Analyses of 'The Shield'

The Shield is an American police drama starring:
Michael Chiklis
Glenn Close
Catherine Dent
Reed Diamond
Paula Garces
Walton Goggins
Michael Jace
Kenneth Johnson
Jay Karnes
David Marciano
Benito Martinez
Cathy Cahlin Ryan
David Rees Snell
CCH Pounder

'The Shield' uses many shot reverse shots within the tv drama used to show the conversation between the two people the camera is focusing on, whether it is with the police interviewing the victims or just a general conversation between two police officers. However there may be close up shots to show the emotion on the characters face, to create tension, also created with sound mixing used to heighten the dramatics, showing the audience a clearer view of the situation. Shot reverse shots are mainly used within medium shots to allow the viewers to see the setting around the characters.
'The Shield' uses many different sounds throughout such as ambient sound representing the illusion of reality as when you are watching a tv drama it is very effective to have every day details involved to allow us to feel the reality making it easier for us as the viewers to get into the program we are watching. It also uses diagetic sound similar to other sounds used creating the effect of reality as normal day noises are made such as the sound of the car door slamming, also the sound of the characters sneaking around as it is a police drama you expect to hear sudden sounds creating tension for the viewers. Synchronous sound is represented using the sound of a fire engine as it goes by, and also the trigger of the gun symbolising the crime, police aspect of the program. Similarly zooming in on the gun to represent the danger of it.
The police officer is shown to be dominant and important as we see her throw a criminal into the police car then the camera gradually moved up showing the police officers face. 'The Shield' also uses an edit called 'cut to black' used to represent time passing, e.g in this particular tv drama it would go from being at a crime scene to cutting straight to the police station to carry on with further investigation.