As the camera cuts inside one of these buildings, the shot almost starts off on the floor of a dark room or a warehouse with a lot of equipment that isn’t familiar to us as the audience. We can here screams of someone in pain and the sound of an electrical current cutting in and out. The camera cuts to a close up of the side of a face, we can tell the man is oriental/Asian and he has obviously been doing something strenuous because he looks dirty and tied. The same man can then be seen wearing rubber gloves and turning a dial but it is still unclear what he is doing.
Things start to become a little clearer after this when the camera gives us a point of view shot of someone looking up at a man and women both of them Korean, and both of them speaking in Korean. After this the camera pans out to reveal that there is a man tied naked on a metal operating table and attached to a metal device above his body. The electrical current sound and the screaming we heard earlier are now synchronised with the images we see of this man being electrocuted.
This all gives the audience a generic impression that the genre of the show is about crime and perhaps the punishment of these crimes. At no point during the sequence so far do the audience have any reason to believe that what is happening here is justified or have any link with what they have come to expect from ‘24’ and ‘CTU’. What happens next could change the audience’s perceptions and the binary oppositions to something different but still with the feeling of right and wrong.
The next thing to happen is that one of the torturers quickly moves to a room at the back of the building where we find a table with what appear to be high ranking American soldier’s casually sitting round. They are all in uniform with some of there jackets off and some of them smoking. You get the impression that they know what has been going on and are happy to sit and wait for something to happen. It is obvious from the manor and respect the oriental gentleman gives these officers that they are in charge and hold the power within this scene.
We then cut to the US where we see David Palmer and his son fishing on a boat. The audience can identify these faces as key characters from the first series. It is a bright sunny day and the mood is happy and pleasant until the driver of the boat receives some information. The driver is told something through his ear piece which suggests that he is Palmer’s security (NSA), then the man refers to Palmer as Mr President which tells us that during the time the show has been off air David Palmer has been elected to the White House. The driver saying that and not giving the president or the audience any further information can be linked to the drama or thriller aspect of the show’s genre.
This then can all link into my earlier statement on binary oppositions. Here we see differences and opposites between South Korea and America. It is suggested that immoral things such as torture don’t occur on American soil although it is they who were part of it. From what we see in the frames South Korea was dark, had small and compact feel to the city. We also know the Koreans we saw appeared to be in control but later found out it was the American military that called the shots, this leads to the element of power. We know that America is one of the most powerful, wealthy and advanced countries in the world. In contrast, South Korea has been portrayed as the opposite. The Koreans we saw in this extract were dirty and poorly dressed where as the Americans were clean and professional.
Some noticeable opposition were that of the man screaming when Palmer and his son were smiling and laughing at the prospect of what to do that evening. The idea of happiness versus that of fear and pain is evident although I feel that the reason behind this was to maintain America’s integrity. By this I mean that people can believe that this interrogation went on because it was a foreign country and leads into the roles of America being the good guy/hero, and the foreigners being bad. We do also see that the hero’s in this show have very dark tendencies and are obviously willing to do whatever it takes to achieve the results they want.
The next stage in the sequence is of an unrelated girl running up stairs and jumping into an unmade bed. The girl is laughing and happy to be doing what she’s doing, the camera then pans to the left where we see Kim Bauer, Jack’s daughter, in her underwear washing and getting ready. We then find out that the little girl is hiding from her dad and it is suggested by the dialogue that this is Kim’s child and the father her husband.
When the father walks in the room Kim moves back into her en-suite bathroom where she was previously getting ready. From the body language of the two adults you begin to think that they are not married or in a loving relationship. The father carries on playing 'hide and seek' with his daughter and Kim look relieved that he is out of her bedroom. Kim and the child definitely have a strong relationship in this scene because Kim’s reactions and emotions show this. When the girl enters the room Kim stops everything, smiles and wants to join in with the girl. When the farther enters however these emotions change, she is unhappy with him in the room, wants to hide the fact she isn’t wearing many clothes but tries to act as if nothing has happened and goes back to what she was doing.
The plot and storyline shifts again after this when the camera cuts to a scene of Palmer and his son leaving the river and getting into armoured cars in a convoy. We see soldiers with guns, men in suits and dark glasses and a woman who we assume to be one of the presidents aids. As they get into the car the president and his son are split up and get into separate vehicles both having their own guards and protection. This goes back to the importance and severity of what the Korean man said whilst being interrogated, and what the driver of the boat was told.
The dialogue backs this up when Palmers aid says that a president has never been called in by the NSA (National Security Agency) on his morning off before. From the way in which Palmer and his aid interact you can connote that they have a mutual respect for one another and are friendly to each other whilst maintaining a professional stance. This is clear when the aid apologies to the president, calling him David, because she knew how he wanted to spend time with his son that weekend. In return Palmer plays down the incident and opens the door for the woman to get in. Viewers from the previous series will already relate to the popularity and affection that David Palmer enjoys from people, but new viewers can start to identify this too. He has to be and is seen to be a loving father and a man in charge and responsible of a country.
