The Hermeneutic Code

After studying the Hermeneutic code in detail within the classroom through the use of three different film openings of; IRobot, The Day After Tomorrow and Saw I concluded that its going to be almost vital to have within the piece our group is making. The Hermeneutic code is more commonly called the enigma code, or narrative enigmas. Narrative enigmas are simply unanswered questions that the audience want to know the answer to throughout the film. The main definition of the code is as follows..

The Hermeneutic code - 'The parts of a story that are not fully explained. They exist as enigmas or questions that the audience wishes to be resolved.'

To keep the interest of the viewer the final truth of the film isn't revealed until the end of the story and some devices are used to keep it covered such as the snare, which is a deliberate avoidance of the truth. This teases the audience and sends them down the wrong path in thinking what the final outcome may be. Partial answers are used to reveal some but not all of the final truth to increase suspense for the audience and put them on edge which allows them to think about what could be coming next. Equivocation is a mixture of the truth and snare, making it more confusing for the viewer, as it leads them into a blurry path making it hard to predict the future of the film. Jamming is also used to suggest that the problem may be completely unsolvable therefore creating a tense viewer.

After taking notes on IRobot in the first 2 minutes, I found that it included a flashback (back story) to give the audience information about the main character (Will Smith) and to get the audience thinking about what could be coming next in the film. There were no real narrative events or development in the film opening, basically it establishes the setting and some crucial character detail.

The Day After Tomorrow created a lot of narrative events producing questions which the audience want answered after watching the opening two minutes of this film. Why did the ice break so quickly? Why are the characters drilling into the ground? Why was the least experienced worker controlling the drill? All of these questions get the audience thinking about what events could be coming next in the film, and why the characters are now in serious trouble.

Saw also created a lot of narrative events in its opening 2 minutes. As it is a horror film, its produced to make the audience always feel on edge and worry about what could potentially happen to the characters and be thrown at them. Saw's opening two minutes is giving the viewer a large amount questions which they with out a doubt want to be answered, such as; why are they in that room? How did they get there? Why is there a dead person in the centre of the room?

As our film opening is going to be in the genre of a psychological thriller, we want to make sure that we include a large amount of techniques within the Hermeneutic code to get the audience thinking about the plot of the film and why our characters are being used. We hope to produce our opening correctly within the genre as its really important to make sure the viewer stays interested and wants to keep watching.