The specific episode which i am going to analyse if the first one, set in 1974 and directed by Julian Jarrold (he also directed 'Kinky Boots' in 2005 and various episodes of 'Silent Witness') focuses on a series of unsolved murders of young girls. The young reporter from the Yorkshire Post newspaper Eddie Dunford, played by Andrew Garfield, tries to find information on what happened to these girls and more mysteriously - who dunnit? This question is not easily answered.
Another frequent character John Dawson who is played by Sean Bean, is a local businessman who has bribed the council and police in order for him to purchase local land and gain permission for him to then build a mall on the land. John Dawson is pulled into the investigation when one of the murdered girls is found on his land, having been tortured, raped and strangled and most harrowing, she has swan wings stitched to her back.
He meets up with different people, trying to find key clues to resolves this investigation, however he mixes business with pleasure creating even more drama in his personal life and work. As circumstances become even more out of hand, somehow Dawson admits to Dunford that he was connected to the girls' murders. Dunford bravely flees into a car and into a head-on collision with the police cars hunting him down. He dies, but as he had previously given a fellow officer important documentation of evidence we think the investigation into the murders will carry on....until it is destroyed by a superintendent.
This first episode has been described as:
"The evil twin to Life on Mars" - DVD cover
"The accents were thick and difficult to understand" - nytimes.com
"It was confusing as the storyline went backwards and forwards" - nytimes.com
"Shot beautifully. Difficult to ignore" - nytimes.com
So here is my analysis and view of the OTS to the first episode set in 1974. I am going to start by basically explaining what happens in each shot and what dialogue is present in each shot:
- Titles on a dark background
- A moving shot upwards along the floor, where a few white feathers lay. The ground is dirty and we identify this must be outside. As the shot carries on moving up we see a pair of still swans wings and as the camera moves along one wing, we discover that these wings are stitched to a females back because we see her hair. She is dead on the ground. This shot isn't very bright, but as the wings are white they stand out dramatically. As the shot is very dark, it creates a creepy and bleak atmosphere. When the camera reaches the end of the second wing, there is no floor - just jet black and then fades out.
- Fades smoothly into a very out-of-focus blur and very close up shot of a young man.
- As the camera moves even close to his face, blending clearer and we see that he has a bloody face, his hair is scruffy and he is sitting on something brown and leather.
- There is a quick shot to his grubby hand dropping a gun. The gun falls, then bouncing on a brown leather sofa. For the gun to have bounced, he must have had his hand in the air while he was sitting down. We don't know if this young man is now dead.
- The screen goes black with the fading in of the text: 'The year of our lord'.....'1974'
- There is then a shot of what seems to be the camera attached to the side of a car, so we can see a close up of both door handles. The car is moving, with us moving with it. It is raining very hard and as the car is only taking up half of the frame, the road and scenery is taking up the other half - but it is very distorted and blurry. Only the car is in focus.
- A shot of rain dripping down the cars rear window, with somebody moving in the car. We guess this is the driver. We know this is the rear window because of the lines across the window. Very Blurry. Window is in the foreground, person in the background. Close-up of the back of somebody's head - the drivers.
- It then switches so that the person is in focus and the window is blurry. We see the messy hair of the person and their shoulder. At this moment, we are not sure who it is. Is it the bloody man?
- As this shot is still in the same place. The person turns their head to the side while at the same time, lifting his lighter-holding hand to then light a cigarette which was in their mouth. We discover - it is a man. The same man which had a bloody face. He is alive. He is the driver of the moving car. We could ask ourselves - was the bloody shot of him a fast-forward or a past event? He looks okay now, how long ago was he hurt?
- A front shot of the man where he is in the left side of the frame. - The car is right-hand driving so this must be in England or Europe. The window wipers are moving and its still raining. He looks quite sad. Takes a drag of the cigarette.
- The camera is laying in the middle of the road. Long shot so we see that the road is long, and the area is wide. Out eyes look along the markings in the middle of the frame towards the big landscape. The car moves along the left side of the road and the camera doesnt follow. As he is driving on the left side, this must be in the UK - setting the scene. The car moves further away from us into the distance. Still blurry due to rain. Road goes on forever, with the car moving further and further away from us. Still distorted and slightly blurry due to rain - realistic.
- Credits starting when car is moving away.
- There is then a quick shot of the young man going into a busy building. People on phones and looking at posters. With it being the same smooth shot, the camera follows the young man into another room.
- Still being the same shot, as the young man is fully in the room, a rather smartly dressed obese man looks at his watch, looks up and then calls "Edward".
- This has indicated to us that the young man who was driving and who had a bloody face is called Edward.
