Luther Textual analysis

Crime Drama Textual Analysis – Luther (Season 1, Episode 1) 

Scene	Camera	Editing	Sound	Mise-en-Scene
Opening scene	Low angle shot of industrial building to establish location  Tracking shots Hides the identity of the man following the other man -> creates an enigma. Reveals his face with an extreme close-up of his eyes  Hand held camera to emphasise action  Close up on man’s hands	Fast cuts between camera angles/positions to emphasise the man’s rush of emotions   Cuts between events happening at the industrial site and at the house   Shot- reaction-shot used in confrontation	Non-diegetic Eerie music  Diegetic sounds of man running and hyperbolic sounds of him breathing contrasts  Music stops once Luther is revealed -> furthers the man’s shock as it’s so sudden	Dark lighting Man in dark formal clothes with natural hair and make-up -> add to sense of realism.  Marked police cars and uniform  Simplistic costumes and hair for all  Mobile phones
Interrogation scene	Zooming on each character’s facial expressions when it becomes more tense  Features the character on opposite sides of the camera shot when focusing on them individually to emphasise that they are enemies	Shot-reaction-shot  Shows Alice’s reaction to Luther indicating she did it at high angle to emphasise that Luther is now the more dominant person in the conversation whilst only his trousers appear in the shot and they are blurred -> focus on her reaction	Diegetic dialogue/conversation between the two people   Features non-diegetic, quiet, eerie music -> builds with tension	Plastic cups  Overalls (Alice’s outfit)  Conventional police station desk and equipment  Grey suits and bland/dark ties  Voice recording machine  Wedding ring
Closing scene	Soft focus in the background emphasises body language and emotion of Luther in the car  Tracking shot and frame within a frame whilst Alice is walking through the corridor -> focus on her and her movement  Zooms in on Alice’s face after ending the call to emphasise her reaction to the audience.	Cuts between Alice and Luther whilst they’re on the phone to help establish that it is them talking to each other.	Non-digetic, fast-paced music to symbolise the adrenaline as Luther calls Alice  Digetic dialogue of the phone call	Marked police car  Hospital ward  Policeman in uniform  Alice dressed in all black which symbolises impurity and evil  Mobile phones  Hospital equipment
General	Lots of close-ups and extreme close-ups	Shot-reaction-shot used throughout	Features digetic sound and dialogue as well as non-digetic music to add to the suspense/atmosphere.  Hyperbolic sounds to emphasise action	Restricted colour palette – mainly cool and grey tones  Set in an urban environment

 

 

Repetition of classic codes and conventions	Differs from classic codes and conventions
Dominantly white police force  Main detective has family problems  Main detective is male, straight and middle aged  Focuses on the detective's perspective of the case	Lead character is black  Superior officer is a woman  Criminal is a woman and is focused on for more than one episode  Doesn’t really follow Todorov’s narrative theory

 

This has helped me understand how crime dramas can continue to use stereotypical conventions whilst adding a change to the genre to make it more original.