Roland Barthes Narrative Theory and Film Trailers

Roland Barthes created two theories for films, the most common one being the 'enigma' theory. This theory is that different texts (e.g.films, posters, television) all have an enigma that the audience must solve. These enigmas will make the audience ask questions such as 'who is this person?', 'what are they looking at?', 'which person is the killer?'. It is because of the questions asked that an audience can be intrigued by the film as they will want to know the answers to these questions. One of the most common film types to use this theory are murder mysteries where a detective must gather clues to find the murderer, and often there are multiple suspects that both the detective and audience must narrow down to one in order to find the true murderer. 

Barthes' second theory is the referential/ cultural code. This states that meaning can be found in a text through culture relevant information. In order to understand the culture code, you must have knowledge of the culture or know the stereotype.

Poster Example:

Black Swan, 2010

Here is the poster for Black Swan (2010) and is a psychological thriller. As the woman is the only person on this poster the audience can assume that this is the protagonist for the the film . The woman is very pale and is dressed in white, which can connote purity or innocence, whereas the background is just plain black which can connote darkness. One of the first questions a viewer might ask is 'why does she have a crack going down the side of her face?'. This crack can suggest the emotional breakdown of the character, that she herself will become broken, or symbolising the deconstruction of her 'good' side, which connotes the psychological theme. This can then make the audience question what caused this to happen. Was it a traumatic event? Did someone deliberately change her to be this way? 

The feather on her head, the thin straps on her shoulders, the way she is posed and the film title all denote a ballet theme. Black swan is an alternative name for Odile in the Swan Lake, who is the daughter of the ballet's antagonist. The audience may assume that the film's title refers to the protagonist, yet ironically she is dressed in white, so this further symbolises the character's personality change.

As the poster only features a close up of the protagonist and a black background, there is a limited amount of information given to the audience about the narrative for them to be able to ask many questions. There is also nothing referencing to any culture so Barthes' second theory cannot be applied to this poster. 

 Straight Outta Compton, 2015

Straight Outta Compton is a good example of a cultural codes. The film depicts the story of the gangsta rap group N.W.A in California who set up their own record label and create songs about discrimination and harassment they get from higher authorities. Based on stereotypes, you can recognise the characters to be gangstas by the way they are dressed as they all wear baggy trousers and jackets, and wear baseball caps. They are all walking near each other in the same direction which gives the impression that they are walking as a group of friends or even a gang. The background is also a stereotypical image of California with the classic American car at the side with the palm trees, and the sign post saying 'Compton' on it. The fact that this poster is in black and white gives California quite a negative feeling as it is usually shown as bright and colourful.

Trailer Example: 

10 Cloverfield Lane, 2016

I believe that this trailer is a good example of use of enigma codes. It starts out showing a seemingly normal group of three people, all enjoying themselves with games and hobbies, until the house they are in starts shaking as if there is an earthquake, but assuming by the characters reactions, this is not the case. The audience will start asking 'what caused the house to shake? Is this a natural occurrence?'. As the trailer progresses, the eldest of the three starts to act more violent, as the other two start to look at him with scared or worried expressions. The girl eventually hits him with a glass bottle and makes a quick escape towards a locked door. The audience will be asking at this point what is wrong with the eldest man? Why is he keeping the younger two from leaving the house? Once the girl opens the first of the two locked doors, the eldest man desperately starts shouting for her not to open the door, not as an angry demand, but rather a plea for safety. Before she does unlock the door, she looks out of the window with a shocked expression, the trailer then cuts to black. We here the eldest man say 'something's coming' as the title of the film starts to fade in. More questions will be asked with this revelation such as 'What is coming exactly?, why does it need to be feared? Is it human? Is it a supernatural entity? Is this why the eldest man tried to keep the other two in the house?' 

The fact that not much information has been given about the narrative of the film is used as an enigma in itself as we initially think that the characters have normal life much like ours, but this changed once we realise that there is a disturbance in this life. We do not know what the life outside the house is like, if there is any life outside the house at all. We do not know how long life has been like this for either. The only way to find these out is to go and watch the movie themselves. 

In terms of cultural codes we can tell that this film takes place in America as the house contains a jukebox which is usually found in American diners. The male characters are both dressed like stereotypical American men in t-shirts, jeans, long beards and baseball caps.

How could this theory be applied to my trailer?

As we plan for the plot of the film to be criminals vs criminals, I believe it would be a good idea not to reveal to the audience which side they should be rooting for. As one of the criminals will be a serial killer posing as a member of Anonymous who has a grudge against the low-lives of society, in this case drug addicts, and as the other criminals will be the drug addicts they will both be morally wrong on equal levels and both be breaking the law, so strictly speaking there will be no 'good' or 'bad' side. The serial killer's reason for killing these 'low lives' will not be revealed in the trailer in order to create this enigma for the character in order to make the audience intrigued how the character has gotten to this stage in their life that their morals are so twisted, what has happened in their past to make them act this way and form a grudge? I like how in 10 Cloverfield Lane's trailer it starts off with a seemingly normal life, we could incorporate this into our trailer by initially showing scenes of the characters how they would act in the middle of public, and then cross-cut between the two sides as they venture into an unknown place where they commit their crimes, for example the drug addicts can walk into their drug den whilst the serial killer can walk into an apartment and start setting up their computer to record a fake Anonymous video to lure in their prey.