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

In season three, episode 4 of the Netflix series "Black Mirror," the shot opens up with a plain black screen. White text in the form of codes begins to appear, doing so with sounds of typing playing. The text shows the show title, Black Mirror, and then a crack in the screen jumps out -- almost as if the screen was an actual mirror. The sounds flatline and the text fades. The episode title, "San Junipero," shows quickly and then also fades. Just with the title sequence, there is bits of suspense and erieness due to the typing and flatlinning sounds that will leave the audience wanting to see and hear more. 

The opening shot of the episode shows waves of the ocean rising to the shore. The setting is dark, showing the audience that it is clearly night time. The water is also dark except for the neon colors reflecting onto it, this shows that the shot has developed through low-key lighting. An establishing shot is then shown, displaying the city which is off the coast of the ocean -- also showing bright neon lights among the dark night sky. By doing so, the image creates a lively and loud feeling that can resonate with the audience. 

The screen then transitions to a dolly shot, showing the streets in which the episode will be taking place. The shot pans down from tall buidings, showing a club with the words Tucker's written in bright blue lights. A car drives up through the street, playing loud music from the radio. The mise-en-scene of these shots help the audience get a better idea as to where and when the episode is taking place. The individuals in and surrounding the car are wearing bright colors with big hair and makeup -- a good indication that the show is set in the 1980s. The radio from the car makes this clear when it announces the year, 1987. 

The camera shifts its focus to a girl who walks past the car and along the road. The camera follows her. The girl, later sharing her name as Yorkie, stops to look at a window full of televisions. After quickly looking she turns as she hears two people having an argument, The characters, Wes and Kelly, are also in loud, 80s clothing and hair. The two enter the nightclub Tucker's, and Yorkie follows them in. After entering, the audience can see that Yorkie stands out a bit among the other people inside. She is dressed more modestly, in a pastel colored sweater and knee-length shorts, and her hair is done neater. By the way she dresses and holds herself, the audience can assume she is more self-contained and shy. 

The nightclub is very crowded and is quite dark except for the neon lights bouncing around -- similar to the lighting of the establishing shot in the beginning. The camera follows Yorkie as she walks around through the club. There is lots of synchronous sound -- the audience can hear the loud music, and clatter among those inside who are dancing. As Yorkie is standing, looking overwhelmed, the diegetic sound of aracade machines increases and the camera pans to them. She then walks over and begins to play a game. While she is playing the camera cuts to a man, similar looking to her age, with a drink. He walks over to the aracade section and begins talking and flirting with Yorkie. He offers to play another game with her, gesturing to a racing game where the car crashes. The crash seems to trigger Yorkie as she is shown with a close shot. With this, the music cuts from the loud, lively sound to dark, suspenseful music -- possibly hinting that by seeing this she was reminded of something. This is a bit of a leitmotiff as the music is similar to what was played in the opening title, holding that same dark and erie sound. She turns the man down and walks away. 

In the next shot, the music goes right back to its loud, upbeat sound. The camera shows Yorkie sitting alone at a table drinking a coke. The girl from before, Kelly, walks by but then turns to sit with Yorkie as a way to get away from the boy, Wes, who is pestering her to go with him. Yorkie plays along with Kelly's plan to get rid of him, they pretend to be friend's who want to catch up because Yorkie has an illness (not true). After they finally get rid of him, they introduce themselves to each other. The camera zooms in a bit on them, showing only their waists up, and consists of two-shots and reserve shots as they talk. Kelly then gets up to get them more drinks and the clip ends on a close-up shot of just Yorkie. All the media elements in this excerpt help construct clips that encapture the audience into wanting to watch more.