Semester Exam - Film Analyses of Black Mirror (season3, episode 4, San Junipero)

In the film extract, "Black Mirror" the director can combine different elements to make the viewer experience a sense of curiosity, mystery, and some fear. The director does this through the lighting, camera shots, sounds, costumes and editing. 

The way that the lighting was used in this extract was to make the mood seem more mysterious and spookier. The director does this by making the lighting of all the scenes darker and just using smaller background lights to provide some form of lighting. This adds suspense and mystery to the scenes and what we see. For example, in the club that the main character is in it is extremely dark and the only thing providing light is the LED light strips around the sides and the arcade machines providing light also. 

The camera shots also provide suspense as we watch Yorkie, the main character, walking through the streets stumbling around not sure about what to do. Not only do the camera shots create suspense around the main characters but they also show us the background area. For example, the opening shots of the film are of splashing waves in the dark; this shot causes eeriness and suspense. There is then a cut scene that shows the city that the main characters are in. This scene is fairly dark except for all of the lights from the city. The camera being so zoomed out can force the reader to have a false sense of fear that something might happen. Also, whenever the main character is doing something important or she may look at something the camera shots alternate from right next to her to in front of her. The camera shots are going in circles around her. This can force the viewer to wonder what the main character is looking at when her facial features change, and the viewer isn’t sure what is going on. There is also scene in the club where the director uses a wide shot to show the whole club and everyone partying, this scene may cause the viewer to become anxious because we aren’t able to see Yorkie and we aren’t sure where she went. Throughout the film the directors use of camera shots can be used to incite fear or anxiousness in the viewer.  

The way that the director uses sound can force the viewer to question their own perception of what is going on. The director does this through using of screen sound. The director is able to take all of the noise that is going on and use it all at once so that the director is dazed and blinded, in a sense, by the noise. The director does this to make the viewer understand how the main character, Yorkie, is feeling in the new area. The way that Yorkie is walking around makes her seem like a newborn just learning about new thing. When Yorkie is walking past everything, she is stopped by the noise from a TV and she stares at the screen. After this the director uses the sound of two characters, Kelly and Wes, arguing in the background to be the next thing that catches Yorkie’s attention. The use of background sound in this scene was a good addition because the director shows how quickly Yorkie loses focus of something when someone else is talking to her or near her.  

The costumes of this scene show the time period that this is taking place in. Not only do we hear from a radio station that the year is 1986, but you can also tell from the clothes that they are wearing. The clothes that Yorkie is wearing seems plain and not modern for the time they are in. This shows us that she is out of her time and something is different about her. 

The way that the director edits everything together also shows us what is going on. For example, when Yorkie is in the arcade and the guy is flirting with her we see how she reacts when the car crashes in the game. This form of editing is parallelism, and it shows how she reacts to the crash during the same time. 

Overall, the use of all these elements put together are what make the film clip seem so dark and mysterious. The editing, lighting, costumes, camera shots, and sounds are what give the viewer emotions and add feeling to the scene.