CUFFS: REAL LIFE

 How far does the extract try to create a sense that it is portraying 'real life'?

In this extract, the Director of Photography attempts to create a sense of real-life by using lighting, editing and in-camera techniques. The Director and Writers attempt to create realistic narratives and interactions between police officers through dialogue, body language and facial expression, this illustrates that the police officers are normal members of society and police work is just part of their job. I will be highlighting aspects of where the TV show Cuffs has succeeded and where they have failed in this extract.

The extract begins by cutting between the three characters that are the focus of the part of the scene. These are medium shots to establish an identity for each character, the camera then cuts to a deep focus handheld establishing shot that places Jake, Ryan and a convict in a holding cell and also establishes the next location as the entire scene is in focus. There is a very slow zoom after they exit through the holding cell door motivating the next camera to cut to a location away from the holding cell, this cut is also motivated by dialogue spoken by the characters despite their faces not being visible. The handheld shake of the camera combined with the slow zoom adds realism to the scene as it not only feels like we are a person there in the scene but we also follow our characters, directing the audience's interest. However, there are a few elements of the mise-en-scene that break certain levels of immersion in this scene, for example, we do not see Jake unlocking the holding cell gate or even holding the key after the gate is shut. This makes it more noticeable that the gate is not a real functioning cell door but is actually just a prop. Additionally, the closeup shot of Jake reveals an out of focus open door that leads outside, with no one walking through this door, it seems insecure and unrealistic for the door to be open at a police precinct in the first place. This is another element of this scene that may make a keen-eyed viewer feel pulled out of immersion.

The next location, an identification room, places the convict in the centre of the frame with a shallow focus that keeps other people that are closer to the camera out of focus. A shot reverse shot is used to show the reaction of a staff member at the precinct to the convicts' threats that her mother is a lawyer and will sue the police. This dialogue is purposefully focused on by the director and writers to link to Ryan and Jake's relationship. Proceeding her commentary Ryan says that they do not care whose people's parents are, a direct jab at Jake who only has his position due to nepotism in the police force. His father is the Super Intendant which explains why he is able to be a police officer trainee despite having little to no experience. The scene is realistic as Ryan's harshness towards Jake is not direct or aggressive but builds tension and maybe a real interaction that has happened between people in the police force before. The tension built by this is further added to in the following two-shot containing a rack focus where Ryan is shown to be delivering the last few words of his dialogue and the focus pulls to Jake's reaction, an awkward stare, blankly into the distance. The tension is quickly released with the comedic relief of the narrative (Donna and Lino, who may be considered slightly unprofessional which adds to the realism in my opinion as not everyone would take their role as seriously as Ryan does) are focused on in a shot-reverse-shot showing their reactions before concluding the scene on a close-up of Jake's face. 

We then cut to an entirely new location, motivated by the commentary insinuating nepotism relating to Jake and his father, Chief Super Intendant Vickers as well as the overlapping knocking sound of Jo on Chief Super Intendent Vickers' office door. A midshot of the Chief shows him at his desk in front of a shelf containing various memorabilia including a photo of him and his family, where his wife is clearly visible. An establishing shot that tracks Jo after the shot of CSI Vickers shows to the audience that they are in an office space that is well decorated adding to the mise-en-scene you would expect in a realistic scene of a police chief's office. A conversation between Jo and Vickers then takes place and is portrayed realistically with a shot-reverse-shot. The Chief reassures Jo when she is nervous, an interaction she considers to be flirting. This causes her to ask him to go out for a bite to eat afterwards, to which he replies with a resounding no. There is then an extreme close-up shot of the previously out of focus picture of the Chief and his family, including his wife. This romantic conflict further emphasises to the audience that these are human people with feelings and emotions, further adding to the realism. Proceeding this awkward interaction, a tracking shot of Jo as she moves out of the office and towards the door establishes the cut to her outside of the chief's office. Jo's bewilderment at the conversation she just had is demonstrated by a mid-shot as she leans on the office door and breathes heavily, the mid-shot then zooms in to a close-up, allowing the audience to empathise with Jo. The only unrealistic part of this extract that stuck out to me as a viewer was how the phone rings right at a crucial moment it would need to for their conversation to be ended, while this is possible it is not entirely likely which broke some realism for me but added to the comedy and awkwardness of the whole ordeal which is a tradeoff that I consider worth making for such a show.

There is then a cut to a new location that is established by a shot of Felix walking towards and entering a room. Non-diegetic sound begins to play, a sombre backing track complimented by an over the shoulder shot of a woman Felix begins to speak to. A shot-reverse-shot is used to show their conversation, adding to realism in this scene. While reassuring this woman that the police are working hard to help her she begins to become upset and Felix is shown in a close-up shot to glance at Jo, who is now portrayed as a motherly figure. While this is likely due to the stereotype that women can be "motherly" and assist in comforting others, it adds to the realism as views such as this are not uncommon from a man in the police force today. However, he is able to see in the handheld shot showing Jo struggling after her embarrassing interaction with CSI Vickers that she is busy as of now and handles the situation rather poorly by suggesting to call a family liaison officer to comfort the woman. This is realistic as it shows someone unprepared for a task they face on their job, this unpreparedness shows Felix as a human who can make mistakes instead of a perfect person capable of anything like some other media may suggest about police officers. Additionally, everyone in this scene is shown to be wearing smart attire and not uniform, suggesting their positions are higher up and/or involve more desk-based work.

A sudden, unmotivated cut throws the audience into action with an enthralling scene of a mechanical forklift on the highway. The excitement of this scene may make audience members become more engaged and captivated by the show.

