ABSTRACT
I start this second chapter with an example of what are still called ‘theatrical trailers,’ those strange sort of allegorical micro-dramas which are shown in cinemas before the main event. These tasters of forthcoming attractions can seem bent on undermining anything the theatrical promise holds forth, compressing into their 60 seconds length everything of note that is going to happen in the film you haven't even decided to watch yet. But let us look at this one, you can follow me online and see what remains. 1 There is one main indoor shot that is returned to throughout the sequence, a large room, a school hall or such, with cutaways to various outdoors scenes. A red-painted wall flat across the back of the hall stretches from one side of the screen to the other. A teenage boy leans against the wall in the background, to the side. But he is not significant, and will soon be forgotten as the camera closes in on what is. Central to the shot and in front of the wall a young woman– another teenager– in black t-shirt and jeans, is flanked on either side by two uniformed police women, one of whom hands her a yellow leather jacket. ‘We'd like you to try this jacket on.’ There is a cutaway shot. The camera pans over the same jacket on the ground, outdoors, on a pile of dried leaves. In the school hall the girl puts on the jacket. The police woman speaks again: ‘If you could just look to your right.’ She does. ‘If you could just walk slowly to the wall, and slowly turn back again.’ The girl does so, wearing the jacket. Cutaways. A park. A shot at distance. A line of police amongst the trees, searching. Mid-shot. Three police are working around a small area of the park that is circled with yellow markers. One picks up the yellow jacket to place in a transparent plastic bag. Back in the hall, as the camera closes in on the face of the girl: ‘Can I ask you to confirm your name?’ Girl: ‘Helen. Helen Townsend.’ ‘Ok, can you confirm your address for me?’ ‘It's room 8, Summerfield House.’ ‘That's the care home on the west side?’ ‘Yeh.’ ‘Helen, can you confirm that you will be able to work with us between now and the reconstruction?’ ‘Sure.’ Cutaway. Helen, or we assume it is Helen, wearing the jacket, is seen from behind, walking away from us through the park, a bag over her shoulder. ‘It's a great thing you're doing, Helen, and don't worry, we'll be there to help you do your best.’ The last shot is a close-up on Helen's face, back in the hall, looking straight out, although it doesn't look as if she is looking at us. She is looking into a camera. There is a difference.