- Edward then knods his head to then walk to the man who called his name (still the same smooth shot).
- We are then shown that there is another man standing next to the obese man that called Edward. This man is looking down at some papers - so they must be something quite important or interesting.
- The shot then changes to the obese man being in the middle of the frame with Edward on his left, and the other man (still looking at the papers) on his left.
- There is alot of dialogue which at times, was hard to understand due to the Yorkshire accents, but i picked up on what i could:
Obese man: "Sorry to hear about your father"
Edward: "Thank-you very much Mr Radley *mumbles*
(So, we uncover that the obese man's name is Mr Radley and i shall call him just that)
Mr Radley: "This is Detective Superintendant Jobson"
(We have just found out that the man who is constantly looking at the papers is called Jobson)
(Edward tries to sneak a look at the papers Jobson is reading)
Edward: "Pleasure Sir, pleasure to meet you"
(Edward and Jobson shake hands with Jobson still looking down)
Mr Radley: "Mr Garfield is hoping to be the new crime correspondence"
Jobson: "Oh right, i always got on with Jack Whitehead"
Edward: "Good ole' Jack ey"
Mr Radley: "You'll be standing in for a trial period"
Edward: "Alright, pleasure to meet you and er, to work"
-The whole conversation is in one continuous shot. Edward walks off to a spot behind the couple. He looks to be waiting with various different people for something.
- After a few mumbles, everyone gets moving to the right with the camera shot still the same. Maybe into a room for a meeting?
- Mr Radley and Jobson walk off out of the shot (mid-shot) so there is then a wide shot of Edward in a crowd of waiting people and looking around him.
- The shot the quickly changes to Edward being in a crown of people. He mutters to a man beside him: "So wheres Whitehead then?" Edward is looking around.
- The man next to him responds: "Jack?"
- Edward replies looking nervous: "yeah"
- Man next to him: "on the piss probably, don't worry son, looks like you've got your legs right under the table, just do the job". From this we find out that Edward could be fighting for the job of crime correspondence with a man we don't know called Jack Whitehead. Edward is looking for Whitehead because he wants to know where his competition is.
- Edward then says: "I know, f*ck him, hes not getting out of this one". This can suggest that Whitehead is somehow in trouble, and Edward is trying to find him?
- There is then an over the shoulder shot of Edward and the man next to him. Between the men's shoulders, we see a long table and chairs with a microphone - almost as a press conference. The event is being uncovered.
- There is then a shot of along the long table, with Jobson sitting down and saying: "2 hours, its going to be tight"
-There is then a shot of the table again, but slightly further back so the rest of the table is seen. We see that there are more people sitting at the table. Jobson says: "gentlemen, going to give this brief".
- Over the shoulder of Edward and the man next to him - just like before. We see there are more people sitting at the table including a lady.
- Jobson says: "before 7pm early evening this September, Claire Kempley disappeared on her way home from juniours and infants" - which means he is starting to give details on an event which happened and which then explains the next shot. So now we know that this whole meeting is a press conference about the disappearance of a girl, and the police and the victims family are appealing for her to be found. We know that Edward is probably something to do with the police as he is in the crowd.
-There is then a close up shot of the lady on the table looking very distraught and teary - she must be a relative of the missing girl so i shall call her Mrs Kempley.
- Shot of Jobson and then he says "Claire is 10 years old..."
- Then close up shot of Edward in the crowd with his friend slightly blurrier in the background. Jobson carries on to say: "she was wearing a red anarak, grey school uniform..."
- Shot then moves to over the shoulders of Jobson, so we can see most of the seated big crowd. We see Edward in the seated crowd - this has set the scene and located where he is. Jobson carries on from previous continuously: "and red wellingtons boots. Mrs Kempley would now like to issue a statement. Thank-you." So now we know that the teary woman next to Jobson is more than likely the victims mother.
- Over the shoulder shot of Edward as Jobson moves the microphone to his left for Mrs Kempley to use.
- Shot of Edward in centure frame with the man next to him. Smoke is all around the room, which is another indication that this programme isn't modern if the audience didnt know already. Edward then says to the man next to him while still looking forward: "ey, do you think the dad did it?". Edward is guessing already from hardly information who the badie could be - suggesting that he is a confident and sure person?
- Mrs Kempley: "I would like to appeal to anyone who knows where my Claire is, i saw he off yesterday teatime, please contact the police. Claire is a very happy girl." From what Jobson had earlier said, the month is September because Claire went missing yesterday. Mrs Kempley is still understandably teary, which could create great sympathy for her character.
- Close up shot of Edward in centre frame. Background voice from Mrs Kempley: "and i know she wouldnt just run off without telling me". This is to see Andrews reaction to what Mrs Kempley is saying - he is feeling compasion.