The camera then cuts to the police officers we have been following so far, Ryan, Jake, Lino and Donna at lunch. This scene immediately establishes them as people who need to eat and converse with one another about each other's lives. This adds to the realism as police in real life would chat over lunch together. Casual banter ensues between the group, Donna and Lino the comedic relief once again put Jake and Ryan in an awkward position, the conversation is shown with close-up shots of each character's reaction in a shot-reverse-shot.

The camera cuts to a pair of volunteer police officers, gossiping about Jake, the newbie. They discuss how they find him attractive (as they do not know he is gay which is a completely commonplace thing in 21st-century media) in a personal way that further portrays realism from the perspective that they have lives outside of their police work and are not only colleagues but can be friends. A close-up shot of a car containing two hooded anonymous people pulls up in the area they are walking in, while the officers are unaware of this a menacing non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play, while this disrupts what would happen in reality making it a less realistic situation it adds to the suspense felt by the audience, again a worthy tradeoff. As the criminals ram into the shopfront the camera cuts to an edited shot from the corner of the shop, it has a black and white monochrome effect applied to it as well as a lower frame rate to simulate what an actual CCTV recording would look like. This is a realistic recreation of such a device's recording and makes it more realistic due to this.

The camera then cuts back to the officers at lunch, drawing a connection between the two scenes. The audio of the two community officers over a walkie-talkie is edited to make it seem like everything is happening at the same time. The use of communication two link two locations is a realistic possibility and increases realism and immersion due to this. We are shown how the officers immediately stop what they are doing and get up to go do their jobs, as they have an emergency oriented job it is realistic that they would be prepared at a moment's notice to stop and do their duty. Jake, who is a rookie, does not understand this or have the intent to want to do this and so hesitates as his meal arrives right as they need to leave. This portrays what a rookie would act like in real life too, as a trainee may be bewildered or confused by an emergency situation.

The officers enter a police car, similar to the stereotypical style we would imagine police officers drive-in on the streets of any city in England. This accuracy places the scene in a reality we can relate to and understand. The outdoor bright lighting assists to keep the entire scene in sharp focus and is similar to the lighting of action-packed movies one would enjoy in the cinema, whilst the thrill of driving to stop criminals may be thrilling to an audience, I believe that police officers who would be more concerned with saving lives and people would not be enjoying it as much. This is because a high-speed situation can be stressful (while Jake enjoys the chase at first, where we see him in a closeup reaction shot smiling, he quickly realises the monumental task before him). This is where I feel the director chooses to focus more on the viewer's experience and enjoyment than the realism of an actual police chase. The added sound of the car door shutting off-camera grounds the scene in reality and helps the audience feel placed in the scene rather than an omniscient viewer of the scene unattached from the laws of physics. The over-the-shoulder shot of Jake and Ryan heading towards the site of the crime allows us to see what they see over the dashboard, providing us perspective.

In the next scene where the camera cuts to one of the criminals (who have been anonymised to signal to the audience they are not important and should purely be seen as enemies) who threatens one of the officers with a crowbar. In reality, he may have bludgeoned her with such a weapon however, a pre-watershed show is not allowed to show real blood. This is why the criminal instead reconsiders his decision and runs off. This may not be realistic but is a necessary restriction of this content for it to be safe for children to view. 

The camera then cuts back to Jake and Ryan heading to intervene in the criminal's getaway. The sound of police sirens added in editing further solidifies the car as a police vehicle and immerses the audience making it more realistic. A top-down or bird's eye view shot of the motorway establishes where the scene is taking place. Non-diegetic music that contains a lot of rhythmic beats on drums plays in the background, an exciting backing track to the scene. A shot-reverse-shot of Jake and Ryan is used to realistically show their conversation where Ryan asks Jake, a rookie officer on his first day, to do the commentary for the chase. Jake is inexperienced and while it makes for a more exciting and enthralling scene to some, I believe it would be irresponsible to make such an inexperienced person perform such a crucial job. This seems as if it would not happen in real life as the person in command (Ryan in this case) would be acting irresponsibly. However, in a sense, this also adds to the realism as it shows how the emotions Ryan feel towards Jake due to his father being chief he misjudged the situation and makes Jake do the commentary when it is the wrong thing to do. This further emphasises that police officers are human and not just gun-wielding law enforcers. The music begins to crescendo and then stops abruptly as the criminals' vehicle ramps off the pavement in a slow-mo shot and then the frame rate returns to normal and the pace immediately quickens with the music following suit.

The camera cuts to Donna and Lino setting the trap to catch the criminal's car and in an over the shoulder shot the two locations are linked as the camera focus pulls from Lino to Donna informing Jake and Ryan that the trap is set. This communication over radio comms is how police act in real life and allows the audience to feel they are part of the police force in a way.

A tracking shot of the criminal's vehicle is then cut to as it drives past on the road adjacent to where the trap has been set up showing the blunder made by Jake in his commentary of the directions they were headed in. A midshot of Donna's reaction is followed by a shot from within Jake and Ryan's care where she can be seen doing the same action, this links the scenes as being within the same location. The blunder that led to this shows that police can make mistakes and that they are not perfect, police make mistakes in real life often and I feel that this narrative has been an accurate representation of a theoretical crime that could take place.

This episode of Cuffs succeeds from the perspective that it represents its characters not just by their occupation but also by their personalities and identities outside of work. It also accurately portrays scenes in which the police would operate out of and the tools they would use to do their job. This is an overall realistic representation of the police force and what they do however, the main aspect this episode falls short of concerning complete realism is the lack of severity of the crimes. There is no extreme violence or graphic content as you would expect from the likes of hardened criminals. This is likely due to the watershed which is a restriction that cannot be helped with television broadcasting.