24 S7E10 - Sound Analysis

"Jack, their turning left!" - The music kicks in hard as the chase sequence commences. It enhances the excitement for the viewer as it is fast paced matching the speed of the cars. Amongst the on screen chaos are sounds of brakes being slammed down hard on, other cars on the road beeping. Towards the end of the chase the music builds and builds signaling to the audience that something is about to happen, and when Jacks car slams in to the taxi blocking the road the music comes to a sudden halt. It creates the effect that all hope is lost and that the bad guys have got away.

As the camera cuts to the women in the other cars face we are shown an expression and we know she is about to do something. The music builds up as her decision becomes clearer and clearer to herself and the audience. Finally, she grabs the drivers face, she blocks his vision and as this is done the music kicks back in hard but at a tempo which is slower than before suiting the dramatic nature of this scene more. The car smashes in to another car and it goes spinning in to the air. There is almost no music for this as the sound effects of the car colliding, spinning and smashing to the ground are more pronounced and louder when it is done this way. It makes the crash seem more dramatic than it really is which is always an important role for sound.

The camera immediately cuts back to Jack and Renee and the dramatic music played before the crash kicks back in as the continue the chase on foot. This is done to tell audience that not all hope is lost and that Jack and Renee are 'back in the game' so to speak. As Jack confronts the man trying to escape the crashed vehicle the music slows down to a high pitched noise which creates tension as the audience doesn't know what the man will do. As he pulls for his gun Jack shoots him dead and as this happens the tension of that decision is broken and so the music stops to quiet background music.

As Renee tries to save the women, Jack notices that the car is on fire and as that happens the music builds up to something more tense as the audience now knows that the car could blow up at any second. Jack tries to physically get her out of the way but Renee pulls a gun on Jack and as she does so the music comes to a sudden halt. This creates and adds to the effect of suprise that the audience and Jack has. When Jack tries to help the women as well the music changes to something more hopeful and then when the women is free the music suddenly manifests in to something dramatic building on the feeling of tension as the audience want to know if they will be able to get away from the car before it blows up. When the car explodes the music stops as the music is no longer needed for that feeling of tension. There is almost no music at this point and we can hear some sound effects of the civilians around in panic. As Jack looks up to Renee trying to resuscitate the women the music changes to something very sad and drepressing which tells the audience that the women is dead and there is nothing Renee can do. It also builds on sadened the feeling she has as she promised to keep this women safe.

Narrative in TV Drama

A couple wake up and go downstairs to breakfast. They do not realise that they are being watched by terrorists. They carry out their daily business and go to work. The Terrorists capture the woman and her collegue and hold them as hostages. They demand that troops have to be withdrawn from Iraq if they are to be safe. The man is hears about his wifes capture and meets with one of the terrorists who tells him to do exactly as she says. Later on we find out she is a suicide bomber who doesn't truly believe in the cause she is fighting for. Her target is the Prime Minister and his government officials. He obtains the detonator and learns where his wife is being held. She is recused just in time with all terrorist threats being neutralised.

Narrative Convention
The classic three part narrative structure - BEGINNING / MIDDLE / END

- Everything starts off as any other day for the couple which is EQUILIBRIUM.
- The woman is captured by terrorists which DISRUPTS the equilibrium.
- The husband saves the PM and his wife which is a rebalance of EQUILIBRIUM.

Other events have happened in between this structure which are called sub-plots. Although they do relate to the main story they have an effect on the outcome. E.G. The husband convinces the terrorist woman he is with to give up the fight. It is crucial to the narrative structure and is a product of the resolution.

The ending is a positive ending as everything returned to equilibrum at the end. However, equilibrum is not EXACTLY the same as events such as the agent being shot means he cannot return to the series.

Most stories end with a happy ending as a lot of people watch TV as an act of escaping for their everyday lives. Having a positive ending all the time may not be realistic but it is what people want to see on TV. If a narrative is truly believable the audience will be to suspend their disbelief. For example, in 7 seasons of 24 Jack Bauer has always stopped the threat of a country which isn't entirely realistic, however, we suspend our disbelief as his character is protrayed to us as someone who really is THAT GOOD. It's believable because he's the one who saves the day, it wouldn't be if another character did it.

In Spooks S3E10 the beginning of the narrative is threatened so that a disruption can happen at a later date. More importantly it gives the audience the hint that something bad is going to happen which draws them in as they want to know what happens. Through this idea the audience is automatically being given Levi Strauss's narrative theory of GOOD vs EVIL. We have to pick a side as the effect of binary opposites has been created. Other binary opposites in the episode come from what the terrorists are fighting for. The episode gives us the opportunity to pick a side of morality on the Iraq war and our choice on this is greatly influenced by the characters and what they say or do.