How does
the opening sequence to the X-Files Squeeze attract the audience?
In this
episode of the x-files there is a person called Eugene victor tooms who is a
killer mutant who only goes after people with damaged livers he then he can
shape his body to fit through the smallest of spaces. He only kills 4 people
when he comes out of hibernation which he hibernates for 30 years. Scully and Mulder
are the two agents that are sent to try and sort the case but after Eugene is
captured he is let out of his mental institution he goes after Scully for his final kill
before hibernating.
The X-Files
and CSI have the same start of someone dying or someone finding a body audience
expectation and anticipation both shows use of the horror/thriller genre.
Establishing
shot which is a long high shot showing where they are. Its dark it’s the x-files
which means you know what’s going to happen. The scene dissolves from 1 to 2.
The purpose
of the high angle shot of the man leaving the building tells you he’s the one
to die the angle makes him look isolated and vulnerable.
The effect
of the editing when the man is walking to his car while he’s being observed
makes him look vulnerable everything goes grey around him but he is normal it
adds tension because the series of edits from the drain to the man until you
notice a pair of yellow eyes staring at the camera out of the drain.
The man I
slowed down and everything is de-saturated to tell the audience he’s the target
he’s the one going to die. He also has a yellowy glow to his skin. The man has
liver damage because his skin is yellowish.
The sound
used in the sequence is a low quiet relaxing song at the start when you first
see the man outside the building, then when you see the man in the drain the
song turns into strings being plucked (sound motifs) everyone is getting
quitter while the strings being plucked is getting louder. It also has a
crescendo.
The man is
made the victim when there is no one watching the security cameras so he is
definitely alone or is he? You see a jump cut to the elevator that has the
doors open but the elevator isn’t there you here and the wires shaking off each
other as though there is someone climbing up the elevator shaft.
You can’t
see behind the man as he walks away because they don’t want to reveal the
killer. The man walks into his dark office ( mise-en-scene) the man sits down
and realises he wants a coffee he goes to make one and the camera tracks behind
him as though he was being followed.
Then as the
camera leaves the room it keeps changing from him to the vent but then the vent
starts to have a screw coming out as though there is someone unscrewing it and
a loud screeching sound is playing as the music starts to die down the vent
opens up for an innuendo.
In the final
section after the actual murder the significance of the camera movement and
sound is used like the camera is a quick movement to his room which is pitch
black so you can’t see in the room and after the door closes the man is
attacked and the you can see the curtains moving then you see the door handle
moving because he wants to get out then it breaks. Then when the camera gets
into the room you can see something that looks like blood dripping from the
desk to the ground then when the camera tracks up you see its coming from the
coffee cup so you think it is just the coffee that is dripping then the camera
tracks to the right and in the reflection of the picture you can see his dead body
lying in the chair/sofa. The camera tracks around the room and you see the
globe that the man was playing with is now gone because the person who killed
him takes a little gift for himself after but you also see the coffee mug and
you notice that there is some blood coming from it but you think it is coffee
this is playing with the viewer’s mind but further into the episode you find
out that the killer eats the livers to survive because he needs to kill 5
people in order to hibernate. Then the camera tracks over to the wall and the
air vent Eugene Tooms came from, is closing and the screws start screwing back
into place. Then it cuts to the title sequence. And the rest is people looking
for clues.
