When a huge building collapses on a star witness, Mary rushes in to save the man from an untimely death under the debris but, above the building site, a persistent reporter and the threat of a professional assassin may prevent her getting the victim out alive.
The sequence builds characters using a series of oppositions, such as the depiction of the two sisters Mary and Brandy (for instance, Mary's 'masculine' qualities contrasted with Brandy's feminine wiles); the different gender characteristics (such as the masculine use of humour in the face of great danger; Mary's passionate character contrasted with Marshall's self-control).
Terminology
Camerawork: movement handheld, tracking shot shot types wide angle, POV angles high angleEditing: hard cut, match cut
Sound: dialogue (diegetic sound), soundtrack of low orchestral music (non diegetic sound)
Mise-en-scène how authenticity / verisimilitude is created by the physical details of the building site, the presence of the police, Marshall service and reporters
THE WEST WING : Premiere
The extract features the busy team that runs the President's Office in The White House, Washington DC, handling every issue that affects the President's life. The extract opens with three scenes which are edited together to deliberately create parallels between them, with the overall effect of emphasising how all the staff operate with a frame of mind that they are always on duty, wherever they are and whatever the time may be. This is the main thrust of all the representation.
The mise-en-scène of the opening establishing shot is a wide shot of Washington DC at night with iconic buildings that signal the place as the seat of power.
The first scene positions Sam, the deputy communications director, in a two-shot with a pushy journalist, as a man harried by journalists even when he is off duty in a bar trying to relax. The government environment appears intense and pressured.
A straight cut to the second scene reveals the Chief of Staff Leo at home in a well-appointed sitting room with carved door frames, a chandelier and damask covered seats, obviously the home of a wealthy person. A wide angle shot shows the television to be always on even when it is not being watched, signifying the pressure of politics is inescapable. The diegetic noise of the telephone summons Leo urgently to the White House.
Another hard cut to the third White House staffer introduces CJ, the press secretary, in a wide two-shot showing her in the gym on running equipment, wearing gym clothes and beaming with pleasure in her activity. She clearly likes thinking of herself as dynamic and in control, able to combine work and leisure. In her conversation with her neighbour, she attempts to assert her sense of control as someone who can exercise as well as do a full day's work. It is only when she reveals that it is 5 a.m. that the audience see the dialogue with irony, especially when a presidential crisis makes a beeper summon her back to work at The White House. The comedy of the scene is created by CJ falling off her running machine as she tries to do two things at once.
The final scene in the sequence depicts the interior of the White House West Wing itself, drawing together all the previous three cameo sketches of West Wing staff. Here at the centre of power, Josh sleeps at his desk, the mid shot showing both his exhaustion and the debris of a hard night's work spent entirely at work at his desk.
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