The Hermeneutic Code

The Hermeneutic Code:
"The Hermeneutic Code contains anything in the text that is mysterious or unexplained, usually leading to questions which the reader needs answered".

That is the definition given by an online dictionary. 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.


In the opening 2 mintues of "Saw" it was clearly apparent that there were many unanswered questions, this may be due to the fact it's a horror film and films in that genre tend to have a lot of unanswered questions until the end of the film and even in some the questions are not entirely answered. The questions that people could ask would be "Why are they there?", "Who are they?", "What's the significance of the blue light?". Those are just some of the questions that I picked up from the opening of this film.

"iRobot" is in a different genre to "Saw" but it still contains one thing that could lead to a question. It's apparant there is a flashback sequence which shows a traumatic experience which the main character (Will Smith) has gone through, this could lead onto a question like "What significance will this have later on?". Other than that, the beginning 2 minutes of this film consisted of just titles.

"The Day After Tomorrow" had an opening 2 minutes filled with several narrative enigmas which hopefully the audience will find the answers to later in the film. Some of the questions that could be asked are "Who are they?" Why are they drilling into the ice?" "What cause the ice to crack?" These questions fuel the audiences interest in the film.

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.