- Shot of Mrs Kempley: "please if you know where she is"
- There is then a shot of Jobson in the side of frame while there is somebody's blury head in shot - as if we are sitting in the crowd/audience watching this take place. Jobson's expression is very stern and as if he is hiding something.
- Shot moves to another man sitting on the long table, close up also but we don't know who this man is. Another blurry head in shot as if we are sitting in the crowd.
- Close up shot of Edward centre frame, while Jobson says: "alright lads, thats enough". There are are also women in the crowd, but the fact that he only mentions the men could reflect on the gender differences in 1974.
- There is then a very unexpected and unexplained close up shot of a metal plague which is on fire. It is unnailed and laying on wood - meaning that this isn't on a door, and has been placed somewhere. The plague reads:
'William Dunford, 1912-1974'
- Then, there is an extreme close up shot of the name 'Dunford' and '1974' - this could be the plague on somebodies coffin? As we know that Edward's dad has recently died (Mr Radley earlier said he is sorry to hear) this could be his name - William Dunford. Therefore, we now know that Edward's last name is 'Dunford'. The plague melts and bends.
- The shot moves back to the close up, but then zooms in slightly more so that fire fills up most of the frame - giving a trapped feeling, its all we concentrate on. No longer see the plague - its dead, finished.
- Sudden shot of an ordinary house with Edward's car swiftly moving into the frame. The car parks on the curb. As the house is central in the frame, we could assume that Edward is about to go into that house.
- Shot of door. After a few seconds the door is opened by a woman who then hugs Edward - this looks to be Edward's mother who is very glad to be seeing him. There is a lady in the background who could be Edward's sister, she is standing and as she is in the background, she is slightly blurry. This woman does look very happy to be seeing him - because they both come to the door, we could assume that they were worried about edward.
- Still the same shot, Edward says: "im sorry" as if he was late - so the reason she was hugging him was because she didnt know where he had got to and was worrying incase anything had happened to him.
- Camera moves slightly right so the lady in the back is a bit more in the frame and more in focus. Andrew is hugging the lady again.
- Within the same shot, the woman (possibly Edward's mother) says: "business before pleasure he always says" - meaning what Edward's dad and the woman's husband always used to say. He used to say this because he is now dead? - this dialogue has just finalized that William Dunford is dead. The previous two clues were: Mr Radley meantions he is sorry and the plaque.
- Woman in the background (probably Edward's sister says: "She means dad..."
- Camera moves to inside the house and of the back of the mother and Edward. Almost as if the camera or us is next to Edward's sister.The woman carries on to say: "do you remember dad?". So we now know completely that these three characters are family and the father has died for some reason. The sister seems angry at Edward, as if she thinks he has forgotten what his father was like.
These events which i have described happened in the first 5 minutes of the film. I have highlighted key things which i have pointed out.There are some very important things i have discovered about the characters or what happened while looking back on the shots:
- I have a suspisious feeling that from the first shot of Edwards being very bloody and having a gun in his hand could be linked to his fathers death? Did he kill his father? He does look like he is reflecting on things when he is in the car, sad and stern.
- because Edwards sisters says "do you remember dad?", i could guess that he didnt die recently so, the is a fast-forward from when Edward is bloody, to when he is in the car.
- However this fast-forward cant be years because Edward doesnt look any older.
- The house is quite a middle-class size for the time this film is set. So edward must be middle-class. he also has his own car.
- When he is in the conference, he is wearing something to different to when he visits his mother. This is obviously a different day. I was first thinking that this shows he cares more about the way he looks infront of his mother compared to when he goes to work - but then i realised that his whole family are wearing dark clothing - suitable for a funeral? The funeral of his father - so, the death must have been recent.
So now, i am going to watch the 5 minute OTS a few more times, and write about the sound, lighting, mise-en-scene, character's (personalities, personas etc) character's aesthetics (costumes, etc), representation and stereotype and timings:
Sound
There is both non-diagetic and diagetic sound in the whole OTS. Right at the start when the title comes up, there is a non-diagetic thunder sound - this is because the title is set on a dark, and gloomy sky. During the moving up shot of the floor, feathers and swans wings, there is a very eery, creepy sound. This sound could be conventional of film noir and sets a very suspensed atmosphere and forshadows that we are yet to discover something - we are waiting to find something. When the fade into the shot of the bloody man, the music becomes slightly higher pitched but still flows and is similar to the before music. When the shot of the bloody mans starts to become sharper, the music becomes more simpler - just a few piano keys and an ongoing note. This on going note adds to the suspense because it is very calm, it is as if we are waiting for this note to suddenly change. Because the bloody man is just laying there hurt, it wouldnt make sense to have loud, fast music. As the gun drops, there is a slight sound when it falls out of his hand, but as the gun bounces off the sofa, there is only a slight and distant sound.
