The clip opens with an establishing shot which shows the two characters travelling in a taxi to an unknown location, urban streets and plenty of traffic can be seen through the back window of the taxi which reinforces the idea of a city location. A midshot is displayed, showing the woman leaning on his shoulder which projects the strength of their relationship, this is emphasised when he holds her hand and kisses it which signifies an affectionate relationship. The camera cuts between several close ups of them both, especially when the male character adds mystery by  she tries to discuss future plans but he avoids the conversation suggesting he doesn’t want to talk about it which adds mystery as the audience do not know why he wont discuss it. The mystery continues when he asks her where they are going and she avoids the conversation. There is a wide shot of a street scene with an ambulance crossing from left to right, highlighting that they are near a hospital or heading towards one which suggests their could be some sort of accident later on. Their taxi arrives in the destination and as they get out of the taxi, it then goes to a medium shot of the man questioning why they have come here. An over shot shoulder shot of the woman going into see the consultant which was foreshadowed by the previous ambulance shot, indicating they are at a hospital which answers the earlier question from the man. There is an over the shoulder close up of the doctors hand closing a folder marked confidential, it then tilts upwards to a mid shot of s woman half smiling through tears, this increases the tension as the audience are unaware if this is good or bad news. This cuts over to a midshot of the man stirring his coffee and then a point of view shot as he looks over to her as the emerges from the gate. There is a series of rapid shots showing him arising from the table and her composing herself as she walks towards the road, did she receive good or bad news is the enigma created. The woman pauses briefly before crossing the road, to explain ‘Guess what’ to the man in the café, as the steps into she is hit by a passing bus, however this is hidden from the audience and the man by a van passing in the other direction. This is quickly followed by a long shot of the man running in slow motion towards the woman’s body, his panic is emphasised through the use of a hand held camera shot to show the speed of him running to her. As the woman lay dying there is a close up of the mans distraught face which then cuts to a birds eye view of him cradling her.

The scene begins with diegetic dialogue between the couple, in order to create a sense of realism. The sound is focused on the dialogue in this scene to signify the importance of the couple’s relationship. Whilst the female character speaks to her consultant, all diegetic sounds are blocked out and there is a no-diegetic song played. The song represents the mood of the scene and highlights the idea of being free and remembering in its lyrics. Its female vocalist forces the viewer to empathise with the female’s characters emotions. The sudden screeching of the cars breaks, followed by the smashing glass shocks the audience and informs them of an accident that has taken place. This is then followed by an echoing and muffled heartbeat, which represents the male characters fear, shock and horror. It builds tension and anticipation amongst the audience as the heartbeat could also portray the woman is dying as it eventually fades to a silence. The silence is broken by a blaring car horn – highlighting the man’s horror as he is brought back to reality. The scene ends with diegetic dialogue spoken over an instrumental, setting a mournful atmosphere.

The pace of editing varies throughout the entirety of the clip, suggesting that this is an important clip with lots of key things happening within it.  The clip opens slowly to help the audience establish the loving relationship between both the male and female characters, this then changes to a shot reverse shot as they discuss the past, they forgive each other which shows the mature relationship they share, and emphasises how much they are in love. More attention is given to the woman which suggests she will have the most important role in this clip suggesting that something could happen to her later on in the clip.  The audience are shown as impartial observers only seeing the most important parts of their conversation and journey towards the ‘mystery’ location. The cab reaches the hospital and we are positioned outside the action where we watch an emotional conversation between the recently married couple. The edits become more frequent with more emphasis being put on the woman once again as she insists on visiting the consultant alone and revealing the news to the man afterwards. The pace of the editing becomes much faster due to it jumping between shots of the woman inside the consultant’s office receiving her results , and the man sat outside in the café waiting for the news. After she is hit by the passing bus, there are slow motion shots as the man begins to run towards his dying wife in a panic which prolongs the suspense, we are then thrown back into real time with the use of a hand held camera shot and cuts between her body and his agonised face.

