Textual components of CSI clip

Action and Dialogue

• Staging of action and dialogue emphasises the generic identity of CSI as

crime drama – ordinary, undramatic, “business as usual”.
• The dramatic discovery – a dead body – is not staged with the drama
associated with genres like thriller or horror.
Mise-en-scene

• Setting gives clues about the victim and key witness/suspect – a private,
enclosed academic space.
• Low-key lighting produces a solemn and perhaps dangerous mood.
• Starkly opposed performance styles imply very different personalities –
Aaron Pratt is intense; Gil Grissom is very “straight” and focused on the
case.
Camerawork and editing

• Long and medium shots establish the scene at beginning of sequence.

• First close-up is of the dead body – allows viewer to get a good look from
Detective Grissom’s point of view.
• Long shots during interview prevent viewer identifying with Aaron, instead
encouraging us to observe and scrutinize him from afar.
• “Insert pop” disrupts realistic style of sequence to dramatize the victim’s
collapse as visualized by Detective Grissom.