When the first text comes up, the music becomes slightly louder and has more substance of notes and keys. The music hasnt stopped completely yet, which has kept the audience hooked.
When Edward is driving in the car, the music is still very eery, effortletless and random is of piano notes, however more clearer than before. When there is a shot of the man through the back windscreen, we guess its the man, says some non-diagetic dialogue with the non-digetic music still behind it. We notice he has a Yorkshire accent. When the camera is on the floor of the road and the car drives by, there is a 'raw' of the car going past in the rain with the piano still in the background. This loud sound really contrasts with the quite and delicate piano sounds. The non-digetic narration from the man stops when he enters the busy building. The piano is still playing when he enters the room, but the diagetic sound of alot of people is present. The piano sound fades away when Edward starts talking to Jobson and Mr Radley. Non-diagetic sound of a bell rings telling the crowd to go inside the press conference room. As Jobson and the other people on the long table start to sit down, we hear the flashing of cameras - indicates that this is a press event.When they are in the conference room, the sound of the crowd is still there right until Jobson says the press conference is going to start. Rustling of paper by Jobson - probably was present when filming but has been enhanced. There is sound when the press conference is taking place - which is a long samey tone but so quiet it is almost as if it is very serious and silent event - the audience can really hear and concentrate on what the details about the disappearance are.
When the plaque is on fire, there is a harsh rawing sound and the piano notes start again and get louder towards the end shot of the plaque.
When Edward arrives at the house, we hear the rubble of his car, however as it isn't raining at this moment in time, the sound isn't as loud as the previous time. Piano still playing and i think i heard some very quiet bird cheaps. Piano carries on until the end of the 5 minutes.
Lighting
Overall, the lighting is mainly very natural in the whole OTS making it very bleak, raw and cold. The dark lighting of the dead girl with swan's wings is very dark - showing us that she was killed at night? It looks like the only light source in this shot is from the moon. When Edward is laying on the brown leather sofa, there is unnatural light shining on his face which indicates he is inside. It makes sense for the lighting to be very dull and bleak when it is raining - it is the type of light you would expect. And i think the dark lighting highlights Edward's siloette in the car - creating an almost mysterious persona. The dark lighting doesnt create a very jolly or happy atmosphere which matches the events of the film and Edward. Eventhough the lighting in the building is unnatural, it isn't very bright - giving a smokey and slightly blurry sight. No specific light is shining on any of the men's faces, so we evenly look at all of them. When everyone is in the press conference room, the lighting is still unnaturally bleak, however slightly brighter than the previous scene. Flashes of cameras. This slightly brighter lighting has meant we can see more of the characters. Bright flames of fire contrasts with the previous bleak scene. When Edward rolls us to the house, the sky is very dull, and doesnt look any brighter than the driving shots, this is also the same for when Edward is greeted by his mother.
Mise-en-scene
The whole film reflects the time in which the film is set. When i was watching the shots of the girl with the swan's wings, i got the sense that she was outside, possibly very deep in the woods or wherever she was. She is facing down so we cant see her face, as if she had just been dropped and we wonder who she is. The wings are in the middle of the frame, we mistakenly think we are just going to see a dead swan. Edward is sitting on a very shiney, well-kept brown leather sofa - suggesting that he has money? The gun looks older than the 1970's, you wouldnt expect a young good-looking man to have a gun - is it even his? The landscape is empty and in the middle of knowhere. He doesnt look very country so we ask ourselves what he is doing there. hes a smoker which is common for the 1970's. He has a car suggesting that he is in poverty. With posters on the wall of the building and the very smart-looking interior, we could guess that this is a professional place. The place isn't big, so it could be for just one purpose? Inside the building isn't modern for the time, and is quite garish and gives the sense that it hasnt been decorated for a few years. Tables and chairs everywhere. As Edward is surrounded by lots of people when in the conference room, we could guess that this is quite an important event. The specialist microphones and table show that this room is used for one main thing - conferences. Interior very dull, yet smarty and conservative. I think that having the police officers and the victims parents all in a row lets us compared all of the people's reactions. The house is very normal and middle-class due to the size of it and the other nice cars. We see inside of the house and it is very nice, which again makes the people look very middle class. Also, the fact that the family still live in a nice house, even when the breadwinner (their father and husband) is dead could suggest that they have stable money. The lady behind the mother is standing to the side so the audience can see her an her reactions. We notice her body language isn't as welcoming as the mothers suggesting a rift in the family.