The taxi suggests two things, that they are of a high status that can afford to travel in this way and also that they are going somewhere. The man is in a suit which connotes that he is a business man or has a high paid job, her similarly smart clothes emphasis this. The repeated focus on the couple’s rings suggests they have recently got married.  The woman pays the driver of the taxi which suggests that she is in control of the situation or even the relationship.  The hospital is signalled by heavy railings, institutional architecture and the fact that it’s on a busy road. The busy road almost foreshadows the tragedy as there is a lot of high speed traffic. The flower stall outside the hospital connotes both happiness and sadness, as flowers are given as congratulations but also to somebody who is grieving; this both foreshadows the woman’s death but also suggests she could be in the all clear, it leaves the audience wondering. The focus on the confidential folder highlights to the audience that the woman is receiving results, this answers the earlier enigma of where the couple where heading and why. The man nervously twists his wedding ring as he waits which adds to the tension.  The closing of the confidential folder leaves the audience still wondering is she received the all clear or not. The scattered flowers that lay around her body connote her death, leaving the audience feeling empathy towards both the man and the woman.

Mise-En-Scene

Cold Case is an American police procedural television series which ran on CBS from September 28, 2003 to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in investigating cold cases.

This particular episode features many different stereotypes of teens and representations of age.

The beginning of the clip is set in a school, showing some teenage girls smoking in the bathroom. The camera cuts to a corridor where a stereotypical ‘Goth’ teenager is looking in his locker the lighting in the corridor is very dark and shadowy, reflecting the mood of the character and his personality.

Editing

The First section of the clip uses very slow paced editing as it is more laid back and relaxed as there has not been much drama yet, therefore the editing is just clean, simple fades and cuts, with some camera effects. When the flashback finishes the scene changes to the office, the shots quicken as it shows the different people in the room. As the title sequence for the programme commences; the pace of editing speeds up because they want to create tension for the rest of the episode and to keep the audience’s attention on the story. The quick swipe fades in between each clips adds to the speed and fluidity of the sequence.

Sound

At the beginning of a clip, a punk rock song plays in the background as the camera follows students and teachers through the school. The song playing represents a teenager’s lifestyle. That being care free reckless person.

As the teachers and students interact with one another the music drops down, the music’s volume increases to its original setting after the teachers say the word ‘detention’. This signifies the word detention as a frequently used word heard by teenagers everywhere. As the clip cuts to outside of the school, the time speeds up and fast forwards to night time. As this occurs, the punk rock song fades out and slightly quieter dramatic ambient music enters. This creates an atmosphere and creates tension. This signifies that something significant is about to happen or is happening right now. This suggests that the audience needs to pay attention as this will be referred to later on.

Later on in the clip when they are in the police station, as they piece together a part of the crime, some slightly more casual music begins; this signifies that they have found something of interest and it is significant to the plot.  

Camera

In Cold Case lots of pans are used to display to the audience what is happening all around the scene.

There is also a surveillance camera shot used, which creates the feeling as if we are spying on them, and with them not knowing we’re there, display how they would’ve acted if we weren’t there. There’s a close up on the boys, displaying the emotions on his face, and overall showing us through his facial expressions how he feels about the situation and how he shouldn’t have been given a detention for something he wasn’t going to do (commit suicide). This represents teenagers as emotional wrecks and is ungrateful for the gift of life that they have, as well as being ungrateful for a variety of other things. In addition it projects that their lifestyle and the way they want to live is wrong, and for taking an interest in certain things, must give them certain aspects (idolising Kurt Cobain must mean you want to kill yourself).

The low angle shot when he walks into detention emphasises his superiority to you, as you have to look up to him. This shows that maybe we shouldn’t have such a bad opinion of people just by the look of them and maybe realise they have certain skills that make them much more useful than ourselves.

There are lots of focus pull shots, where it starts as a blur and focus’ into the shot. This could represent that the truth may be blurred and we don’t know what actually happened but soon we will. There is also a dip to white at the beginning, representing innocence and angel-like connotations.

There is a shot underneath a stairway where you can see the peoples legs as they walk down them. This creates a feeling of mysteriousness as you do not see their face, creating the question; who is this person? What are they doing? Why are they doing it? Why are they going? Etc.