural qualities are symbolic of the unacknowledged or hidden emotions that plague the characters.
- His presence forces others, particularly Julie, to confront how they would act in environment far from normal
Julie
- a maternal figure, nurtures Victor despite his unsettling nature, illustrating the human drive to protect and care for others, even when those others may embody death or trauma - or a ‘foreign’ state
- This brings a profound reflection on forgiveness and healing, suggesting that no matter how unsettling or ambiguous something may seem, human connection, especially through empathy, is essential for growth.
Stock pairing:
- His strange, supernatural nature disrupts the narrative’s focus on human loss, undermining the idea of normalcy and forcing Julie to reevaluate her perceptions of what it means to be alive.
- Nurturing (intrinsic human behaviour) and how far it can go
The pairing of stock characters:
(Character based binary oppositions - Levi Strauss)
Camille & Claire
Camille:
Camille’s return from the dead serves as a stark reminder of unresolved grief and unfinished business.
Claire:
• Claire’s nurturing nature plays a key role in the narrative’s exploration of human resilience in the face of trauma.
• Even though Camille’s return is supernatural and impossible to explain, Claire’s instinctive motherly care for her daughter keeps her grounded.
• It also reflects the deep emotional bonds that drive human behavior, even when they seem irrational or damaging.
The relationship between Claire and Camille highlights the tension between attachment and acceptance of loss. Claire is torn between continuing her role as a mother and acknowledging that her daughter is not truly alive, representing the impossibility of reconciling life with death.
Stock Pairing:
• This creates a narrative arc where acceptance of the unnatural and the emotional complexities of motherhood shape the storyline.
• The show questions whether love and grief can be healed.
• The maternal figures (especially Claire) anchor the show in human emotion, grounding the supernatural elements in a very relatable human experience, making the supernatural occurrences feel more unsettling.
The pairing of stock characters
(Character based binary oppositions - Levi Strauss)
Simon & Adele
Simon:
• Simon embodies the impact of death - especially when it’s self inflicted.
• His return forces Adèle, his former lover, to confront the impact of his death and the guilt she feels for moving on with her life after his death.
• As well as the feeling finality and lack of closure involved with death - he died on their wedding day
Adele: The damsel?
• Adèle is caught between two worlds: the memory of Simon and her present relationship with Thomas.
• Simon’s return highlights the emotional scars people carry from loss, while Adèle’s struggle with moving on after Simon’s death illustrates the difficulty of emotional closure.
Stock pairing
- Creates sense of emotional stagnancy involved with grieving
- His presence forces Adèle to deal with the notion that death may not provide closure or an end, but rather a perpetual haunting.
- The tension between Simon and Thomas—who represents the possibility of a new life for Adèle—creates a narrative exploration of how the past continually intrudes upon the present, making it nearly impossible to truly move forward. - This reflects one of the show’s major themes: the haunting nature of unresolved emotions.
The stock pairing of Characters
(Character based binary oppositions - Levi Strauss)
Jerome & Pierre
Theism mentioned AH! .
Stock pairing: How the individual deals with grief & theism
Jerome:
- Jerome lost his daughter, direct trauma which may contribute to his morally ambiguous character (e.g. Engaging in prostitution as a form of necromancy).
- This seems irrational and is deemed morally wrong and contradicts the rational persona we would expect from an ex-policeman (prostitution also illegal)
= The extent in which grief can impact us / how irrational it can make us
Pierre:
Whereas Jerome needs to feel a sense of control and understanding for the emotional complexity of the situation, Pierre focuses remedying that feeling the feeling of loss through a sense of community (theism).
- He conducts the group counselling sessions which Jerome scoffs at.
Stock pairing:
This contrast could be a metaphor in using religion as a remedy for grief - (link to poetic realism).
Grief is a feeling of loss, and by extension the sense that we cannot control what trauma is inflicted upon us - its intrinsic for humans to want to understand, but the methods we turn to may differ.
How do character based oppositions via stock character pairings create depth within the narrative
How may this impact the formation of the shows genre?
They act as a meditation on the emotional complexity of being human. Each pairing (such as Camille vs. Claire, or Julie vs. Victor) amplifies the central themes of the show, including loss, grief, identity, and the fragility of the human condition.