Character's personas
After watching the whole OTS, i get the impression that Edward is quite laddish due to him smoking, fast driving, the gun and the banter he had with the man next to him when watching the conference. I don't know much about what type of person he is just from the first 5 minutes, but as the first shot was of him covered in blood could suggest there is more to him than he shows other people and he is hiding something. When he is commiserations to his father by Mr Radley, he doesnt seem to keen to talk about it. This could mean he was either very close to his father and the loss of him is still raw, or he is trying to avoid the subject because he feels guilty about something - which could also link back to when his sister asks if he still remembers him.
Mr Radley takes his job seriously but not as seriously as Jobson - he doesnt listen to anything about what Edward or Mr Radley says, he is too concerned about when is on the paper. Mr Radley seems like a very polite person as he greets Edward with a smart hand-shake and introduces both Jobson and Edward to eachother. Eventhough Jobson does shake Edwards hand, he stright away looks back down at his papers again. There is a shot of Jobson looking very suspious (4:17) of Andrew (as the camera is posistioned as if we are looking through Edward's eyes), he doesnt show much personality.
Characters aesthetically
The costumes reflect the time in which this film is set. Edward is young and good looking but i don't think this is to hook in the female audience because i don't believe they are the target audience. There is a noticeable contrast between the way Edward dressed to the way the police officers dressed - is he that bothered about being a police officer? Edward dressed very casually and for his age, and the police officers have dressed very smartly which is right for the job and their age. The difference of dress reflects the rebellion of Edward - he is dressed completely different from everyone else in the building - even his friend sitting next to him. His tie is lose, and his top button is undone, which could show that he isn't bothered about the correct presentation.
I did notice that when Edward goes to see his mother is is not wearing the same clothing as he did in the conference. This could mean that he could have dressed smart, but just chose not to. His whole family are dress smartly - possibly to go to a funeral? His fathers? As we now know that he owns a suit, we know that he could have chosen to wear it when he went the conference but didnt - isn't he serious about the job?
Representation and stereotype
I think for the age of Edward (in his 20's) the way he acts and dresses reflects his age. When he visits his family, he hugs her showing that he does respect his mother. I think that Jobson showed that he is very ignorant and rude by just looking at his papers. The mother of the victim has reacted very stereotypically to what has happened to her daughter and the father of the victim tries to comfort her however, he is more content in himself and doesnt speak or say anything, or even look at the crowd - this is why Edward asks the man next to him if he thought the father did the crime. Mr Radley is very polite which could reflect his age and position of authority.
Timings
The shot of the girl with swan's wings is very slow and then suddenly goes straight into a extreme close-up shot of Edward's blurry face. It is in slow motion when Edward is bloody on the chair and when drops the gun. This could mean something really bad has just happened. The driving shots go from one to the other, with a variet of different shots, so we never know what type of filming is going to be next. The scene is quite long compared to how fast Edward is driving - giving the impression that this is a long car journey. The scenes after the driving scene arent particularly fast or slow, they are very normal.
Credits
The production cinstitutions are noted on a black background, and then the cast member arent mentioned until the shot of the camera being on the floor and Edward driving past. This credit is in the bottom right corner, so it is not in the way of the car. The text is in capitals and the colour is yellowey. It looks very formal but doesnt look stereotypically 1970's. Everytime a new cast member is shown, they are on opposite sides to the previous. The cast credits stop just before everybody goes into the conference room.
How it relates to conventional film noir
How it does:
- Has the theme of murder
- Police characters
- Main character is the protagonist - Edward
- Middle-class characters
- main character attractive
- There is a sense of mystery about the characters and the crime
- Eery music, but still very quiet
- Damp as been raining
- Very british
- Colour, eventhough very bleak
- Not very much shadow or hight contrast
- The protagonist could also be the antagonist as he doesnt give very much away and also, he had his hand on a gun and has blood of his face
- No femme fetale
- More gritty than glamourous
- The timing is quite fast
- The building is modest
- The portayl of the policeman is overall good and not as antagonists
- The main character us the policeman
- The murders are too brutal for film noir
Target audience
I would guess that the target is men because of the brutal themes, mainly male cast and police characters. I think nobody under the age of 18 would watch it due the the certified age limit, but any male over this age would enjoy this film.
Conclusion
I have probably watched the first 5 minutes of this film around 6 or 7 times. I did quite like it, but due to the violence, certified age and blood i don't think i will be watching the whole thing anytime soon. This film has had very good views, but personally, i don't think it relates very much to film noir - possibly due to the accents, era, unconventional personas, very serious murders and lighting.
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