Summary of trailer: A muslim woman is in a room praying, and in the meantime there is a man in a window that the audience presumes is opposite the womans room. He is equipped with a walkie-talkie and is directing/commanding a police force to blow up the door of the house opposite to gain entry. The introductory trailer for 'Silent Witness''s Terror represents ethnicity in several different ways, using mise en scene, editing, sound and camera shots and movement. There is a muslim woman in a small flat room, which immediately shows the audience that ethnicity is going to be a focus point in the episode. The mise en scene represents what the series is about. The womans costume consists of a blue headscarf and dress, showing her ethnicity. Contrasting with this is the police uniform, which is all the same colour (black) with gas masks (reminding audiences of war and conflict) almost making them look robotic. In the womans flat the lighteing is very warm, a lamp in the corner giving off a yellow light. It feels warm which compares with the icy atmosphere established in the police headquarters that is shown at the beginning of the clip. The lighting there is electrically white, not leaving anything in the dark like the womans flat. Outside the weather almost forebodes the danger that is increasing, as it is dark and raining with the light from the approaching police truck still maintaining the electrical feel from before. The truck is represented as a looming animal, coming into focus, foreshadowing the danger that is going to occur.
Editing helps create tension and to tell the story of two or three different narratives. The cuts juxtapose each group of ethnicity, making the audience think that the woman is much more peaceful with her actions, whilst the squat team is much more harsh with quicker movements, assisted by use of shots. Jump cuts break the continuity of the muslims woman in the room, to the squat team outside. Cross cuts are used to cut from two or more narratives, as the images break up and a new one is replaced, to continue the story. Towards the end of the clip shorter cuts are used to build tension.
Sound is also used to build the tension as the clip draws to a climatic end. The music that grows in pace and volume through the trailer is ethnic/foreign representing the womans culture. The only time when the music stops in the clip (when the milkman arrives and has to be removed) it is extremely tense, but the regaining of the music plunges the audience back into the story. Intimate sounds echo through the clip, for example the sound in the room (intimate noise) like the opening of her water bottle, click of the lamp and the taps turning. The rain outside links with the noise of the water being used as a custom inside the flat. In the police headquarters towards the beginning of the clip a police officer laughs in an evil way, connoting possible danger and conflict between the two ethnicities. The sound of the womans voice after she starts praying is used over other shots, linking the story together and also representing her peacefulness which is contrasting with the action outside, like I mentioned earlier.
Different camera shots also connote the theme of ethnicity. For example the close up of the woman washing her hands shows the audience that it is a custom of her religion. Long mid-shots are used to show the woman preparing her headscarf and her mat (to pray on). Cuts are used to break teh narratives, between her and the squat team. Over the shoulder shots are used when the commander is looking onto the opposite window, showing his POV (point of view) to create tension and connote danger.
Yours
Bessie
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