Case Study #5: The Wire

David Simon's The Wire, season 1 title sequence 

David Simon's 2002 series The Wire, is a HBO TV crime drama series which is constructed with the use of micro features. The opening title revolves around the police and a drug dealing organisation. This adds to the narrative enigma as the audience question what the substance being dealt is and what the police are doing. The non diegetic soundtrack of a version of Way Down In The Hole by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama could reflect on the police officers personality and set the tone of the series.

The sequence begins with an extreme close up of a person making a call. The audience are left oblivious as to who this person is and whether they are an antagonist or
protagonist; their identity is kept a secret which makes the audience curious enough to continue watching. Using police iconography, the audience is able to understand what is happening throughout. The call is shown to be tracked by police, conveying to us that the person making the call is an antagonist. This is shown as the camera cuts to a close up computer screen of a wiretap activity. In addition, this close up could leave the audience wondering why the camera was so close up, we are left questioning whether there is something else on the screen that we are not meant to see.

Throughout the sequence, we do not see the actors in the series, the sequence shows the making of the drugs, police busts and court orders. Unlike a typical TV opening title, who the actors play in this series are kept a secret presumably in order to not give anything away to the audience. The camera cuts to a person talking to someone in the car. The use of a POV shot positions us in a car, which allows for the audience to fully immerse in the action on screen. It can be suggested that we are put in a position of a police officer giving us a sense of power amongst the criminals . The white typography used stands out against the background, the type used looks like chalk which could refer back to the idea of police outlining the positions of bodies with chalk.
The audience are sent back inside to an extreme close up shot of a person making a substance. Again, the use of a close up restricts the audience's view of the character's surroundings. However, it can suggested the person making the substance is highly skilled and knowledgeable as there seems to be no sense of reluctance or fear for what they are doing.

The camera then goes onto cut to a drug trade amongst two people which we assume to be teenage boys due to stereotypes revolving drugs and gangs. A POV shot could place the audience in the scene as if we are part of this drug trade. Again, the identities of these boys are hidden, allowing all of our focus to be on the drugs. The arrangement of this sequence tells the audience a story, the boy ultimately succumbs to his death leaving the drugs to fall out of his hands, to which our attention is drawn to due to the close up. This shot also stereotypically suggests to the audience that these criminals are black teenagers in some sort of gang.

The camera cuts to an extreme close up of a hand- this shot tells us the victim is a mixed race person possibly part of a drug gang. The hand is positioned in the centre of the frame drawing the audience's attention directly on the hand. However, the frame also shows some sort of drug, drawing our focus away from the hand and towards the unknown substance. This further adds to the crime genre of the series as we can tell some sort of criminal activity has been taking place in the sequence. In addition, this makes us curious as to what is going on and makes us want to watch more.

As the sequence continues, we are taken to another location. The position of the camera places us looking down upon a car- this fuels our suspicions and makes us question what is happening. The long shot puts us behind a gate, putting the audience in a position as if we are surveying the car- it can suggest the POV shot puts us in the position of a police officer. The camera cuts to a person, presumably a police officer, zooming in on his camera. The shot of the car zooms in as if the audience is the camera. The shot turns to black and white, this use editing could make us seem as if we are part of the investigation. This use of black and white also adds to the old style of the series.

The sequence progresses to yet another unknown character at a pay phone. Throughout the sequence, the audience is left oblivious to the identity of the characters in the series, the only knowledge of the characters we are informed are the names of the cast. The long shot shows us the sequence has transitioned from day to night. The use of darkness creates a sense of mystery as everything is left in the dark. A close up shot shows the audience the dirty pay phone, suggesting the series is set in a rough area of America. The audience's attention is focused on the titular wire further conveying to the us of what the show is about.    

We next see an extreme closeup of an unknown person. The close up of the wire in the person's ear further conveys the crime genre of the series. This also connotes to us that the person  is listening on the mysterious person's phone call- the police are superior at this moment to the criminal. The camera crabs to the right, showing the audience a man smoking a cigarette; which could make the audience think this police officer is calm and collected- the cigarette also adds a sense of slickness to the character as if he does not care for what the criminals are doing as he knows the police will win nonetheless. 

The Wire's title sequence shows the audience various shots of a phone wire, an extreme close up shows a blurred version of  a waveform presumably the waveform of a voice. Another extreme close up of a man, possibly a criminal, on the phone. This leads to a close up of a now visible waveform; which could suggest to the audience that the police prevail against the criminals as they successfully manage to transmit into the criminal's phone call.  The composition of uneven placements in various shots of the sequence suggests a sense of misdirection in the series as if to tell the audience that everything is not as it seems. 

However, a shot of a surveillance camera being destroyed by a civilian could make the audience and the police aware that the criminals could be one step ahead of them. In addition, this shot adds a sense of defiance against the police and using this shot puts the audience in the position of a camera- this may give us another perspective an unbiased perspective as we are not in a position of the police or a criminal but can inanimate object. 

The sequence ends with a blurred and grainy long shot of a group of people- their actions are left unknown to the audience which further fuels the mystery of the series and makes us want to watch more. 

The use of narrative in the title sequence is what I would like our title sequence to embody. As the sequence focuses heavily on the narrative not the characters in the series, this makes for a more interesting watch for the audience and makes us more anticipated to watch which is what we want for our sequence.