The relationships between these opposites are key to understanding the emotional stakes of the series: the supernatural events become a metaphor for emotional, psychological, and existential crises.
In addition, these character dynamics allow the show to subvert traditional genre conventions, using familiar tropes to create a narrative that is more about internal conflict than external threat, adding depth to the supernatural thriller genre.
Through this, Les Revenants transforms the supernatural not just into a series of eerie events, but into a reflection of the human experience, with its struggles, contradictions, and complexities.
Settings & locations: genre conventions/ formation
- Settings as codes for Genre identity
- Isolated homes, long empty roads, and the pervasive mist and darkness are key codes.
- The claustrophobic feeling within the homes, heightened by darkness and specific framing, further enhances this sense of entrapment
- The isolated environment is a classic convention of these genres, often used to create a sense of disconnection from the outside world.
- Potentially isolating human nature into an environment where it can be closely examined - via binary oppositions - Location as a Tool for Branding and Audience Recognition
- The isolated, misty landscape creates a distinct atmosphere that is often used in marketing materials, promotional imagery, and even branding.
- For example, posters and trailers may emphasize the moody, foggy settings, immediately associating the aesthetic of isolation and mystery with the show.
This becomes a visual shorthand for the show and overall supernatural thriller genre.
Overall:
Aligns with genre conventions but also plays a critical role in creating the narrative image of the show - in that it takes part is a much wider and complex discourse overarching simply zombies verses humans.
Iconography its role in conveying both the genre & thematic significance
Mirrors
(Ref to a scene)
Cementing Les Rev as a psychological horror.
Mirrors:
- Mirrors and windows are conventional visual motifs in the supernatural thriller and psychological horror genres
- Mirrors often symbolize the fracturing of reality or a distortion of truth a key theme in supernatural thrillers where characters may struggle with understanding what is real or not.
- The opening credits where a dead butterfly on display breaks through the glass.
- Broken glass = fractured reality & a distortion of truth. The butterfly was dead why the feck is it flying?
Iconography its role in conveying both the genre & thematic significance
Windows
Cementing Les Rev as a psychological horror.
Windows symbolise a barrier between the known and the unknown, a common feature in supernatural thrillers where the characters are either literally or metaphorically separated from the truth.
The presence of windows often creates a sense of surveillance, as characters look at or through them, adding to the tension and unease associated with the genre.
For example, when Claire and Jérôme watch Camille through a window, it evokes a sense of disbelief and alienation, underscoring the suspense and mystery inherent in the supernatural theme.
Psychological barrier: Camille is the embodiment of a memory being surveyed - she is not real, she is not alive.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER BOOM.
Iconography its role in conveying both the genre & thematic significance
Windows & Mirrors
(Ref to a scene)
Cementing Les Rev as a psychological horror.
Ref: The scene with Simon & Adele
Windows & Mirrors
- The only separation between Simon & Adele is a window, she doesn’t look at him directly but through a mirror.
- The window is a mental barrier and when she looks at her ‘undead’ fiancé on the other side of the glass, she looks at him through a lens of grief induced distortion caused by the mental barrier of being unable to overcome her grief.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER = FIVE BIG BOOOMS
Iconography (windows & mirrors) & genre formation overall
They become standard tools used by creators to communicate complex themes and emotions without explicitly stating them.
The visual language of the genre develops through the repeated use of such iconographic motifs, allowing the creators to convey meaning efficiently and within the established conventions of supernatural thrillers and psychological horror.
This iconography thus acts as both a genre code and a thematic device, allowing the audience to engage with the show’s deeper psychological and emotional layers.
Narratology - Todorov
Concept outline
All narratives share a basic structure involving movement from one state of equilibrium to another, separated by a disequilibrium.
Narratology - Todorov
What is the opening equilibrium in the set episode
Why is this significant in terms of narrative?
The opening equilibrium in The Returned presents the
bereaved community who are attempting to adjust to the deaths of their loved ones.
The initial equilibrium consists of the community taking the steps towards healthily grieving their loved ones and moving forward - parents who lost their child in the crash share at the counselling session that they are expecting a child.
This is established as the emotional stake of the narrative.
Healthy grievance is what will be disrupted.
Narratology - Todorov
What is the disruption to the equilibrium in the set episode
Why is it significant to the narrative?
