Film Openings- Iconography, enigma codes and narrative structure.

Back to the Future



Iconography: All of the clocks in the opening scene represent that the genre of the film is sci-fi and it also relates back to the title of the film because it is about going to the future where 'time' is different.

Enigma Codes: Why is there so many clocks? How come the newspaper is so important and scrap paper? How come there is old photos of an old man on the wall? Why does the camera focus on them? These shots of the newspaper, the clocks, the old man etc.. all have a purpose in the filming of 'Back to the future' and they add these in because it questions us when we are watching it and these attract out attention because the camera makes them seem important. The fact there's clocks it makes us wonder 'are clocks important or time?' and with the old man 'is he involved or is he the one who started off with all these clocks?'.

Narrative Split: The narrative split was fabula because everything was chronological order. At the beginning we see loads of clocks and the clock pans round them all and then we see that the inventor has created some scientific machines to help with going 'back to the future'. At the end of the opening scenes we see Marty come in and attempt to play his guitar and because of all the high power and too much overdrive it then  









Nightmare on Elm Street

Iconography: In 'Nightmare on Elm Street' in the opening scene the camera shows a clear view of a knife which is laid around other tools. Although it gets covered by someone emptying a bag they still make it very clear it is still there, the knife represents that the genre of the film is horror.





Enigma codes: Why is there a knife? Why does the camera focus on it? Why is everything so dirty and covered in muck? How come the man has a knife type glove on? Is he crazy? A murderer? What is the woman running away from? These shots of the knife, woman running and the glove etc all have a purpose in the filming of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and they add these in because it questions us when we are watching it and these attract out attention because the camera makes them seem important and it builds tension but because we know these are all associated with horror. The fact there's a knife it makes us also wonder 'what is the knife going to be used for? Is the woman running about to get killed by the man wearing the glove?' It all links together and relates back to the conventions of horror.

Narrative Split: The narrative split was fabula because everything was chronological order. At the beginning we see that this old man is making some sort of weapon. Then as the film carries on it shows us that some woman is running away, however we don't know what she running away from. Later on in the opening scene we see some hand with a knife type glove on gash through some material, he then grabs the woman and she then awakens from her 'nightmare'. So the fabula uses syuzhet as we as an audience think that this is happening at the beginning of the story but it turns out to be a dream so it has not yet happened. However it gives us an idea of what is to come in the film.


Strange days
Iconography: In 'Strange days' the opening scene starts with three men in a car and it looks like they're about to go cause some trouble or rob some shop. We get this impression because they have masks on and they have guns on them. We get a clear shot of the gun getting passed to one of the men so it represents the genre of thriller.
Enigma codes: Why do they have masks on? Why is there a gun? How come they're in a rush? How come they've just attacked people in a kitchen? Why after they after the money in the pub? Why are they locking the people in a room?
Narrative split: The narrative split was fabula as everything was in chronological order. At the beginning we see three men in a car and they look as if they're are in a rush to get somewhere. Then the film carries on and we see what these men are doing and they are robbing a pub and threatening to shoot all the workers there if they don't give them some money. Later on we see the three men escaping and running across the roof tops but first they trap these people in to a room so they can't get caught.