Use of Hermeneutic and Proairetic codes to create suspense in our

production

(How effective is our opening sequence in terms of attracting the audience and

adhering to conventions of real media texts)

What is the point?

Creating suspense and keeping the audience interested is important during the opening sequence of the film and is an integral part of the narrative. People watching the opening sequence should be able to recognise what genre film they are watching by the types of questions they ask themselves about the narrative. These codes are what will ultimately make the audience ask these questions. I will go through some shots and analyse them to better understand what questions the audience may have and ultimately how easily is our film recognisable as a product of the horror genre.

Watch the film before you read this!!!

If you watch the finished product before you read this you will have a better understanding of what I am talking about. The finished product will be uploaded to this blog in a day or two after this as we still have some minor changes to tweak shot length-wise.

1 - Hermeneutic code - TV disturbance

The TV hiss and disturbance that connote shots from CCTV cameras which suggest the notion of the characters being candidly watched by somebody.

This may make the audience ask why they are being watched and ultimately who it is that is stalking them.

Police statistics about the annual death rate is a puzzling agenda being brought up in the first few seconds of the film. We find out that 37,082 deaths were registered last year and that 365 of them were “unexplained”. The audience are aware that they are watching a horror film and so are left with the expectations that we will ‘somehow’ touch upon these “unexplained” deaths.

2 - Proairetic code- Significance of death stats

3 – Proairetic & Hermeneutic code- murders at school

We are shown a close-up shot of an old newspaper with the head column reading “Murders at School Puzzle Detectives”. This is an obvious hint to the further development of the narrative and foreshadows what is to come. The audience are also aware of the setting and should easily figure out that another murder is expected during the course of the film. This also forces the audience to ask the question WHO or WHAT has committed these murders and WHY (though the title of the film gives away a great deal about this).

4 – Proairetic code- Identity of character and his intentions.

We see a medium shot of the main character holding a spray can which is quite obviously red paint. This gives the audience a hint about the identity of the attacker being particularly urban, young and somewhat anarchic. We are also expecting him to use it as he is holding it with a great deal of intent.

5 – Hermeneutic code- what happens at the end?

The way the end of the opening sequence unfolds is constructed to be seen as a narrative enigma. We are cut short at a scene where the messed-up character is frozen over the main character. The popular opinion could be that he is a “baddy” or antagonist and the freeze frame is just before he devours the main character. But realistically he is a friend of the main character with a cut throat, his actions are slow and weary and his last freeze-frame is a sort of “he-ha-he-he-he” (much like HELP) suggesting that he is actually calling for help or warning the main character of danger. The audience are left to ask the question “what has in essence happened here?”

FIN

This was a summary about the use of Proairetic and Hermeneutic codes in

our production.

Thanks- Vlad