What are these Barthes Codes you speak of?

Barthes Code are a series of rules that can be followed to create an effective opening for a movie. Must film openings do follow these codes however some film openings are able to have effective openings without following the code completely.

The first code in Barthes code is the 'Hermeneutic code'(also known as the enigma code), this code states that a story most have unanswered questions that will be answered later on in the story. This code is fairly easy to understand as most films will have a mysterious element at the beginning to keep the audience interested, this can be anything from the title to an odd event or character or world.

The second code is called the 'Proairetic code' (or the action code), this code states that there most be an action that suggest further action. This code is normally applied to transition between the beginning of the film to the middle of the film, but it's not uncommon to see this code in openings, especially action movies and thrillers.

One of the example of the hermeneutic code can be seen in the 'minority report' this is because the film starts out in an alien world with odd characters and unknown motives, allowing the audience to question where are they, why they are were they there and what they were doing many, this is effective as it draws in the audiences attention and keeps them interested to see the rest of the film.

An examples of the proairetic code can be seen through out the whole plot of the movie, the main protagonist being accused of a crime he hasn't done the reaction he has to this is him trying to escape arrest and leading to the further development of the plot of the movie. This keeps the movie from lingering and becoming stale and worn-out.