• The disruption to this equilibrium is the return of
the dead, Camille is accepted by her family but there is further tragedy with Mr and Mrs Costa and grief for Adele with the unbelievable return of Simon.
- Conveyed via iconography and eerie non-diagetic tracking music.
- The dead returning as though nothing happened, with no memory is an embodiment of repressed trauma.
- Therefore their composure is eerie.
Reality and healthy grievance has now been disrupted: conveyed by mirrors & windows.
Narratology - Todorov
What makes the disrupted equilibrium evident
Why is it significant to the narrative
The recognition that the equilibrium has been disrupted is evident in the tragic consequences, the suicide of Mr Costa and natural events, the receding of the reservoir waters.
Symbolic of the disruption to normalcy & natural order.
- Suicide is caused by repressed trauma, heightened by the uncanny nature of the retuned
- Natural order of the reservoir is disturbed (this is a supernatural convention)
Narratology - Todorov
What is the set product an example of?
How is the narrative of Les Rev different?
As this is an example of an episodic drama there would not be a resolution at the end of the first episode, instead there is a cliffhanger as the narrative returns to the initial crash and Victor is seen as the cause.
The narrative returning to crash significance In terms of theme & genre
(Where Victor is present)
Cyclical structure: Symbolic of the potentially viscous cycle of trauma
Hermeneutic code: victor - as an omen leaving the episode on a cliff hanger
Victor as the cause of the crash:
- In the final scene he is calm in the face of a large bus speeding towards him - he doesn’t fit into the world or the context which surrounds him
- He is detached and stagnant.
- Victor the embodiment of an unresolved past
= Thus, the cyclical structure exemplifies how emotional stagnancy when grieving will make you alienated from society.
How genre conventions are socially and historically
relative, dynamic and can be used in a hybrid way
+ Apply this to Les Rev
How is this relevant to the visual versus thematic nature of Les Rev (+link to Steve Neal)
Although genres have never been stagnant, it is increasingly the case that they are more dynamic and seek to challenge audience expectations. The genre now is a starting point to target the audience and then surprise them through hybridity and intertextuality.
The Returned is harder to categorise due to its hybridity and the fact that, whilst it employs more typical conventions of the supernatural thriller, it also borrows from other genres.
For example, The Returned includes references to the zombie genre as the characters are ‘undead’ and also to fantasy, but is also set amongst families in a domestic drama setting.
- Suggesting that visually it is supernatural, thematically it is psychological (could just be ‘genre piggybacking’)
Theoretical Approach: Genre – Steve Neale
Concept outline
Neale asserts that genres may be dominated by repetition, but they are also marked by difference, variation and change.
The supernatural thriller genre has a recognisable repertoire of elements, but to appeal to audiences, new programmes need to display something different to set them apart from other examples.
Difference is essential to sustain a genre, to simply repeat the codes and conventions of the form would not appeal to an audience
Theoretical Approach: Genre – Steve Neale
How does the Returned demonstrate differences
he Returned demonstrates difference in that it focuses less on the gore and horror of more typical zombie dramas and more on the psychological impact on the community of the
loss and then the return of the children.
• The children who return are not classic zombies in their appearance or behaviour, they outwardly appear ‘normal’ and are attempting to return to the life they left.
Theoretical approach: Genre - Steve Neale
Which cinematic tradition’s style and aesthetic does Les Rev borrow from
The programme borrows from the 1930s French cinematic
tradition of Poetic Realism. The visual style is minimalist, but lyrically constructed.
The tone echoes with a sense of doom and the characters
are on the edge of society within an isolated setting living with their grief. The focus is on the nature of the human condition and what it means to be happy.
Theoretical approach: Genre - Steve Neale
How do specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts affect Genre.
Genres exist within specific economic, institutional, and industrial contexts.
The recognisable codes and conventions of the supernatural thriller make them easy to market (genre piggybacking) to audiences.
However, subverting and challenging these conventions by introducing more unique elements as with The Returned’s characters, narrative and aesthetic, can also ensure commercial success
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Visual codes:
Codes of clothing
What makes a human human
The connotative reading (Barthes) of characters’ clothing and appearance create meanings.
Clothing is a rapid way of communicating messages in The Returned: the normal, everyday clothing of both the living and the dead challenges the more typical codes and conventions of the genre and establishes the idea of the uncanny within the realistic.
