Analysis of Wallander

Analysis of Wallander (Firewall, 7^th December 2008, BBC1)

In order for the opening sequence to be effective a range of elements have to be included. Specific sound, editing, mis en scene and cinematography techniques have to be used to make the audience feel intrigued to keep watching as well as ask questions about what they are watching. The scene begins as a black screen which creates quite a mysterious feel and makes the audience feel unsure about what they are watching. It makes them ask questions such as what are we looking at?, is it the sea?, what is happening here?, where is everyone? Etc. This is a very dark scene where nobody knows exactly where or what is happening. It creates a serious atmosphere where your eyes are glued to the screen because you want to discover more.

Whilst the scenes are appearing the sound is used to help reinforce the meaning. The music begins quite tense and dramatic which is rather unusual for the beginning of the scene because you believe it will be calmer and then slowly build up but this goes straight into being dramatic. This could have been done so that you are instantly drawn in and focused on what’s to come. However even though it is starting dramatic it is still building up and up into an even bigger climax. It sounds like a very cold and dark place with the wind blowing sending shivers done your spine therefore enhancing that mysterious, eerie feel to it. As the camera begins to track towards the land the sounds becomes more high pitched and the intensity is increased, this may be highlighting how we are getting closer and closer to the land and that we may be about to see something. After this big build up the music suddenly drops out and completely disappears, this is interesting in the way that it contrasts with the dramatic sound because everything suddenly goes silent. When we eventually see the people in the scene it remains silent with the addition of the hyperbolic sound of their footsteps. This creates the sense that nobody else is around so any move you make will be heard. As well as this no dialogue is used perhaps expressing how they are reflecting on what they have done and can’t come to terms with it meaning they can’t speak. It conveys how they are thinking in their minds but perhaps believe if they make contact with each other they will be found out. In addition to this when the car is seen on screen the radio is heard. This highlights how this was once a very jolly scene where the man was having a good time and was generally feeling happy about life. However it sounds slightly muffled and broken which highlights how something bad has happened and that the mood has been broken and demolished. Also it portrays that the place is so remote that it is even out of range for the radio.  Furthermore we hear the characters breathing which is extremely dramatic and reinforces that isolation as well as portraying that adrenaline rush they have got from what they have done.

After the first shot the camera begins to track towards the something which we then begin to realise is the countryside. However we still can’t see anything until the camera gets close enough for us to see a car and people walking away from it. We instantly realise something has happened but we can’t make out what exactly it is.  The camera must be in a helicopter because it is a high angle shot and is gradually tracking towards the countryside. We realise that whoever is coming up in the scene is in trouble. The scene starts off with low key lighting and the as it begins to track the shot starts to get lighter as more of the land is revealed.  Even though the grass is starting to be seen it doesn’t look particular pleasant which suggests that this place is someone where you don’t want to be and is a very isolated place. The setting is clearly somewhere difficult to get to and is therefore somewhere that not many people go to.

 

 
The camera continues to track towards the car and the people walking away and when you believe you are finally going to see what’s happened the camera cuts away so you still don’t discover what is there.  This is then followed by a mid-shot of the people walking away. We can only see the backs of their heads and part of their bodies. The reason this has been done is to give us a slight clue about who is involved but their faces are not revealed because they want to hides the emotions so that you don’t discover all the answers to the questions straight away. We can clearly see they are walking away from the car but we ask ourselves why are they there?, were they in the car?, what have they done? Etc. It creates quite a dangerous atmosphere where a threat is clearly portrayed. Even though we can’t see their face it allows us to see what they are wearing so we start to make a slight judgement on them. We can see there are two girls one with red sections in her hair and one with brown hair. They also are both dressed in black and have messy hair, from looking at this we instantly start to believe that the one wearing the leather jacket is the more dominant character because for one the leather jacket is normally associated with someone who is quite “rebellious”. As well as this she is taller and the way she is presented makes her seem slightly more confident perhaps she could be slightly older. However the other girls seem more innocent, she could have even been manipulated by the other girl and dragged into whatever the situation is. They seem to be walking at a slow pace acting as if nothing has happened so it leaves the audience clueless. This is a long take where the image of them walking stays on screen for a long time. This may have been used to highlight how they seem quite calm and relaxed and are not running away from the scene.

 

 

Next a pull focus is used on the ID Card. The ID card is in focus and the girls can be seen in the background but are out of focus meaning it is still hiding their identity. In this shot we suddenly get an insight into what has being happened. We understand that a violent attack has happened with the clues of the blood splattered on the window however we still don’t know who the man is or who the girls are and why and what has happened.  A representation that the man has done something wrong is seen with the ID and people believe he must have done something to hurt the girls. It is still unclear if he is dead but our natural instinct believes he is and we create the assumption that the girls have done this and are walking away.  The darkness of the objects in this shot directly draws you towards the pure red blood which makes you understand that something dangerous has happened and someone has clearly been hurt. Low key lighting is also used to convey the danger of the situation and perhaps the death. However we are able to work out that this couldn’t have been a car accident because there is nothing to crash into because it is in such an isolated setting where no one is around although the thought that perhaps self-defence has been used crosses your mind but generally it looks more of an attack in the way that the car engine is still going so it must have been quite recent.

 

Cross cutting is used where it is constantly cutting between shots of the girls and the car/man to convey what they have done. Finally we get to see a close up of the girl’s facial expressions and they seem to be quite cold and emotionless. The camera continues to keep the girl with red hair in focus to demonstrate how she is the leader and the other girl is just the follower doing what she is told. As well as this we can clearly see the blood on both of them so we finally know the answer that they have been involved in what has happened.  They seem to not care about what they have done but seem focused to get somewhere else.  The lighting is high key however just by the atmosphere of the scene it seems darker and a depressing feeling comes across. The shots of the girls seem to have a longer duration than anything else maybe to convey how they don’t seem particularly concerned about what they have done.

 

To follow an extreme close up of the man is revealed and we discover how badly hurt he is. You can see the pain and the hurt that he has encountered. The angle of this image directly draws us to his eye and it conveys how violent the attack must have been. The colour seems quite dull and dark which reinforces the dramatic, suspicious atmosphere. In addition to this we see his eye slightly flicker perhaps to indicate the last part of life and that he is about to die.

  

We then see a mid-shot of the girls walking with the car in the background and we understand they were participants because of the amount of blood on their bodies. Furthermore they have very heavy, deep breathing and are starting to walk faster indicating that they may be starting to feel guilty and have come to the realisation that there is no-where to run to or no one to go to.

 
A close up of a key ring is then shown. This suddenly makes you feel angry at the girls because you understand that he was a family man and believe that he couldn’t have done anything wrong.  We sympathise with the man and are no longer on the girl’s side.  This is effective because it changes our perception on the scene and makes us start to ask more questions about what has happened.

 

After there is a shot of the girls again and the camera is tracking towards the “main” girl with the red hair to highlight her as the most responsible and to make us feel angry at her and make us dislike her. Then suddenly we see the close up of her hand covered in blood and her dropping the blade which conveys how she has played a major part in this attack and has been extremely cruel.  This is a short take because it is trying to build up the pace making the audience more interesting and creating more of an intense atmosphere. The titles that appears after this shot links to it because it conveys an image of the blade. This therefore make us want to keep watching to discover why this has happened.

 

 

This is the opening sequence from Wallander.