24 Extract Essay

   The director’s vision seems to be that people should be careful when it comes to who and what they trust. Always expect the unexpected because there is no way for knowing what someone else is capable of doing or what information they know. It’s vital to always be on the lookout and it’s always better to be safe than sorry when trusting people because no one can control their actions except for them. People should be careful and not have so much trust and faith in others.

   In the first scene Jack enters a large empty room with nothing but a table and Nina sitting in a chair. The lack of props plays a role in the setting that they are in. It seems as if they are either at a police station or a detective office where Nina seems to be questioned. There is a lack of items since they want to make sure that any possible risk is minimized when dealing with criminals and suspects. This clue of the setting helps the director’s vison because criminals in the first place are there because they violated the law and can’t be trusted. The lighting is very dim, and it makes it hard to see and interpret the scene and the things happening. The lighting made certain things unclear, just like people’s trustworthiness in the director’s vision for the scene/extract. From the start there are close up shots on Nina as it shows her emotionless face which makes it difficult to analyze her expressions and understand what she is thinking. As Jack walks into the room an eye-line match is seen. He looks up to the corner of the room where we later see that there is a camera. This seems to be foreshadowing something that will eventually take place. As he steps into the room non-diegetic music starts playing and creates a suspenseful mood and creates the feeling of not knowing what is going to happen next.

   In the second scene starts off with a two shot and medium close up combined as two, what seems to be detectives, are watching a screen in a different area but seemingly the same locations. The main prop within the scene is the screen that the two detectives are studying in silence. On the screen the audience can see that they are watching Nina in the room that her and Jack are in. They are watching them and seeing their every move to make sure nothing goes out of hand in there. Since they aren’t in there themselves, they need to make sure that neither Jack or Nina does anything they shouldn’t since they can’t control them or know what they are thinking or will do next.

   In the third scene there are many over the shoulder shots of Jack and Nina as they are talking to one another and Jack questioning her and trying to get information out of her to help stop an explosion. As they speak, using dialogue, Jack says to Nina, “I’m not going to make a move until I believe you’re credible…You are a trader Nina…You would sell anyone and everything.” Jack is already aware that Nina can’t be trusted and that he has no idea what her intentions or plans are. He doesn’t trust her easily, after all she is the one being questioned in an ongoing crime.  He knows, from what seems like past experiences, that she is a liar and selfish. Jack proceeds to lose his temper and flip over the table that stands in front of Nina. This is a cut away; it went from showing them having a normal conversation to Jack getting angry and acting out. Jacks behavior escalated out of nowhere and no one was expecting it. No one can trust him on what he could potentially do next.

   The fourth scene shows the detectives that are outside watching the questioning become on edge and tense up after seeing what Jack did. After Jack flipped the table and it crosscut to the detectives again to show their reactions there was more non-diegetic music that started playing, but this time it was louder. As the situation is getting more intense the music does the same and keeps everyone on edge. As the detectives seem to become worries of Jacks behavior, they can’t tell what he will do next and they can’t trust him that it will be the right thing.

   As the fifth scene starts the music is louder and louder back in the room where Jack is slowly walking back to his chair and sits down as the situation seems to be de-escalating. Nina starts speaking and once again Jack loses his temper but instead this time, he pushes Nina, while she is sitting in her chair, to the back of the room and starts chocking her. We can identify diegetic sound as the chair is screeching across the floor and Jack screaming out of anger. The scene cuts into a split screen where on one side is Jack attacking and talking to Nina and on the other is the detectives running to the room. As the moments intensifies it was important to see how both groups reacted. Jack continues to speak, through dialogue, to Nina as he chokes her, and the incidental music is louder than ever. The detectives are followed with a tracking movement as they rush to the room.

   The sixth scene starts off with a sound bridge that links Jack talking to Nina into this new scene as the other detectives enter the room. There is now a close up of Nina, showing a reaction shot, to what is happening to her and it’s clear that it wasn’t expected. The other detectives make Jack leave the room to ensure that he doesn’t do anything else to Nina. As Jack leaves they use a wide shot and pan movement to show Jack leaving Nina and the room behind.

   The scenes clearly show that Jack himself and the other actors were very unpredictable and that there was no way to trust their actions. The director’s vision was shown through the unpredictable characters and their actions. There was no way any of the actors could trust one another when it came to what they would do next and what information they knew. This shows that people should always be careful when trusting others; just because a person might know what they would do or how they would react, that doesn’t mean that others will do the same thing.