Blog 2

The BBC show Sherlock gives audiences a modern retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary works. The show uses many visual cues in order to signify the thoughts and actions of its characters; this allows the audience to pick up on certain character descriptions without the need for unnecessary exposition. Watson, for example, is framed throughout the episode in ways that indicate his uneasiness and uncertainty. Examples of this include handheld (shaky-cam) closeups as well as moments when the camera slowly pans back while slightly tilting. In addition to this we see that, in many scenes, Watson’s face is half lit. This shows an internal struggle with Watson, one that originates from his time in the military. Perhaps the biggest signifer for Watson is his cane. He claims to need to cane to help support his bad leg, but it is revealed later on that he does not need it at all, he simply has a psychosomatic limp due to his time in the military. On the flip side, Sherlock is a character who gets his fun from solving murders. When we are first introduced to him, we hear a loud, grand musical accompaniment which cues the audience into the fact that he is an overly confident, somewhat brash character. What’s most interesting about Sherlock as a character, is not what he says or does, but what is located in his flat. Visually speaking, the flat is very cluttered. Nothing seems to have a place within it, but this is exactly what you are meant to think. The flat as a whole is used to represent the mind of Sherlock Holmes; a mind that is full of information that seems nearly impossible to recall, but is in a place familiar to the one who needs it, it is organized clutter. Sherlock makes great use of camera techniques, lighting, and set design to visually tell the audience who these characters are, without the need of exposition.