The document analyzes the 2007 dramatic series 'Durham County,' focusing on its themes of evil and personal history involving detective Mike Sweeney and a serial killer. It discusses various cinematographic techniques and imagery used throughout the series, including low key lighting, desaturated colors, and symbolic props that create tension and mystery. The analysis highlights how these elements contribute to the emotional impact and narrative complexity of the show.

1. Durham County Textual
Analysis
By Tom Andrews Faulkner

2. Durham County has 3 creators: Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik, Janis Lundman
and Adrienne Mitchell and was first broadcast in 2007.
Synopsis: They say there's only six degrees of separation between you
and anyone else in the world, but sometimes it's not even that.
Sometimes the most brutal evil you can imagine is already in your
world. Sometimes he's just across the street. Durham County is an
emotionally powerful six one hour dramatic series that revolves around
Detective Mike Sweeney and his family as he hunts a serial killer he's
certain is the guy across the street. You'd be hard-pressed to tell the
difference between the cop and the killer or between them and you.
They have a shared history, one that goes all the way back to high
school. You think you can leave your past behind. But you can't...

3. The first shot in the sequence is a zoom in and
mid shot of some trees in a wood.
Stereotypically the first shot of an episode is an
establishing shot and is this isn’t it can leave the
audience bewildered.
The shot is very dark and gloomy therefore uses
low key lighting and also looks to be
desaturated. This creates an effect of mystery
and tension in the audience.
The text in the shot is sans serif and has both
lower and upper case lettering. It fits the scene
due to no colour being in it and it just being
white.
The trees are leafless and which portrays winter
which is seen as desolate and cold time which
creates foreboding for the audience.
There are non-diegetic piano chords playing in
the background which create a sinister and
tense atmosphere.

4. This is a long shot with a doll in the
foreground of the shot.
The doll is very prominent in this shot due to
foreground focus, on the doll, and that it is
wearing a red jumper. The rest of the shot is
desaturated therefore the red is almost
protruding out of the shot which shows us its
importance. The background seems dead
and empty and it seems like the doll is alone
which shows that it is a wasteland like area
that people don’t want to go to.

5. This shot is an establishing shot and is what
you would expect at the start of sequence
normally which could disorientate the
audience.
This shot is also desaturated which shows the
sadness of the area and that the people there
are not motivated or exciting.
The shot is focused on the foreground which
shows that life outside of the city is relevant to
the show more than the city is.
The text is a mix of higher and lower case and
is sans serif. It contrasts the desaturation of
the reeds due to it being white.

6. This shot is a close-up of the back of a man’s
head; we don’t yet know what he looks like or
who he is which can draw the audience in to
where he is and why he is there.
It is also a downwards shot so we are at eye
level with his head to bring the audience more
into the scene.
The shot is focused on the foreground which
is the man’s head. This shows the importance
of him in the story as the protagonist.
The low key lighting in the shot creates a
sombre feeling and a feeling to make the
audience believe the man is in trouble.

7. This a close up shot of a basket which seems to
have blood coming out of it. This creates the
impression of a murder which puts the
audience on edge due to increased tension.
The camera seems to be focused on the centre
of the shot and as the shot gets closer to the
edge it becomes less focused, almost like it is
magnified.
It is at a slightly high angle which shows that
whatever is in the basket is vulnerable and
is/was helpless.

8. This starts as the same shot as the one
previous bar one. The character turns his head
to the left as if he’s looking at something that
has entered the room.
The focus is still on his head thus is on the
foreground which makes it the only relevant
thing in the shot.
In this shot the text is anchored into the mans
head. It is sans serif like the others but is only
upper case lettering this time

9. This shot is close up of someone putting
some blonde hair onto a nail. The hair
stands out in the shot because it is coloured
unlike the rest of the shot which is in
desaturated colours and low key lighting.
This makes the audience think that the hair
will be to do with the main storyline due to
its significance in the opening sequence.
The hand is dirty and looks like ones of a
workman which could give us a clue of who
committed the crime of something to do
with a blonde person.
The lettering in the shot is sans serif and is
all upper case. Some of the letters are bold
but with no set pattern.

10. This shot is a medium shot of the man jolting
backwards off of the table onto his chair. It is
shown from what looks like a point of view shot
through a window at him; this creates the
impression he’s in captivity.
There is a change in the music in this scene which
has an added piece of asynchronous sound which
is almost in time to him jolting but is still non-
diegetic.
We can see that the clothing of the man is darkly
coloured and that of a common working man, he is
also bald and middle aged which are common
features of ‘the bad guy’ in films.

