Textual analysis – Secrets & Lies intro sequence

Mise-en-scene

• In the start the décor is of a forest or swamp giving the feel of tranquillity but that is destroyed when the guy runs through and replaces it with tension and alarm
• The costumes the man in beginning is wearing sports gear which implies he is out exercising when he see something that is yet to be revealed to the audience
• The location of the intro sequence is in a forest or swamp with little activity and looks far away from civilization despite the fact that the first thing that you see as the program comes on is a city but then the camera turns and slowly moves into the swamp showing the small gap between the city and the untamed wilderness

Lighting

• Dark, brooding, low-key
• Sunlight brightly shining through the trees
• Natural, quite bright

Sound

• The first diegetic sounds you here in the intro sequence is a the sound of a siren indicating some kind of trouble or danger
• The first non-diegetic sound heard is low hum that leads into the intro music
• Then it dies down as the camera enters the swamp and is replaced by a diegetic sound of nature like the rustle of leaves and crickets
• Then as the man runs through the piece is shattered and is replaced by loud intense music and the sound of running

Camera

• Tilt towards water, eye level
• Dolly shot over the water, into swamp area, eye level
• Close up of millipede, following
• Close up of spider web
• Focus on spinning leaf
• Close up of puddle interrupted by a man running through
• Extreme long shot as man runs through forest
• Series of different shots showing man running through forest focusing on parts of him like his legs and face
• Tracking shot as he runs into the rural area

Editing

• The shot duration in the opening of the city and going through the swamp is long but when the man is running through the swamp the shot duration is short
• As the program comes on the intro scene of the city comes into shot by fading in from black and giving an impression of mysteriousness, the remaining transitions during the music are snaps, then in the shots of the swamp they are fades but then when the man runs through the transitions are snaps