Narrative Codes.

There are two narrative codes:

Action Codes : An event or moment in a film's narrative that then motivates the action in a certain direction e.g. A Phone call. 


Enigma Codes: A question that is posed by actions/events/character which is then answered in the narrative. 

Action codes could be as obvious as 'Crawford wants to meet you in his office' - as that obviously determines the plot of the story as Clarice finds out about Hannibal Lector and thus creates the plot of the story. It could be as subtle as a hat worn:

This hat helps establish that they are part of the FBI and that's why she's involved with Hanibal Lector. 

These examples are from the Silence of the Lambs film opening. This film opening also includes Enigma codes. Enigma codes, I feel, are vitally important at the beginning of the film as it entices people to watch the film to get those questions answered. 

This bit of the film, we are questioning Who is she? Why is she there? which makes us continue watching the film to find out more. My next entry will be my analysis of the opening of Silence of the Lambs looking at the narrative codes.