Instead the ‘uncanny’ nature of the undead is expressed via their behaviour (what makes us human)
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Visual codes:
Gesture & expression + audiences reaction
Overriding human emotion - what is it to be human
Non-verbal communicators are quick ways of constructing meaning.
- Claire’s shocked and confused expression when she sees Camille contrasts with Camille’s apparent normality.
(Binary oppositions)
Humanity = expression and vice versa
- The audience too are confused and empathise with Claire.
‘Empathy’ a human emotion is overridden by the distortion of reality seen on screen - reflecting the shows that emotional stagnancy removes us from flourishing.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Visual codes:
Iconography & setting
How unresolved trauma can seep into your personal life
Iconography and Setting: the props, backgrounds and settings work to construct meaning and establish the supernatural thriller genre.
The binary oppositions of the domestic setting, the isolated subway and the outdoor natural locations of the forest reflect the narrative themes and tensions.
- The mental isolation of unresolved trauma can seep into your domestic life/personal life
The opening scene when the butterfly escapes from the picture creates enigmatic unease foreshadowing the narrative.
- The undead are a distortion of reality
The fact that Camille’s room has been kept like a shrine allows her to assume that everything is the same.
- The reality of Camille (her room as it was when she was alive) has been overshadowed by the memory of her (a shrine)
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Technical codes importance
Camera shots, movement and angles work together to communicate messages and ‘show’ the narrative.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Technical codes
Close-ups
TO demonstrate humanity
Close-ups advance the relationships between characters and establish tension and a dynamic.
This is evident in the ‘conversations’ between Camille and her parents and her first meeting with Lena.
In psychological thrillers, close-ups are often used to create intimacy, heighten tension, and convey the inner turmoil or emotional conflict of characters - or the lack of.
E.g. Camille
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Technical codes
Composition within frame
The various ways people can process grief - which one is championed
A wide shot where Camille, Lena, Claire and Jerome are present.
A nuclear family in a domestic scene: A living room
- Claire: Cradilling Camille
- Lena: Sat on the other side of the sofa, deep in thought
- Jerome: In the background - his back is facing the camera, the lighting is darker over him making him appear like a shadow. He is stood staring out into the Forrest.
DIFFERENT WAYS PEOPLE PROCESS GRIEF.
Lena is arguably championed - she is neither retracting herself from the situation entirely (Jerome) nor clinging to it (Claire) she is processing it in the foreground
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Technical codes
Establishing shots + Postmodernism theory
Verisimilitude & Hyperreal reality
The early establishing shot of the town serves to create a sense of cultural verisimilitude establishing a real place in which the characters function, so reinforcing their believability.
A Hyperreal representation of reality - where various themes are played with.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Technical codes
Long shots
The corruption of innocence with trauma.
Long shots of the undead on the lonely road and Lucy alone in the subway are conventional of the supernatural thriller genre, as is Victor, the seemingly innocent child standing alone outside Julie’s apartment.
Theme of isolation in what feels like such a large space.
The small amount of the frame the characters take up in comparison to the environment surrounding them could be symbolic of corruption innocence with trauma.
E.g. Lucy alone in the subway station - before she becomes victim to an unprovoked stabbing.
Victor, seemingly innocent stood outside Julies apartment. Victor too is a victim, once alive but died at a young age.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Audio codes
Music (Non-diagetic)
The audio track when Camille returns is disconcerting. When Claire, in a panic, hides the ‘shrine’ in Camille’s room the music is discordant, contrasting with the seemingly normal act of fetching Camille’s bathrobe
Made by Mogwai - a Scottish post rock band.
Relays and mirrors human emotion. It’s accompanies the mediation between Claires sense of reality and her unresolved grief.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Audio codes
Diagetic sound
The panicked breathing as Camille is walking home is unsettling - breathing a physical process does not make her human.
How the combination of elements of media language
influence meaning: Psychological thriller
Audio codes
Dialogue
This serves to establish the genre, advance the narrative, and construct the characters.
The group meeting at the beginning of the episode adds to the back story and highlights tensions between the characters.
The questioning by the undead of the living reinforces the
strangeness of the situation and their confusion, for example Simon asking for Adele in the bar.
- Trauma will follow us, search for us if not dealt with
