Wallander Analysis

The establishing shot of the isolated place by the sea shows there is hardly any civilisation. It is shot from a helicopter, so you get a birds eye view of the quiet, peaceful hilltop setting. However, as the shot moves closer in land, two figures and a car can be made out on the hill. The audience are already asking questions of 'why would two figures be walking away from a car in such an isolated place leaving the door open?' In addition, it can be seen that the figures are walking quite quickly away from the scene, like there are trying to get away from the car for a reason. As the shot passes over the car, it cuts to two girls walking side by side, the shot is behind them so you still cannot see their full identity, adding to the mystery. One of the girls may be stereotyped as a 'weird and out-there' character because of her noticeable hair and leather jacket. It is quite clear to the audience that these are the two figures walking swiftly away from the what seems to be abandoned car. Finally, it cuts to the inside of the car. It now idicates why the girls are moving away from what we know know is a cab from the licence featured in the frame, however it is splattered with blood, as is the front windscreen. Has there been an accident or murder?



From then on, the editing is medium paced cut shots between the two girls and the cab driver in the car. We are now shown the faces of the two girls, the one with the coloured hair seems more important beacause she is in the forground of the shot and the other is in the background. You can also see because of the close up of the girl in the forground she had blood on her face. Did she kill the man in the car? There are a sucsession of close ups of the man in the car, his face seems beaten and the car covered in blood. This does not seem like an accident but a violent killing. The audience are now asking the question 'why would two young girls kill a cab driver?' There is a midshot of the two girls face on, you can see the blood very clearly on girl number one but no evidence on girl number two, she doens't look as 'out there' as the first girl. They are both breathing heavily, showing signs of a struggle. Still, as they walk fast away from the car, it can be seen over their shoulders in the background. Neither show the desire to turn back.



The next couple of shots focus on the cab driver. It shows close up of items in his car, for example the picture of him and what we presume, as an audience, is his son. The photo is splattered with blood which the audeince feel emotion towards this unknown character. Did he really deserve this violent death? It is made very clear, with an extreme close up of girl ones hand, is covered in blood and holds a knife which she, without thinking, throws on the floor and disposes of. The audience are now asking questions, 'why did the girl kill him?', 'What part did girl number two play in this murder?', 'Did the man deserve it or was he innocent?' It then cuts to the opening titles and snaps the audience out of their emotion.

This is a succsessful opening sequence because it provokes the audience to ask questions. Once these questions have been asked, they are unarguably intregued. The audience want to find out more about these two teenage girls and why they would kill someone so violently because there has to be a motive. Therefore they watch on.