Film Openings Research- The Enigma Code

Another convention of opening sequences of films is the Enigma Code, this is when a film gives away some information, but leaves some to keep us watching to find out more, or the rest of the information. A common way of doing this is an the opening scene being a scene from the film, often chronologically reoccurring towards the end of the film. This hooks the audience to find out more about this scene, and the circumstances it unfolds under. This is a popular technique for opening sequences and some examples of this are, Fight Club (1999, dir. David Fincher), The Hangover (2009, dir. Todd Phillips) and Pulp Fiction (1995, dir. Quentin Tarantino). In Fight Club, when the scene plays again in its chronological place in the film, they add in a line of dialogue, saying
Tyler Durden: I'm sorry... 

Narrator: I still can't think of anything.
Tyler Durden: Ah... flashback humor.

whilst in the opening scene the same dialogue is,
Tyler Durden: I'm sorry...   
Narrator: I can't think of anything.

Pulp Fiction is particularly good use of the enigma code, because in the film, you don't see these character again until this scene reoccurs which is towards the end of the film, so for the entire film, the audience is compelled to keep watching to see whether these characters reappear and this opening scene comes into context.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ82ckEtAkw


Another variation of the Enigma Code would be not having any sort of introduction, but going straight into action or a fight, this is is called a cold open, because there is no introduction. This is because we don't know anything about the characters as all we've seen is their abilities. An example of this is The Matrix (1999, dir. Andy and Lana Wachoski) because we see Trinity is doing something important and she is physically able to kill, and is very agile, but we don't know anything else about her personality, which intrigues the audience and keep them watching. The opening of the film is linked here and the rest of the opening scene showing Trinity's ability is below.



This could be considered a rather long opening scene, but doesn't seem it, because you are interested to find out what Trinity is doing from the outset.The initial panning across allows us to  realise what sort of environment we are in, and we can recognise almost immediately that there are policemen, by the hats, guns as this is all we can see of the in the fist few seconds.

The low key lighting in the beginning makes the scene seem secretive, as does the music, because the music is very quiet and only significant bits are music are heard at significant parts of the scene, like, the low horns when the door is kicked down and the slight crescendo when Trinity raises her hands to surrender. The PoV shot from the door as it's kicked down, makes the policemen look more intimidating. When we see Trinity for the first time, she is illuminated by the policeman's torchlight, but the rest of the room besides her immediate surroundings is completely black, adding more fear and secrecy of the environment to the audience. The slow upwards pan to reveal Trinity's face and the first PoV shot from the policemen build up the tension of revealing her identity also, this also makes her seem unapproachable by the audience.

The fact Trinity is female is slightly unstereotypical as woman are rarely seen in this sort of, major, physically able role, She is, though, wearing a fairly feminine costume, it's quite tight to reveal her figure, and shiny, leather looking. Rarely in a film would a leading male in an Action film wear a similar sort of costume.

All this adds to the enigma code as until the pan down the hotel sign, we are unaware where the scene is taking place. I would consider the point in which Trinity surrenders, the end of the opening sequence, because after that, it begins the narrative, and we find out the background surrounding the scene unfolding, by seeing the agents and policemen stationed outside. This is a unique way of opening a film, because it is hard to distinguish between where the opening sequence ends and the film's narrative begins. Typically, I think, some filmmakers would put a title sequence between trinity surrendering and the continuation the this scene.

I think the enigma code it an effective way of opening a film because it is a good way to "hook" the audience into carrying on watching. These variations of the enigma code are used very regularly, which shows that filmmakers also consider this an effective way of opening a film. It is a quick way of starting a film without being boring, and keeping the audiences interest until the narrative of the film can really start.
 Most films participate in Todorov's theory of Equilibrium, Disruption and Restoration; film openings would be in the equlibrium section of this, as it is at the begining, although, flashback scenes from within the scene could be from the restoration or disruption section of the film, giving an insight into the rest of the film and how it gets to that point.