Bethany's Media Studies Blog

How does the opening sequence of The X Files: Squeeze attract the audience?

In the episode of The X Files: Squeeze, a mutant serial killer, Eugene Tooms, enters victim’s homes and workplaces and murders them by removing their liver and feeds off them. At the crime scene, very little evidence is left behind, including his entry, making it more difficult for Detective Scully and Detective Mulder to solve the case.

In everyone episode it starts off in a similar fashion, therefore the audience have an expectation of something bad happening in the opening scene, such as a murder. The use of conventions of horror and thriller genres builds up the viewers’ anticipation. Although every episode has a murder or abduction in the first sequence, the face of the criminal is not shown to the audience; it keeps the viewers in suspense.

The opening shot is an establishing shot of Baltimore as the sun is starting to set and it is getting dark, implying a murder or attack is going to occur. The high shot over the city indicates that anyone below could be a victim. There’s a dissolve between the shot of the view of the city and an overlook view of the road outside of the hotel, the camera then moves down to a lower angle and closes in on the man leaving the building. At this point, the camera angle is still high of the man, symbolising his vulnerability and singling him out as the killer’s next victim.

As the man is walking to his car, there are a series of edits between the man and the drain, indicating that there is something in the drain watching him. Each shot of the drain, the drain zooms closer until the viewer can see a pair of eyes appearing in the drain; the eyes are yellow which links to the liver as liver disease can cause eyes to turn yellow, as well as the skin. In the same sequence, an image of the man is slowed down and de-saturated, showing he is the target and that the thing in the gutter is a danger to him. In addition to the image being slowed down and de-saturated, the colour of the man’s skin turns a slight yellow colour, a reference to liver disease and the mutant feeding off human liver.

Pleasant diagetic sound is used at the start, but then there is a pulsating crescendo drowns out the diagetic sound. When the camera zooms in on the eyes, there’s the sound of rapidly plucked strings which represents the killer and is later played when the killer is present, this builds up excitement for the viewers because they expect the killer to strike.

The feeling that the man is the victim is maintained when he enters the building by the high angle camera shot as if he is being watched and it is late at night which is when stereo-typically the attacks happen. As well as this, the man is alone and there is no security guard therefore there are no form of protection and no one to provide help. Framing the man in mid-shot as he walks through the building means that the audience are unable to see what is behind or around him, it is used to keep the viewers in suspense. The camera then tracks the man from behind, suggesting something is following him. The shot of the elevator shaft has an important significance before the mutant kills as the red light has connotations of blood and violence and when the man leaves the elevator, the strings are shown moving and the sound motif that represents the killer is played, indicating that he is coming. There is a jump cut to the man’s office as the director doesn’t want to show the killer.

The mise-en-scene in the office suggests the man is very busy by all of the papers and books scattered on his desk, also suggesting he is important in his job, and that he is family orientated by the family photos. The room around him is dark however he is in the light to show he is the predator’s next victim. He undoes his tie to show he has had a hard day, making the audience have sympathy for the man. When the man phones home, there is no answer but he leaves a voicemail saying he is going to be staying until late, meaning the killer has more time to murder, leaving the audience wondering when the killer is going to strike. The significance of his wife not answering the phone is that the man is completely alone and is isolated from anyone else.

Tension is built up by using editing as when the man goes to make a cup of coffee, there is a cut to the vent and the audience can hear breathing, indicating that the mutant is hiding in the vent. The screws undo and there is a cut back to the man so that the audience don’t see the killer. The camera cuts to a close up of the killer’s hand and the sound motif is played, it then cuts back to behind the man as he is walking back to his office. At this stage, the viewers can’t see anything around him or where the killer is hiding, keeping them in suspense and a crescendo of non diagetic sound is used for anticipation. The attack is filmed so that the audience don’t see who the killer is so that it keeps them in suspense throughout the episode, unless it would defeat the point of the series and it also does not show how the man was murdered.

After the killing, the camera pans and we see a reflection of the man covered in blood and yellow. There’s blood on the desk and blood dripping onto the floor and splats on the paper, along with a photo of a young girl, possibly his daughter, lying on the desk and a globe that was on the desk when the viewers saw it earlier, is no longer there but is seen later on in the episode at the killer’s hideout. The camera zooms in on the vent closing with the sound motif and breathing from the mutant, as well as eerie sounds.

Editing

Without editing, everything you watched would be boring, repetitive, and way, way too long.
Editing helps construct a narrative.
We are so used to editing, we barely recognise it.
Editing is 'invisible'.
Editing can be used to condense long, boring activities into quick bursts of visual information.
Simplest edit is a cut- the editor puts films together and the best bits of all of the footage shot is spliced one after the other. They would cut the actual film and get rid of all the useless stuff.

In the assassination scene in North By Northwest, between Roger Thornhill entering the United Nations Building and him running out, there are 26 cuts. They are most frequent during the conversation so that you see the reaction on both people's faces.

The pace of editing can be used to create excitement and tension. For example, in the shower scene in Psycho, when the she is attacked, the jump cuts are a lot quicker..When Marion is dying, the pace slows down as if her life is leaving her. A graphic match is used when the plug hole fades into an eye.

Transitions

Dissolve: One scene dissolves to another, overlapping for a moment.

Fade in/Fade out: Fades out to black completely, then another scene fades in.

Wipes: One scene wipes across the screen, revealing or replacing the next one. They can go in any direction.

Iris: Next scene replaces the last by appearing from the centre like the iris of an eye.

Jump Cuts: Two scenes that feature a common element right after one another, so something stays the same but the rest changes. This is used for disorienting or comedy effect.