examing the specificity of tv editing in contemporary crime drama

EXAMINING THE SPECIFICITY OF TV EDITING

IN CONTEMPORARY CRIME DRAMA

A Dissertation submitted by

Jonathan Berry

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the award of BA (Hons)

Television Production

The Media School

Bournemouth University

2013/2014

Words: 9485

Examining the Specificity of TV Editing in Contemporary Crime Drama

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 2

CHAPTER 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW 3

CHAPTER 2 – CASE STUDY 1 12

CHAPTER 3 – CASE STUDY 2 23

CHAPTER 4 – CONCLUSION 31

REFERENCES 34

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INTRODUCTION

“Six out of the top ten shows on US television in 2005 were crime dramas. As of June

13th, 2011 three out of the top five broadcast shows were crime dramas. Viewers in

the US and all over the world can’t seem to get enough” (Nielsen, 2011).

Television crime dramas are a form of programming that have captured audiences for

decades. It is a key market within the television industry and within western media as

a whole. This dissertation will examine the influence of editing in this genre and

apply various conceptual frameworks, theories and approaches to evaluate two

contemporary crime dramas – Criminal Minds (2005-Present) and True Detective

(2014). Whilst they compete in the same genre it is evident that there are a myriad of

differences between the two programmes that are due to their respective editing

styles. These will be analyzed, taking into account both external and internal factors,

technological influences, regulatory issues and creative controls. The overall aim will

be to discover the amount of creative control afforded to editors in meeting the

demands of the modern television production environment.

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CHAPTER 1

Literature Review

This literature review will begin by looking at crime television editing theory and

conceptual frameworks from within the industry itself, as well as the television

market as a whole. Further research will focus on specific editing theory regarding

genre, narrative and rhythm, which will be compared, analyzed and synthesized.

One of the most prevalent conceptual frameworks for looking at shifts in market

trends is the Innovation Radar, a methodology that can be applied to a range of

businesses including the television industry. Its primary purpose is to determine the

need for innovation and value creation (Sawhney, Wolcott, & Arroniz, 2006). As a

conceptual framework it is effective because it examines four different dimensions of

innovation, namely “offerings, customers, process and presence” (Sawhney, Wolcott,

& Arroniz, 2006).

In relation to offerings, crime television has been popular for a long time – CSI:

Crime Scene Investigation (2000-Present) has been one of the most continuously

popular shows in the world for almost 14 years (CBS.com, 2002) – they are

considered “experienced goods” (Sawhney, Wolcott, & Arroniz, 2006). This means

an investor, such as a network or production company, feels they have security in the

proven track record of these kinds of shows. However, for a program to be watched

by a large audience there needs to be an understanding of the preference and lifestyle

of the target demographic. The customers have to be encouraged via new digital

media practices to access the product. Therefore editors have to design products that

will stand out amongst a library of hundreds of similar offerings. For example, by

making the opening scene something unusual or stylish that keeps the audience from

turning off. In Cutting Rhythms (2009), Karen Pearlmen agrees, urging “a television

editor, especially with the amount of choice and channels available to the average

viewer, has to grab his/her audience from the get-go” (Pearlman, 2009).

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Within the actual programme itself there also needs to be innovation in regards to the

post-production workflow. This includes approaches to streamlined editing, allowing

for faster turnaround work. In Film Technology in Post Production (2001), Dominic

Case reasons that if post-production costs can be reduced, potentially more episodes

of a show can be made, or costs can be covered elsewhere. Perhaps most importantly,

improvements in post-production technology and techniques has lead to a general

increase in the quality of television, during what writer Robert Thompson has deemed

“Television’s second golden age” (Thompson, 2005). He outlines the idea that as

technology has become cheaper and more efficient, such as advances into HD editing,

television can compete with cinema and is no longer seen as the “gross aesthetic

inferior” (Thompson, 2005, p. 150).

There have also been other influences and changes in regulation within the production

process that have allowed television to compete with Hollywood. With the ever-

increasing popularity of cable television, “television editing has found a new freedom,

a freedom to experiment with style, tone, rhythm and story” (Crandall & Furchtgott-

Roth, 1996). During publication, presence is also important. Services such as Netflix

not only acquire programmes but also produce their own shows internally (Madrigal,

2014). This potentially gives editors a new freedom to work on productions that are

developed through a more linear and ‘in-house’ system.

