P2

Video analysis link:

- Product title: Black Mirror “15 Million Merits”

Micro Elements	Purpose, Genre, Style
Sound (Diegetic / Non-Diegetic)	The background soundtrack is orchestral, being non-diegetic as the main character cannot hear the music. The music is very smooth and picks up pace as the main character earns more merits. It starts of slow, and rapidly picks up pace, then repeats this again. It sounds very uneasy in a way, you feel uncomfortable as the piano and violins get louder, as you except something bad to happen. The piano and violins represents the characters anger, and the song highlights the horror and dread that you should feel at the end of the episode. The music is very motivational and moving as it follows the main characters journey to getting 15 million merits. The diegetic sounds are the sounds of the bicycles spinning round, with the main character not speaking. There are also sounds from the screens that has an echo and is distorted, showing what the main character can hear. The music is the main part of this scene. In the shot where the main character finally gets to the audition room and just stands there with no emotion, the music syncs up with when the room’s empty, and when the room is full. The scene cuts as the music goes from slow to fast, picking up pace again. Furthermore, as the main character cycles, each pedal diegetic sound is synced up with the non-diegetic music. This is clear when the main character finally reaches 15 million merits, and as he stops cycling, the music reaches a climax and slows down again.
Editing	It starts from the cycle room, with no music at all. The shots are long, following the character, showing a slow pace and makes the viewer curious as to the sudden cut (The scene before was very dramatic as the main character nearly killed himself, but decided not to, then cuts to the cycling room which is calm, which would confuse the viewer). Once the music starts playing, the scene starts to pick up the pace slightly, and then cuts to different shots and like a time-lapse of him working his way to 15 million merits. With the music, still at a slow pace, the shots are quite long and this emphasises his anger and deep feelings.
Cinematography	There are lots of low angle shots, showing power to the main character, with close ups of the main character’s emotionless face. The close ups show his determination and his main goal – to buy a new entry ticket. When the main character shows him using the toothpaste, it has an extreme close up, showing the amount of toothpaste used. This shot is an extreme close up to force the viewer into looking at the small amount of toothpaste, showing that he’s saving merits and starting not to waste his merits like he used to. There are lots of close up shots of the merit counter, from the main characters perspective on the bike. As an example, at the start of this scene, there is a long shot with a low angle of the rows of bikes. This scene shows the main characters determination, and reflects to the viewer just how eerie the room looks when almost empty. But this scene emphasises the silence and loneliness that the main character’s feeling. There are lots of symmetrical shots, which makes the viewing experience aesthetically pleasing to watch which, in my opinion, reflects on the repetitious days they have to endure. What I mean is, the perfect angles and clean location makes the viewer almost feel claustrophobic in a way.
Mise en scene & lighting	We do not know the location, which is what makes each Black Mirror episode so unique. Of course, each episode is different, therefore there is never a determined location. We are never given a view of the outside world once, the entire episode focuses around this strange world that they all live in, cycling for merits to live on. In this specific scene that I’m looking at, the lighting is all from the lights, with very dark rooms only lit by these bright lights and screens. The room, being surrounded by television panels, is eerily lit. There aren’t a lot of props, the main props are the bikes that they have to ride, which seem to be technologically advanced as it adjusts to each individual person, as seen when they sit down and the seat moves itself. The actors, all doing the same thing, are cycling day in day out, with the focus being on the main character and how he stands out from everyone else, being so focused on the amount of merits being earnt. This is represented when the person cycling next to him is laughing at a TV show and not trying very hard, when the main character is sweating and playing the most boring video game that earns him the most points. Each character is shown to not be interested in one-another, as none of them talk to each other, or seem to have friends. The overall setting is very dark, but with bright colours. This is important, because this episode is very bright with lots of colours on the screens. Having this, mixed with the sadness that the cyclers feel, doesn’t make sense to the viewer, as the episode is dark in general but the bright colours balances it out. The costumes are very simple, as they all have to wear the same clothes, apart from the cleaners who wear bright yellow clothes.
Effects (Visual/Special)	The special effects are the stamp on the main characters hand, which fades away slowly as he works harder towards 15 million merits. The transition from the stamp disappearing shows how much time has passed to the viewer. As for what’s on the electronic screens, this is all done through visual effects (added in post production.).