We then cut directly to an office where we see 2 men in suits being told by a girl in casual clothing, what she has done for them to make work easier. They both seem unimpressed by Paula, and continue to talk amongst themselves, you get the impression that these two men are in charge and Paula was trying to impress. Then the camera goes from a medium shot to a medium long shot to reveal the rest of the office. We see men and women in professional attire working at desks and talking to each other about what we assume to be work related items. They all look very relaxed.
The mood of George, one of the men from the start of this scene, changes when a female, Michelle, walks up to him and gives him a set up instructions and a piece of paper. He immediately reacts and insists that this must be a mistake before walking upstairs to his office. Michelle then goes to Tony, the other male from the start, and informs him of what was on that paper. The instructions were to bring Jack Bauer in at all costs, she doesn’t however know why the NSA want him.
When Michelle tells Tony of this she is intrigued and asks if Bauer is still inactive, Tony, whose facial expressions show signs of anger and confusion, confirms that Jack’s status. We now know that this is the CTU office which was the central theme of the previous series. We also now know that Jack Bauer, the hero and main star of the show is no longer in his position at CTU, he almost seems powerless.
As Tony answers Michelle, we see the screen split in half and a man with long hair, dressed poorly but always from behind starts walking in a separate frame. Tony say “yeah, he’s inactive” as this man that we assume is Jack walks away from the screen. Every shot used in this parallel scene is a close up but never of the mans face. This can be identified with the thriller genre because nothing has been said who, or why Jack Bauer is wanted.
The second frame expands and takes over that of the CTU offices, as the sequence continues we get extreme close ups of this mystery man and what he is wearing. The man is scruffy and not dressed smartly at all. As it continues we see the man getting into a car when we get to see a close up of his face. As suggested by the editing it is Jack but not as the audience may have remembered him. We can see binary oppositions here between the previous Jack and the current. The current man is scruffy, dirty and has grown a beard, where as the previous Jack was renowned for being smart and professional.
The audience now have to ask themselves what has happened to Bauer since the end of the first series, this pushes the narrative forward because everyone wants to know more about him. This is the case whether you are a new or old fan because you want to know what’s happened to him and why CTU is looking for him. Straight away Jack has been set up as a main character, one which we don’t know is good or bad. The scene ends with the audience looking through the car window at Jack driving away.
The next scene them cuts to a similar close up shot of Palmer through a car window, both their facial expression are similar, they both seem to be deep in thought. This may suggest that they are oppose each other or that they have a unified agenda, I feel that they are linked through what they have been through in the past but at this point both still have their own worries and problems.
A helicopter flies over the convoy and we have a close up of a sign that explains the president is going to the ‘Northwest Regional Operations’ base. There are soldiers guarding what seems to be a check point and there are signs warning of the danger in crossing the territory. This all leads to and backs up a serious and dangerous threat to the president and possibly America.
The president is escorted into a military bunker where by he is greeted by more soldiers with guns and a man in a suit. This man gives the impression that he too is important and when asked “who’s here?” by the president, replies everyone. They get into a lift and a button that suggests downwards is pressed, as they get out of the lift the president enters a room. This room has a large table with men in uniform standing around it, we see computer screens surrounding the room. Although Palmer is the most casually dressed man in the building, every person he comes into contact with salutes and shows a great deal of respect.
This establishes Palmer as a man of power and control as President but also reinforces the idea of respect and love people within the show and the audience have. Although the equilibrium of power seems to be shifting away from him, he seems to be the man to get it back. This establishes him as a main character and focal point throughout the series.
During this sequence Palmer is told of the terrorist attacks planned and about that American intelligence that led to this knowledge. Although the audience can link the earlier torture to this, the President is unaware of the lengths went to obtain it. This, as far as the audience are concerned, builds integrity in the character.
The next sequence sees Palmer being shown photos of a known bomber who they believed was dead. We see these two characters in opposition to each other as one, Palmer, is the good guy trying to maintain peace, and the other, Mamood, is seen to be someone who wants to disrupt peace and cause harm. We also see binary oppositions in that Palmer is a wealthy American fighting for the best for the US and Mamood as an Arab looking to cause terror and bomb American soil.
Palmer is handed a confidential folder containing information on the country supporting these terrorists, we as the audience and the rest of the room aren’t given these details. This suggests that it is controversial as well as confidential and that only the president can know. In the background we see images of war and suffering as well as recent bombings carried out by this man. Again this can be identified with the thriller genre and the action drama because we don’t know all the information of what’s going on but we do know that violence and killing will be involved.
As this sequence comes to a close we see the time ’08:12:34’, and 4 individual frames of other characters. The characters are Jack, Kim, Palmer and Mamood, this tells us that what we are about to watch has a multiple narrative which may or may not become unified as the story develops. The time also reinforces the suggestion of events occurring in real time although only 11 minutes have passed. Both these aspects are key signifiers of the series as a whole because they are used to push the narrative forward, reinforce the structure and help create the idea of realism in that other things are happening at the same time.