Netflix is a good example of a different conceptual framework – disruptive

technology – which media theorist Arthur Lugmayr discusses in Digital Interactive

TV and Metadata (2004). He argues that disruptive technologies have played a part in

editing innovation more than the explanation given by the innovation radar approach.

The disruptive technology view of innovation argues that changes in editing have

occurred due to initially inferior products aimed at consumers who disrupt the

production industry’s market structure. A good example of this would be the

digitization of storage systems, which “allowed consumers to edit and create content,

something which breached the relationship between post-production and the

professional clients” (Case, 2001). Now television programs are being made on the

same software you can pick up for a three-figure-sum, so editors have been forced to

re-evaluate what makes an edit professional. In In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective

on Film Editing (2001), editor Walter Murch discusses what distinguishes an amateur

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edit from a professional one. In his opinion, it is not an issue of software or hardware,

but rather knowing when to cut. He outlines a number of general criteria when

making this decision. He asserts that whilst rhythm is important, the two most

important decisions to be made when cutting are emotion and story. An editor’s job

becomes asking whether a cut mirrors what the audience should be feeling and

whether the cut in question develops the story (Murch, 2001). Murch’s analysis of

editing is an approach and framework that can be applied across numerous sub-topics

in editing, such as pace or narrative. Its adaptability makes it an invaluable tool that

has been developed through the lens of first hand experience.

Overall, both innovation radar and disruptive technology show that evolutions in

editing can move from being unconventional to being a key tool in the industry. In a

similar way, consumers can also move between existing in a disruptive market and

existing in a current market. It is clear that both external and internal factors have to

be given full consideration when looking at the specificity of contemporary crime

television editing.

TV genres are ways of grouping shows primarily by style and story – a ‘genre text’

can be easily recognized and categorized by virtually any audience. Genre provides

consumers an easy and focused way to choose between particular shows. This applies

to both live, recorded and on-demand TV. For example, Sky Television customers are

given “genre tabs in the TV guide to give you quick and easy access to the shows you

love” (sky.com, 2010). Western genre theory, as we understand it today, began at the

height of European classicism in the eighteenth-century. Genres were seen as

preferred forms for how artists working in music, theater etc. could express

themselves. During the 19th and 20th century, when Romanticism was culturally

dominant, a growing number of artists came to see the classic genres as archaic and,

most importantly, over-regulated. Throughout the birth of the motion pictures in the

late 1890’s, genre had become a shamed word amongst artists, via its inherent links to

mass-market publication. As “the Victorian gentle-reader became the centre of the

publishing world…genres were associated with popular culture and a brand name

system against which any authentic artistic expression must necessarily struggle”

(Toby Miller, 2004, p. 32). Critics of the era often saw genre as an object of derision;

it was not until the 1940’s that film theorists began to question whether genre had

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become an integral part of a text’s production as opposed to a distribution tool applied

during the publishing process. During this revolution in film and television theory,

writer Lawrence Alloway stated in American Crime Film at the Museum of Modern

Art that “the majority of film reviewers write as a hostile minority primarily interested

in works that are above obsolescence…this book emphasizes…popular movies to be

viewed in sets and cycles rather than as single entities” (Stanfield, 2011). Alloway’s

mention of ‘sets and cycles’ resonates in television today due to the role of

intertextuality and reiteration in the structure of television programs. “Linking the

movies to car design, Alloway argued that the ‘annual style changes were sufficient to

entertain us with a comedy of newness but not radical enough to disrupt continuity

with earlier models’” (Stanfield, 2011).

When reviewing television over the last 25 years, it is clear that production techniques

available to editors have been adapted and become more sophisticated to offer this

“comedy of newness” (Stanfield, 2011). The result is a huge number of programmes

being offered to consumers, without compromising the economic model. In the

2010’s, with the advances made in on-line and on-demand technologies, genres have

become both more expansive yet recognizable and brandable. In other words, the

same conceptual framework that developed during European classicism and

Romanticism still exists today, but in a more expanded format. An excellent example

is the explosion of micro-genres in services such as Netflix, which has built upon the

well-established communal genres such as drama, thriller, horror, comedy, etc.

