AICE Media Studies Extract: 24

In the American action drama TV show, 24, the director is suggesting that sometimes it is necessary for good to overcome evil by any means. This conclusion can be drawn through the extract provided through the camera angles, editing techniques, intense sounds, and a well-developed mis-en-scene. When the extract of the film opens, it is immediately apparent that the setting in an interview room, and the two main characters are a criminal and an interviewer. The first line of dialogue states, “Lets keep this simple. If you want to stop the bomb, I need to be on a plane to Vessella now.” The interviewer than proceeds to say, “Did you pick Vessella for a reason, or does anywhere outside of the blast radius work.” The dialogue presented, suggests that the criminal was involved in planting of a bomb, and that it is the job of the interviewer to disarm it. However, the interviewer lacks pertinent information, that would be relevant to the task at hand, and the criminal is the only one able to give this information. As stated previously, the theme of this extract is to achieve justice by any means necessary, and that’s when the interviewer takes it into his own hands.

In the beginning scene of the show, 24, I find that that the camera angles, choice of sound, and certain editing techniques are being used to convey the overall purpose to the audience. For instance, at approximately 00:03, an over the shoulder shot appears. This is a commonly used shot in interviews or employee/boss scenes. The over the shoulder shot depicts the male interviewer entering the interview room from the criminal’s point of view, suggesting on a deeper level, that the male interviewer has dominance over the criminal. The use of dialogue additionally reveals the director’s purpose for the sequence. The dialogue between the two characters in the opening scene reveals that there are lives at stake with the explosion of a bomb, and the interviewer is look for answers fast, no matter the cost. Finally, an eye-line-match, is used to show the interviewer acknowledging a security camera in the interview room, implying that he knows his colleagues are watching him. However, he still proceeds with aggression towards the criminal, revealing his belief of “by any means necessary.’ Overall, the authors choice of techniques helps to reveal to the audience that justice should be achieved by any means in the first scene.

In addition, in the following scene from the excerpt of the action drama, 24, I find that various aspects of the mis-en-scene, in addition to the build up of ambient sound, creates a sense of intensity, further revealing the directors purpose. This scene involves the building of intensity as the interviewer is desperate for answers, that only the criminal can answer at the moment. Tactics such as flipping the table or shout at the criminal and tried but to no effect as the interviewer searches. Despite this reality, some aspects when creating the mis-en-scene are effective and reveal a portion of the director’s purpose. For instance, the director employs dim and dark lightning during the interview, revealing potential intimidation in the criminal. Additionally, the director makes use of the setting, the interview room. Since the setting in this scene is the interview room, the director is objectifying the positions/roles of the characters and pointing out the interviewers retains majority of the dominance in this setting. Finally, the use of building ambient sound is revealing to the audience the temperament of the interviewer is increasing, and the control over his actions is decreasing. All in all, the combined techniques in the mis-en-scene, as well as, the building of suspenseful ambient sound help to evoke emotion in the audience, as they prepare for the interviewer to lose his grips on his emotions.

Furthermore, in the third and final scene in which the interviewer loses his grip with his emotions and actions, the director employs close ups and the split screen editing technique. At approximately 02:30 in duration, the interviewer cans be seen choking the criminal. During this time period he states, “You are going to tell me everything I want to know or I swear to God I will kill you, and no one will stop me.” The close up used here, put the audience in close proximity to the two characters, revealing the vulnerability of the criminal and the ruthlessness of the interviewer, despite knowing the consequences as shown earlier. Also, the split screen utilized shows the reaction of the colleagues meanwhile the interviewer is choking out the criminal, demonstrating the disapproval the interviewer’s actions from his colleagues. In summary, the close up and the split screen effect, are a perfect combination to demonstrate the interviewer’s/director’s belief of “by any means necessary.”

In conclusion, throughout the various scenes of the extract, certain techniques employed reveals the director’s belief that sometimes it is necessary for good to overcome evil by any means. The first scene employs dialogue, eye-line-matches, and dialogue to reveal to the audience the severity of the situation and what is at stake. The second scene involves the build up of intensity and emotion, as the interviewer struggles to retrieve answers for the current crisis. The dim and dark lighting, the setting, and the ambient noise all contribute as an intimidation factor but, to no avail. Finally, in the third scene the interviewer snaps and proceeds to choke out the criminal. A split screen technique as well as close ups are used to show the interviewers colleagues disapproval and the intensity the interviewer was feeling. I believe the director made great choice of techniques that reflected to me the idea of Justice by any means necessary.