Semester Exam - Film Opening Analysis of Black Mirror (season 3, episode 4, San Junipero)

 

In the opening scenes of the episode, the screen displays a text that says “San Junipero”. The use of this editing technique is to let the audience known where this episode takes place. As soon as the text goes away, the establishing shot of the city transitions into a high angled followed by a medium angled tracking shot of a blue car. There was a lot of mise en scene used such as the model of the car, the clothing, and the sets. All those examples are there to help describe the era to the audience so that they know it takes place in the eighties. After someone gets out of the car, the camera moves into a panning wide shot of the main character walking also known as Yorkie. As the character stops and looks at the television through the window, there is an offscreen sound from a guy and a girl and their conversation. This suggests at the audience that they may be important to the story later. After the camera transitions to a head on shot of the two, it cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Yorkie as she is looking at the two other people enter a club. This is essential for hinting at the viewers that the club may be significant to the main character. Yorkie enters the club and there is a direct sound full of music and people. The camera moves from a medium shot of Yorkie to a medium panning shot going around the club. The shot show that the club must be a popular spot since it is filled with so many people. There is another panning wide shot of Yorkie walking around. This shot contains people dancing close to the camera and around her as it pans closer to her while she walks down the stairs. It then leads to a medium close up of Yorkie taking in the scenery. This could be a technique that the directors chose to highlight Yorkie’s lost expression as the audience can tell from her face that she is lost because she is not used to that environment. Yorkie goes to an arcade room and the camera uses a dolly shot to move through the people dancing. A guy drinking shows up on screen which tells the audience that he may be relevant later on. After constant medium shots of the conversation between Yorkie and the guy, she gets a drink and sits down in a booth as she watches people around her. The camera cuts to one of the two characters from earlier as she sits down next to Yorkie. The guy from the off-screen conversation is filmed from a high angle which may be used to portray his character as dominant or important. After the guy leaves, Yorkie learns that the girl’s name is Hailey. As they introduce themselves, the camera starts zooming in as a way to pull the audience into the conversation so that their attention is only on them.