The Killing
The second piece of TV I will be analysing is ‘The Killing’ (2011) an American crime drama which focuses on multiple murder investigations Seattle homicide detectives have to deal with. Based on the already successful Danish television series `Forbrydelsen’, ‘The Killing’ became vastly popular amongst audiences with the series use drama creating a dark, cruel look into the lives of homicide detectives but also how victims and their family’s deal with grief and loss also the re commissioning of the series on Netflix gained the series a lot more popularity.
‘The Killing’ uses an over arching narrative similar to that of other crime dramas which is focusing on one murder throughout the series but is broken up into a parallel narrative consisting of three sub plots allowing the narrative to be told from various characters perspectives. The three sub plots are of two street kids, two detectives, and a prisoner. Towards the start of the series the narratives are unclear as we do not understand why are being shown these three narratives yet throughout the series the narratives begin to overlap therefore leading the narrative back to the murder creating a circular narrative.
Various technical elements are used throughout ‘The Killing’ the first being cinematography. ‘The Killing’ mostly uses fly on the wall shots as though we are looking right into the scene therefore engaging with the audience and creating a documentary feel to the series. Fly on the wall shots are also use convey the idea the audience do not know what is happening and we are outsiders looking in waiting for the narrative to unfold. Objects are also placed at the forefront of the frame to give an impression that somebody is watching and to correspond with the idea audiences do not know what is happening as audiences are just looking in and to also create depth. Low angle shots are used when looking up at detectives to show the detectives importance. Over the shoulder shot of a victim looking into a cracked mirror is used to create a metaphor of how broken the victim is. ‘The Killing’ uses non diegetic sounds throughout the series to create tension for example a scene in which a prisoner is waiting to hurt a prison officer tension is built using non diegetic music. The lighting used is often low key to correlate with the dark, gritty atmosphere and theme. A prisoner is lit from the left side of his face forming a shadow on the right side of the face to show that the character could potentially be evil and untrustworthy due to part of his face being covered. Natural looking lighting is also used coming from windows into the inside of the house adding to the realism rather than making the lighting look artificial. Dark, ambient lighting is used when a sequence takes place in the police station to create a gloomy feel to correspond with the harsh, depressing nature of the series. ‘The Killing’ uses a very dull and savage look to the imagery through Mise en scene by using bland colours found in an urban setting to convey a feeling of illness and coldness across to the audience. Editing is another important part of ‘The Killing’, The editing used in ‘The Killing’ is slow paced to correspond with the slow narrative and allow for character development and dialogue. When a scene ends the scene fades to black then opens with an establishing shot for the next sequence to keep the narrative linear and show audiences where the next scene is set.
The second piece of TV I will be analysing is ‘The Killing’ (2011) an American crime drama which focuses on multiple murder investigations Seattle homicide detectives have to deal with. Based on the already successful Danish television series `Forbrydelsen’, ‘The Killing’ became vastly popular amongst audiences with the series use drama creating a dark, cruel look into the lives of homicide detectives but also how victims and their family’s deal with grief and loss also the re commissioning of the series on Netflix gained the series a lot more popularity.
‘The Killing’ uses an over arching narrative similar to that of other crime dramas which is focusing on one murder throughout the series but is broken up into a parallel narrative consisting of three sub plots allowing the narrative to be told from various characters perspectives. The three sub plots are of two street kids, two detectives, and a prisoner. Towards the start of the series the narratives are unclear as we do not understand why are being shown these three narratives yet throughout the series the narratives begin to overlap therefore leading the narrative back to the murder creating a circular narrative.
Various technical elements are used throughout ‘The Killing’ the first being cinematography. ‘The Killing’ mostly uses fly on the wall shots as though we are looking right into the scene therefore engaging with the audience and creating a documentary feel to the series. Fly on the wall shots are also use convey the idea the audience do not know what is happening and we are outsiders looking in waiting for the narrative to unfold. Objects are also placed at the forefront of the frame to give an impression that somebody is watching and to correspond with the idea audiences do not know what is happening as audiences are just looking in and to also create depth. Low angle shots are used when looking up at detectives to show the detectives importance. Over the shoulder shot of a victim looking into a cracked mirror is used to create a metaphor of how broken the victim is. ‘The Killing’ uses non diegetic sounds throughout the series to create tension for example a scene in which a prisoner is waiting to hurt a prison officer tension is built using non diegetic music. The lighting used is often low key to correlate with the dark, gritty atmosphere and theme. A prisoner is lit from the left side of his face forming a shadow on the right side of the face to show that the character could potentially be evil and untrustworthy due to part of his face being covered. Natural looking lighting is also used coming from windows into the inside of the house adding to the realism rather than making the lighting look artificial. Dark, ambient lighting is used when a sequence takes place in the police station to create a gloomy feel to correspond with the harsh, depressing nature of the series. ‘The Killing’ uses a very dull and savage look to the imagery through Mise en scene by using bland colours found in an urban setting to convey a feeling of illness and coldness across to the audience. Editing is another important part of ‘The Killing’, The editing used in ‘The Killing’ is slow paced to correspond with the slow narrative and allow for character development and dialogue. When a scene ends the scene fades to black then opens with an establishing shot for the next sequence to keep the narrative linear and show audiences where the next scene is set.