Wallander (Firewall, 7th December 2008, BBC1)

In the opening sequence of 'Firewall' in the Crime Drama TV Show 'Wallander', this show intrigues the audience by what transpires in the opening sequence.

At the very beginning of the episode, the screen remains pitch black for precisely ten seconds. Whilst some viewers may not take much (if any) notice of this, other viewers could use the black screen to make an observation about the darkness, evil and death that will likely be shown in 'Firewall' as these elements are all typical representations of the colour black. This affects the audience because a number of them will be interested to see whether or not darkness, evil and death appear in this episode of 'Wallander' and if so, how they are implemented into the episode.

Then, after we emerge from the entire blackness of the screen, the viewer then witnesses an extreme long-shot of a rural area which features (from what we as a viewer can see) a small handful of people in that area. This suggests that the area might connote a sense of isolation and abandonment which could be something for the viewer to take note of in case something might transpire in that location at some point during the episode. As the rural area seems to be deserted, it creates a sense of vulnerability for the very few number of characters who do appear in such an isolated location, and as a result, makes the audience feel sympathetic towards them and worry for what their fate may be. However, the empty rural area could also suggest peace, quietness and serenity, painting it in a far more positive lighting and if this proves to be what the director is aiming for, attempting to make the viewer not suspect any possible signs of death, darkness and/or evil in such a quiet and peaceful area.

Once the establishing shot of the rural area has finished transpiring, the camera now focuses on the backs of two women in black clothing. The scene becomes more tense, and the sound helps to create this moment of tenseness. Aside from the diegetic sounds of footsteps and wind (although that could be debated whether or not it is actually diegetic, as the wind sounds does seem to be exaggerated dramatically in post-production), nothing else is audible in the scene. This is an indication that the director wants the focus to be on nothing but the two female characters that are shown in the scene, which could further hint that they have important roles in this episode if the director is attempting to place all of the audience's focus onto those two female characters.

An observation that the viewer could make about the two female characters from first glimpse is the colour of the upper-half of their black clothing. As mentioned earlier, black connotes a sense of darkness, death and evil. These three representations could apply perfectly to both females later on in the episode, but as the viewers will have only seen their backs, they can only make perceptions about what these females are like. This should interest the viewers enough to make them feel tempted to watch more, to see whether their assumptions on these two female characters are correct or incorrect.

Then, the camera shifts focus from the females to using extreme close-ups to show the taxi driver's possessions inside the taxi that have been covered up with blood. Extreme close-ups are used to show these possessions in great detail, allowing the viewer to create more of a realistic personality for the assaulted taxi driver and make an assumption of him based from what they can see of his possessions.

Some of the possessions that are shown inside the taxi point towards the driver being a family orientated man, as one of the photos show him providing physical contact with a younger man, most likely a relative of his. If the younger man is indeed a family member of the taxi driver, then the audience will feel immense heaps of sympathy towards not only the taxi driver, but for the younger male as well as the rest of the driver's relatives as modern society despise the idea of family bonds being broken up for whatever reason, so to see a family-orientated man die will upset the viewer substantially, as they will instantly realise that his bonds with other family members will forever be broken.

After this, the camera cuts away from inside the taxi to the two walking females, then back to the taxi, then back to the two walking females and so on. This method is used to essentially indicate to the viewer that the females and the dying male will eventually intertwine together to produce a plot for the episode. The audience  will be affected by this method as they will gain a better understanding of what will transpire in the episode, partially helping them to predict the outcome of the 'Firewall' episode. This scene continues for a while, until an extreme close-up is once again used to display one of the females dropping a blood coated knife, which is telling the viewer that she has done something very immoral and probably committed a murder. This shocks the viewer, as they were in the midst of these frequent cuts between the females and dying male until suddenly they witness one of the females dropping a blood covered knife, as well as a bombshell in the process.