How does the opening sequence of CSI: Strip Strangler attract the
audience?
CSI:
Strip Strangler is about a serial killer that breaks into victim’s homes in Las
Vegas. He tortures his victims until they are finally murdered by being
strangled with a household item. Grissom tries to solve the murders throughout
the episode.
This series plays with audience
expectations by using the typical conventions of the thriller/ horror genre.
Each episode starts in the same way so the audience is anticipating that there
is going to be a murder or the discovery of a murder. You do not see the killer
until later on in the episode so they audience is left in suspense.
The opening shot is an extreme
long shot of Las Vegas at a high angle. This implies that everyone below is a
victim because high angled shots indicate vulnerability. The mise-en-scene is
at night and there are flashes of thunder and lightning, these are typical
horror movie conventions that signify something bad is going to happen so. This
is allowing the audience to anticipate what is going to happen. The next shot
is of an apartment building at night, shot from a high angle crane. This is
implying to the audience that the victim is inside the building and that the
whole building is vulnerable. However there is a light inside the building
which indicates a safe zone. It is shot
at night because that is when people are most vulnerable and there isn’t much
visibility, the building is isolated by trees and shadows, another horror movie
convention.
In the next shot the camera tilts
down so the camera is positioned to look up at the building. The building now
looks powerful and evil. The light inside the building also dimmers, this is
indicating that the safe zone has now gone and nobody is safe. Throughout this sequence the sound is eerie
and atonal; the non-diegetic crescendo is also building up so the audience is
now anticipating something bad is going to happen.
The camera then cuts to a shot of
the camera tracking down a dark and narrow hallway, this is suggesting that
somebody is trapped. The shot is from the point of view of the killer; this is
to put the audience in the position as if you are the killer. After this shot
you then see the victim from the first time. She is filmed through the door at
a high angle to signify that she is trapped and vulnerable.
There is then a jump cut to the
woman’s face of her sitting up when she hears a floorboard creak. She look straight into the camera so you
can’t see what is around her or what she I looking at. When the lightning
flashes the colour red becomes more visible, the colour red has connotations of
blood, violence and death. She has a sense of panic on her face and she fills
up most of the screen with only darkness behind her. The jump cut is used to
unnerve the audience and create tension. The woman looks like a stereotypical
victim; she is wearing night clothing and showing a bit of flesh, young and
female. This is showing the audience that she is the victim because they have
seen these types of victims before. The
then cuts to the woman’s point of view, you then see that nobody else is there.
However there are more red objects and shadows where the killer could hide. Once
she sees nothing she lies back down. Low strings play when this happens to let
the audience know that just because she can’t she anything there is something
there. She fills up most of the screen so you can’t see anything around or
behind her.
There is another sound of a
creaking floorboard and the woman quickly lifts her head up from the pillow and
sits up. The camera then changes so we see her point of view, the room is
mostly in darkness and you can’t see anyone there. When the lightning flashes
there is a dark figure standing in the middle of the room. The figure is
dressed completely in black and is holding something. The audience is kept on
suspense because we are not able to see the figure’s face. The figure tenses
and tightens some type of cord which the audience now thinks is the murder
weapon.
There is then a jump cut to a
high close shot of the woman screaming. The pace of the editing is a lot faster
towards the end so it builds tension and makes the scene more exciting. The
camera zooms into her face at a high angle to show her vulnerability. There is
then a medium shot of the killer about to attack her. The audience then knows
how she is going to be killed because the iron is yanked off the ironing board
by the killer. The woman then moves up the bed at the camera follows her as she
moves further away from the killer. The very last shot is of the woman
screaming and about to be murdered.
A crescendo builds up over the
last few shots which peaks when the victim screams, this is to build up tension
and make the audience anticipate something bad is going to happen. The woman is
filmed at high angled shots to objectify and isolate her. The audience knows
she is the victim because of her vulnerability.