“Netflix has 76,897 separate categories…to my knowledge, no one outside Netflix

has ever compiled this mass of data before” (Madrigal, 2014). Netflix tags films and

television shows with “descriptors such as romantic, visually striking…fast-paced,

complex” (Sweney, 2014). This has a huge influence on the role of the editor,

primarily due to how Netflix and other content producers have monetized their micro-

genre data. The traditional TV series commissioning and producing model has been

revised drastically. Instead of making a show and then hoping it catches on with a big

audience, Netflix crunches its subscriber base data to identify fans of specific genres.

From there they can identify subscriber populations that gravitate around genre areas

such as horror, thriller and crime. That allows them to project a threshold audience

size to see if it makes for a viable project. (Sweney, 2014). Now producers utilise the

microgenre model to create more focused programming that can capture an audience

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successfully and also maintain that viewership. To an editor, this only increases the

importance of genre. If content is commissioned to fit into crime subgenres containing

tags such as ‘visually striking’, ‘burner’ or ‘complex’, then the structure, pace, styling

and rhythm would be far different to crime genre content aimed at an audience that

identifies with tags like ‘fast paced’ or ‘action packed’.

Genre has never been more important to an editor, and in a market where crime and

police procedurals have become over-saturated, editors are being required to both

reinvent and rediscover a well-trodden genre, whilst maintaining its identifiable core

motifs. The idea of both aesthetic divergence (and convergence), and the inherent

dissonance when trying to cater to both is something crime television has to negotiate

constantly. In Dead Ringers: The Remake in Theory and Practice (2002), Jennifer

Forrest discusses remake theory in regards to television – “when a writer, an editor, or

any of the creative team, is working on a new episode they are in many ways

remaking the pilot” (Forrest, 2002). Forrest views an editor as someone who has to

repeat and converge certain elements of a production with every new episode.

However, this does not account for instances where episodes are drastically different

from the house style, which are frequently found in many crime TV series. Often

these are “bottle episodes” which are “designed to take up as little money as

possible…they are often a change for a slow, characterization-filled episode after a

big special-effects-laden action episode” (tvtropes.org, 2004). As police procedurals

and crime TV shows are typically of a faster pace, a bottle episode can allow for a

much larger amount of experimentation and less aesthetic convergence. While

Forrest’s argument that television is essentially a “remake factory line” (Forrest,

2002, p. 194) resonates with many successful programmes which have produced

hundreds of episodes, its limitations begin in its inability to account for production

factors such as budget, or changes in the creative team. The smallest change in the

organization of a television program’s production can mean changes to an editor’s

style and technique, which ultimately affects aspects of the finished product. To

summarise, it would appear that genre has deep roots within the television business

model but that the impact of the financial imperative can have a whole range of

effects on a programme’s editing and production.

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Syd Field, an American screenwriter, outlined a framework called the “Three Act Plot

Structure” which can be applied to the story of any contemporary media, in particular

film and television. A typical Hollywood film, according to Field, can be separated

into three dramatic acts: the setup, the confrontation and the resolution. In The Fiction

of Postmodernity, Stephen Baker defines the set up as “the most important…it is vital

for the filmmaker to give the audience a sense what the picture is going to be about,

who the main character is, the nature of the problem facing the hero” (Baker, 2000).

The second act, confrontation, is “the longest act…we see the main character in a

number of more and more extreme problem situations where they confront their

enemies normally quite helplessly” (Baker, 2000). The final act, the resolution, sees

“the hero finally taking control…achieving a final, decisive victory” (Baker, 2000).

Field then goes on to propose the Causality framework. When a film’s narrative and

structure is being designed in the edit, Field believes that causality theory best

explains the choices made. Causality is the simple structuring “by which one thing

leads to another”. The claim here is that a narrative is not only an arrangement of

events, but also rather an arrangement of events that compose a mechanism. This is

supported by the work of psychologist Mark Turner in The Literary Mind (1998), who

examined the idea of an underlying mechanism, writing, “a narrative is a reproduction

of a mechanism in the cognitive domain” (Turner, 1998). Its relevancy in television is

that narratives themselves inherently consist of smaller meaningful parts, which

Turner classed as “units of meaning” (Turner, 1998). These form a mechanism, a

system that can then be repeated. Furthermore, when it comes to TV editing, there are

often important narrative choices to be made and such questions may arise as ‘Why

do certain scenes deserve to be arranged in a narrative?’ or ‘Do these scenes belong to

the same narrative?’

