About
Axis of Action
Axis of Action is a media and film education resource written for VCE Media and the Victorian Curriculum. It explains the codes and conventions that make film meaning, and pairs every concept with real scenes that demonstrate it.
The goal is simple: don't just tell a student what a low-angle shot means — show them ten of them, from Psycho to The Avengers, and let them see the pattern.
How it's organised
- Codes & conventions — the evergreen reference: symbolic codes, technical codes, written codes and the conventions of story, genre and form.
- Playback — a growing, tagged collection of film scenes, each linked back to the codes it shows.
- Analysis — every example uses the COCA framework: Contention, Observation, Connotation, Audience.
The newsletter
New scenes, new codes and essays on film, teaching and the moving image — free on Substack.