Season 10 of NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] premiered Tuesday September 25th on CBS with an episode entitled Extreme Prejudice. Season 9 closed with a bombing of the NCIS building, leaving viewers in question of the fates of the quirky and well-loved Navy criminal investigative team.
The scene opens on black pavement and white papers flying. The camera moves up quickly and smoky light quickly enters the view. As the camera moves up, it pans to sweep over blurred images of destruction and indistinguishable victims of the bombing. Rubble is scattered everywhere, seen through a blurry haze of fiery remnants. You see the scene almost from a bystander’s viewpoint – the camera is slightly shaky and moves quickly – as an onlooker would survey the scene. Victims and relief personnel are shown walking toward the camera, sitting, and walking directly in front of the camera. The camera begins to level with these victims; a paramedic is shown covering a dead body with the camera at ground level. It’s almost as if the camera is being held by the bystander that has now begun to take a closer look and investigate the individual crisis’ of the bombing. All these images move quickly as the scene progresses and the view shifts to show different aspects of the destruction.
The first in-focus figure is Abbey, a prominent character in the NCIS series. She is seated – the camera approaches her, shifting from the ground level of the previously shown corpse to her eye level. There is a cut and camera is taken to the other side of the arc (referring to the axis of action) to show Gibbs approaching. He comes in from the left of the screen and stops in the frame towards the right. We get a close up of Gibbs’ expression before the camera matches his gaze to see Abbey from his standing eye-level. We see her exchange a look with Gibbs, and the camera is held on both characters long enough to appreciate their facial expressions and knowing looks.
The camera cuts back to Gibbs as Director Vance approaches and we are shown close-ups of these two characters as they begin a dialogue. Both faces are show within the screen as the two men survey the scene of destruction. During their conversation, the camera cuts to a bird’s eye view of the scene, re-emphasizing the overwhelming destruction. As the Secretary of the Navy walks up, the camera once again becomes intimate on the conversation. The scene then morphs into a series of over the shoulder shots as the camera grasps all three men now engaged in conversation. Several times, Gibbs gazes outward to the smoky scene surrounding him; during these moments there is enough nose-room for the audience to imply the scene he is surveying. The camera once again cuts between a close-up and a long shot of the scene. Gibbs walks off and the scene ends with a close-up of Director Vance gazing out into the destruction.
Now that we know what happened and exactly how it happened, the question of “why” must be posed. Why would the scene, or rather the entire episode, open with pavement and swirling papers? No doubt to emphasize the destruction, confusion, and disorientation that pervades this episode. The theme of this scene can be traced by these emotions and the director did a wonderful job of conveying them through camera movement, mise-en-scene and cinematography. The camera moves through the scene, slowly establishing a sense of stability for the audience as we move from indistinguishable victims to Abbey and then to Gibbs who carries on the first conversation in which we are finally privy to some revealing information which provides the baseline for the plot.
The initial camera movements, shaky and sporadic, help the viewer to be immersed in the scene, feeling just as disoriented and overwhelmed as a character would as he or she walked through the area. This revisits the concept of film as an illusion; already at this early point in the show, the audience is beginning to become a part of the story. The audience shares a sigh of relief with Gibbs as we discover that Abbey (Gibbs’ favorite and the favorite of many viewers) is safe – the first recognizable face in the scene. The next close-up of Gibbs’ face, along with the subsequent close-ups of him, is important because his character is a “man of few words” and therefore his facial expressions are very often important, readable, and noteworthy.
The dialogue and over-the-shoulder shots of the conversation between Gibbs, Director Vance, and the Secretary of the Navy (or “Sec Nav” as he is called by the rest of the characters) reveal the dynamic between these characters through facial expressions, body language and costuming. Gibbs remains very calm as always, with a knowing look and unabashed determination. Director Vance, usually stoic, is disheveled and worried. Sec Nav is shown in a suit and brings an air of formality and tension as he enters the conversation. The close-ups are twice interrupted by birds’ eye views of the demolished building, as if to ensure that the audience doesn’t get too caught up in the conversation, but has a fresh view of the reason for the anger and retribution building within the characters as their conversation comes to a close.
Film Art 