How does
the opening scene of X files :squeeze attract the audience?
The X files:
squeeze, is an episode about a mutant called Tooms who has special stretching
abilities so he can enter a building without any sign of entry. He kills people
and takes their liver so that it can sustain itself and go into hibernation
after he has consumed the livers then when he’s done hibernating the process
continues, until two FBI agents called Scully the woman and Mulders the man
take him down and shoot to kill him. Leaving the audience in tantalising
suspense when there is a cliff hanger at the end of the episode.
Every
episode of X files begins in a familiar fashion when you can’t see the killer
you can only see the victim and his/hers broken body or stunned expression when
paranormal events take place. Containing convections of thriller, horror and
sci-fi sometimes action takes apart in the episodes.
In the first scene in X files: Squeeze, there
is establishing shot also an extreme long shot pan of Baltimore, Maryland which
is where the murders take place. Then there is a fade shot to the victim and
the camera angle is high, looking down on to the man making the audience think
that he’s the victim because that certain camera shot makes him look small,
weak and vulnerable. Then there is a slight colour change in the background to
an eerie grey making his face turn a tainted yellow shade which makes him stand
out even more and a slightly yellow face indicates liver problems. Then there
is a quick shot to a sewer grate then to the man again to show that someone is
looking at him from inside the sewer. This happened a couple of times until you
can see a face in the sewer grate. The man being focused on is also being
slowed down like someone is actually stalking him and has targeted him as an
individual. You know this because of the time slowing down, the differential of
colour around him and he is a bright yellow also there is no diegetic sound.
There is a pulsing crescendo sound throughout this scene showing that there is
a unnatural presence nearby watching him.
When the
man enters his place of work there is a jump cut to a surveillance showing him
it tells the audience that someone is watching him. The elevators doors open then
the cords start to pluck, like there is something or someone down there trying
to get up. The mans facial expression is tired and frustrated, we find out why
when he’s on his phone with his wife when he mentions he has to stay late and
the presentation at work went badly making the audience feel bad for the man
and also the audience know that he is going to die soon. When he’s walking
through his workplace the camera doesn’t show what’s in front of the man making
the audience think that there has to be something behind him showing the point
of view of the creature Then when he’s in his office there is a non-diegetic
sound of plucking strings symbolising fear and sinister acts. He enters a light
room and says hello over the phone to his wife then leaves to get coffee
someone gets in through the ventilation system the camera cuts to the points of
his fingers poking through, then when the walks back into the room its
completely dark and the camera is waiting for the man outside the room and you
hear the screams, but he never comes out of the room because the strange
creature has taken his next victim. You don’t actually see the creature,
leaving the audience in suspense. The room was filled with unnatural darkness
with the bloody corpse kept in the middle of the room; the carpet was saturated
with blood from the recently deceased man. The first time you see the as body
it’s a reflection of the man through his paper weight showing him to be covered
in blood and his face a shade of yellow showing that his liver has been taken
from his body. Clearly the audience knows that the creature crawling in the
vents killed this man. Then shot shows a human shaped figure climbing into a
tiny vent 10x smaller than the man climbing into it. On the man’s desk is a
photo of his child meaning that he is family orientated making the audience
feel bad when he’s murdered.
