Re: How have TV mysteries evolved over the years?

Mike Burke <mbu...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Fire Tiger" <RecreationalPo...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
But lack of moment probably makes it visually dead. Are you calling
for a return to motionless or something else? If not motionless, what
else? What would make it more realistic and enjoyable for you?

Why does there have to be motion when, in real life, there probably
wouldn't be?

I think the idea is to have more than just immobile talking heads in a
scene.

And I have watched interrogations of suspects on video tape and by way
of one-way mirrors and they are never the way they are on TV, movies,
or in novels. These days they're all video recorded. There is no
police brutality. There cannot be. Not even a slap on the face. Or
even slamming one's hand on a table. One judge ruled the table-
slamming as intimidation and threw out the recording from that moment
forward. And as soon as a suspect says "I want my lawyer.",
everything stops. None of the dramatics you see in fiction where the
police delay enabling the suspect to get a lawyer or lie to the
suspect to get them to talk more. "I want my lawyer" is a stop sign.
Then when the lawyer comes into the room, the power shifts to the
lawyer and completely away from the cops. The cops are on the
defensive from that point forward. The defense lawyer rules the
entire proceedings as s/he can stop it at anytime by advising their
client to say nothing more. The interrogations I watched, as soon as
the defense lawyer appears, the DA or assistant DA took over the
interrogation. It is then lawyer vs. lawyer. The cops and suspect
were spectators for the most part then. Oh, and I have never seen a
suspect whisper anything into their lawyer's ear during an
interrogation. That's pure fantasy. If the suspect had something to
say to their lawyer, the lawyer told the cops and DA to get out of the
room and the observation room as well as stop the video recording.
However, all this would make horrible drama. It is too slow, careful,
and cautious. There is no drama. None. It is as exciting as
watching an accountant do your taxes. Then again...

As the public begins to see more of these video recordings of real
police/DA interrogations, I think TV and movie dramas will have to
start to reflect them since the public will know what really takes
place during an interrogation. Now there is drama but it isn't where
the two sides confront each other.

The drama is when the sides are alone talking strategy and tactics. I
was lucky to tag along with a defense lawyer and found the counseling
they did of their clients when the cops were away very eye-opening and
interesting. The biggest thing that was surprising was how much
coaching the lawyer had to do with their client over what the client
says to the cops and DA. No conspiracy or lying. The lawyer was just
stressing how important words are and how the client had to think
before they spoke. That off-the-cuff remarks "can hang ya". That the
client is never to joke. The lawyer posing what the cops/DA are
likely to ask (usually always dead-on) and coaching the client on how
to answer those questions intelligently and with forethought. The
client would commonly give an answer and the lawyer would tell the
client how that answer could be intrepreted. The most common reaction
was, "That's not what I said!" The lawyer then explained how what the
client said could be intrepreted in the most negative way possible.
It was surprising and a bit funny at how much the clients got angry at
their lawyer for constantly "twisting" their words. The lawyer was
helping them but at that moment, they were the messager that hate can
be focused on. Later, the lawyer told me that she took client
hostility as a good sign. The client was mentally engaging in the
meeting.

Then on the other side, there's even more drama between the cops and
the DA talking about how to interrogate the suspect. In all the cases
I witnessed, the overworked DA was completely clueless about the case
and the cops have to educate the DA. In fact, the education commonly
took on the form of an interrogation by the DA of the cops. That's
where the drama is. You should have seen the DA react when he learned
of mistakes done by the cops. He had a three-strikes-and-we're-out
rule and I got to see it in its entirity in practice once. He learned
of one blunder by the cops and he said "Strike One". When he said
"Strike Three", he ended it right then and that was it. The suspect
was released and the cops were in the dog house. And he flipped when
saying "Strike Three". If he had a gun, I swear he would have shot
the two cops right there before me. That was great drama. It was
like a mini-courtroom without all the legal positioning and tactics.
Very raw. Totally unguarded emotional comments by everyone.

When cops call to interview people in real
life, they stand still and listen or, if they're insane, they run.
They don't treat the cops with contempt, and no real life cop would
tolerate that sort of behaviour either.

I do remember suspects carrying on their activities on Columbo, but,
then again, I think they were really try to show contempt for him.

There's more than enough movement in shows without manufacturing it
just for the sake of it. People might, occasionally, be too busy to
stop walking somewhere while talking, eg in West Wing, but it will be
so exceptional that it hardly justifies being included in a scene.

But they are concerned about lack of movement during the Q & A. What
you seem to be proposing is a return to Dragnet's flat Q & As. Or are
you? Do you have any ideas on how to make it still a visually
engaging scene? Perhaps more rapid changing of camera shots? Close-
up, room, full-body, room, close-up, close-up, and so on?

Scott

.

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