Crime Analysis

The killing season 3 episode 8 Reckoning
In this blog post i will be analysing a crime drama and looking at four main points in how these four points work well together to create a successful working crime drama.

First i will be looking at the two main characters of the show which play the detectives both of these characters have a closed relationship meaning strictly work based in the sense of being a detective however the female of the partners are a more gentle character when talking to witnesses in the show as she is seen as a friendly face or a mother figure in the show. However the male character is a more harsh and brutal character as you see in this specific episode when questioning a witness he does not have a barrier what i mean by this is that with the victim being in the emotional state she is in he often made harsh remarks to the victim mainly slightly humours but also with a sarcastic tone.

Later see that the male character is also seen as an addict meaning he has a weakness showing the audience that he is weaker then the female and how he is open about his issues. The female comes in to comfort him and take on all the weight of there relationship while still containing her investigation she is also seen as the smarter one of the two as she goes to great depths to get answers and does not stop digging until she finds answers but even then she is not satisfied the male is more laid back and often puts the investigation as a closed one.

The Killing has one main narrative with some sub narratives thrown in to give it more story however the main and sub narratives are stretched over by five acts the first is getting the case about the main narrative. Next is finding evidence about the murderer giving them clues to follow to catch the killer third is a pinnacle plot point in which they think the case is solved until new evidence has come to light which then tips the plot to a new direction which then shows a new act where they are finally close to solving the case and then finally the final act is the final crusade in which the characters go forth and catch the murderer or killer and put him away. However in some series this killer can and case can be stretched out over the course of two or three seasons or even giving the audience once plot point for one season and then another next season. This show is heavily set on evidence as this is one of the key features of the show allowing the story to go in multiple directions and giving the show more characters and more twists and turns.

The show is shot in a handy cam motion what this means is that the show is shot like the cops are being followed around by a camera crew in some aspect it is shot up close and personal meaning when moments of intense drama are show on screen the cops are followed when things get intense. Furthermore in shots when fighting is shown there are close ups of the struggle with shots of the faces of fighters being hit repeatedly. However there are not many reverse shots in this program rather shots of both characters communicating to one another in the same occupied space. On the other hand in some scenes there are shots reserve shots in conversation if the scene is filmed in side the prison due to the area that is being filmed.

The lighting in this show is quite dark in all areas even in some daylight scenes the light is quite gloomy this is to create atmosphere in the story and to created suspense in the shots it helps drive the drama with the use of dark colours and moody lighting. It helps push the genre of this show very well as it is sticking to its roots of being a dark crime drama. Finally non-digetic sounds are used in this show to created much suspense for example in many scenes dark slow music is played to keep the atmosphere going between some character and when the pace of the drama changes the tempo of the music picks up. However in some aspects there is no non digetic sounds just the sound of the characters talking and that is also no background static or background noises the use of having no non digetic sound helps create a suspenseful environment as the conversations between characters keeper you hooked to the scenes as you are waiting for the next bit of drama to begin it helps keeps viewers interested with the use of no non digerati sound and only strictly digetic sound.