Extract Essay

    The extract I watched was a clip from the show “24.” It seems to me as the director wanted to make it a drama, thriller fitted show. Many factors go into my theory as to why I believe this show is that genre. Moreover, considering it seems to follow a group of detectives or police officers, it makes sense that it would be a thriller or drama.

    The scene opens up to a woman sitting in what looks to be an interrogation room. The lighting is dim, almost cold. This was a great choice by the director as it creates an eerie, dramatic feel right at the start. The woman looks past the camera and a door is shown in the next shot. This is a subtle, yet clever use of the eye-line match shot. A man then walks in without saying a word. The camera switches back over to show the woman as it zooms in on her face. This was most likely used to show her expression to the man, looking unfazed, like someone who is attempting to hide something. 

    The man shuts the door and begins walking over to the table that the woman is sitting at. The man walks into a close-up shot, which was probably used to build tension. As he slides a few pieces of paper across the table a pan occurs. This pan might have been used to show the sheer proximity between the characters, possibly foreshadowing later action. The shot then cuts to a group of people watching the two on a tv, over a surveillance camera that was shown in an earlier shot. Again, this was foreshadowing later events between the man and women in the room. 

    The women finally begin to speak. The dialogue helps heighten the tension within the scene, especially because the audience waited for about 40 seconds before any speaking began. Shot reverse shots are used to show the quick responses between the characters. Additionally, the use of jump cuts is to speed up the scene and add even more tension between characters. As the scene comes to an end, but not without tension at its greatest, a split-screen appears. The director might have chosen this to show the real-time action occurring as the rest of the detectives rush into the interrogation room. As the man is pulled off of the women, the scene fades to black. 

    I believe the director wanted this to be a very dramatic scene in this episode, possibly one of the more important ones. As this is only a couple of scenes from this show, it is hard to determine how the rest of the show plays out. However, from this extract, I can tell that this is a drama, thriller that gets very intense at moments.