The Hermeneutic/Enigma Code
There are multiple questions that the audience ask/what I have asked when watching this clip of The Prestige. Below are an example of a few:
Who is the man?
Who is the little girl?
What does the bird trick have to do with the stage one?
Why is the man trapped inside a tank?
Why can't he get out if he is a magician?
The Proairetic/Action Code
The action in this opening scene
instantly creates suspense and mystery for the audience. The action
starts off slowly and builds up to an intense ending to the first scene
in The Prestige. The scene starts off with two magic tricks happening in one, and ends with both of them having very different outcomes. The
bird in the first magic trick is freed and the man in the second magic
trick is trapped. This is an example of binary opposites - the theory of
Levi Strauss.
The Semantic Code
There is a deeper meaning within the opening scene. As their is two tricks being shown at one time, they are both so similar yet so different which is what makes the film opening very parallel.
The Symbolic Code
The props/symbols in the opening scene
of The Prestige are the magician's hat at the very beginning of the
clip and the bird. The hat symbolises the theme of the whole film, in this case magic and the bird symbolises the freedom but also captivity within the film. Captivity because the bird is locked inside the cage and freedom because he returns again free from the cage.
The Referential Code
A person may have to know that magic is either believable or not depending on who believes and who doesn't. If a person does, this makes the film more realistic and creates a lot more suspense when something is so real.