11. After the man jolts back we are shown this close
up of him. He seems in shock and has an
awestruck impression on his face.
The camera’s focus is on the foreground which
solely includes his head and upper torso which
shows its prominence in the scene.
The lighting in the scene is glaring onto his face
and it looks like it is natural light as it is only
coming from one direction.

12. This is a close up shot of a doll with blood
coming out of its head with a gun on the
floor next to it in which the camera pans
across, to the right, to show.
The focus is of the camera is on the mid-
ground, which includes the blood and
head. This creates tension in the audience
as they don’t know what has happened.
The gun is not in focus which creates
mystery of what it did and who shot the
dead character as it seems to be pointing
away from him.
The clothing of the doll is smart which
connotes murder due to the riches of it.

13. This shot is an establishing shot of the area the
show is set in. This is disorientating for the
audience due to this normally being the first
shot of the sequence but instead it is over
halfway through it.
The desaturation of the shot and murky clouds
in the sky above creates a feeling of coldness in
the city and that harrowing things occur there.
All the houses look the same which creates the
feeling of it being a council housing estate
which connotes crime. This links to the
coldness of the area and portrays it as a bad
place to live.

14. This is a medium shot of some red roses floating away
into the water of what looks like the river shown
earlier in the sequence.
Red roses usually connote love but sending things out
to sea connotes death which causes juxtaposition in
this scene which creates confusion in the audience.
The rest of the shot is also desaturated which makes
the redness of the roses stand out more therefore
highlighting their importance in the shot.
They are across the bottom line of the rule of thirds in
the shot therefore are most likely to be seen by the
audience and acknowledged.
The shot seems to be in fast motion as the water is
rippling abnormally quickly. This could represent the
slowness of the area and how nothing is dealt with
properly, hence the death that the roses connote.

15. This is a long shot of a man dancing with a
doll in the headlights of a car. This is a
strange scene as we do not identify the
identity of the man which can create
discombobulation in the audience.
The shot is out of focus to create more
tension at what is occurring for the audience
and being ‘caught in headlights’ usually
means something is going to die.
The text is sans serif and is a mixture of
upper and lower case and is only visible due
to the lights of the car. This makes the
headlights a prominent part of the shot.
The only light in the shot is artificial which
shows it most be at night which creates the
idea of mental instability in the man. This is
because no sane person would dance in the
middle of the night with a doll.

16. This shot is a long shot of a man running
towards the camera screaming.
We do not hear the screams as the dialogue
has been cut out of the sequence creating a
cryptic feel to the scene as we can imagine
what he sounds like but don’t know for sure.
The jump cut as he approaches could cause
stress in the audience as it seems almost
supernatural as he basically teleports further
towards the camera and turns the shot into a
close up.
This shot is in full black and white, with no
colour which creates a dream like feel to the
shot as it is different to all the others which
seemed to be in real time.
The setting is eerie as it seems to be a farm
because of the farmhouse in the background
but we were shown the setting to be a city
which makes this place seem more important
and disturbing to the audience.

17. This shot is a big close up of the man we previously
saw in a locked room at a table waking up from a
nightmare, which was most likely the last shot, of the
screaming, running man.
It is a extremely short take of him blinking once after
waking up then cuts. This makes this shot seem
important to the audience as they didn’t get a good
look at what happened in it and could be left puzzled
by what happened in it. It could also create mystery
at whether the previous, abnormal, shots were linked
to him waking up.

18. This is an extreme long shot of the man shown waking
up walking alone along a road.
His clothing is very smart and formal but his laboured
walk juxtaposes what he is wearing. This creates
wonder in the audience at who he is and what he is
doling to be walking away from something that smarty
dressed.
The shot is in deep focus so that we can see everything
relevant and nothing is missed out.
The two trees look dead and decrepit and as they are
leafless it shows the harshness and cold hearted nature
of the environment they are in.

19. The last shot in the sequence is the exact same
shot as the last one but the man has walked off the
screen and the text has appeared in the centre.
The text stutters when first shown but then
reappears like a light being turned on and off. This
makes it seem dysfunctional and unlike a normal
place.
The text is in sans serif and is all upper case. The ‘A’
in Durham has been edited to be a red triangle. The
colour read appeared multiple times in the
sequence thus could be related to this triangle. At
thus point we don’t know if the triangle means
anything but due to the repetition of the colour red
we are aware it could be prominent. It is mostly
known for connoting love and blood which shows
love could lead to the death of someone.