According to linguist George Kampis, the key to editing is “imposing order” (Kampis,

2003). Kampis, asserts that “order is artificial…it looks natural because it reflects the

actual temporal succession of events”. Narrative mechanisms are not only subject to

works of film editing, but also “on every level of human expression”, there must be

psychobiological factors – such as memory – that play a role in how we construct and

order a narrative. When an editor is working, he is trying to reconstruct this

experience in a film’s narrative as best he can. However, in Fine Cuts, Roger

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Crittenden outlines the disadvantages to the cognitive approach, pointing towards the

“myriad of different ways a narrative can be edited and approached”. Crittenden gives

as an example the common narrative technique of “parallel events” (Crittenden,

2005). The amount of cognitive dissonance it would cause means that the human

mind will naturally construct singular narratives. In TV, parallel narratives are

common, especially in police procedurals, where you may follow the journey of

multiple characters in the same time frame. Crittenden argues that this is different to

how the brain approaches narrative, and that other elements play a larger role in

creating a natural feel to a motion picture.

One of the other factors Crittenden puts forward is rhythm, “the fundamental tool of

the editor; when a filmmaker adjusts the length of shots in relation to one another, he

or she affects the entire pace, structure, and mood” (Pearlman, 2009, p. 42). Once

again, one of the main approaches in the analysis of rhythm is the cognitivist

approach. David Bordwell, one of the most prominent film and psychology

researchers, described cognitivism in relation to rhythm as “the seeking out of an

understanding of human thought, emotion and action by appeal to processes of mental

representation and processes” (Bordwell, 1989). Essentially, the cognitivist

conceptual framework focuses on the psychobiological factors involved when we are

affected in any particular way by a film. It largely asserts that the audience are all

hard-wired by nature with certain knowledge and assumptions – Bordwell gives the

example of “the assumption of a three dimensional environment, the assumption that

natural light falls from above, and so forth. These contingent universals make possible

artistic conventions which seem natural because they accord with norms of human

perception” (Bordwell, 1989, p. 29). This includes conventions such as rhythm, which

cognitivism explains as something that is innate to every human. This is due to factors

such as attention, which dictate when a scene feels unnaturally slow on screen. In The

Hudson Review, Erik Neher examined the concept of “boring films…the lack of

viewer involvement, a desire for the work to be over, even a sense of exasperation”

(Neher, 2013) in relation to art-house cinema. Neher proposed that the fact we find

“almost universally, across multiple demographics…that audiences will find certain

films ‘boring’ is a trend that cannot be ignored” (Neher, 2013). He suggests that there

must be “at the very least” something hardwired into our cognitive processes that

determines when a rhythm is natural or not. However, Neher does not go as far in his

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assertions as David Bordwell, or the cognitivist approach. He maintains that the

adoption of the term boring is inappropriate, instead focusing on the idea that

Modernist and art-house films “can feel slower when it is hard to follow…especially

at a deliberate pace, which can cause feelings of frustration” (Neher, 2013). The

nature of a deliberate or frustrating pace leans towards the idea of an innate sense of

rhythm. In the edit suite it becomes the editors’ job to therefore deliver a product that

comes as close to this natural pattern as possible in order to maximize attention span.

This obviously has huge financial implications – the longer an audience will watch a

single program, or weekly series, the higher the revenue from advertising or the

greater the value of the programme grows.

The importance of rhythm is also supported by an extensive research project from

Cornell Psychologist James Cutting who, in 2008, “measured the duration of every

single shot in every scene of 150 of the most popular films released from 1935 to

2005” (Herbert, 2010). What Cutting was analysing in his research was “patterns of

attention…specifically a pattern called the 1/f fluctuation” (Herbert, 2010). “The 1/f

fluctuation is a key part of chaos theory, it is a pattern of attention that occurs in the

human mind organically…it can be found in nature, in music, in economics and in

engineering” (Halang, 2006). Cutting’s research found that modern films and

television programs were much more likely to be closer to the 1/f fluctuation constant

than older films (films made before 1980) (Halang, 2006). Most interestingly, Cutting

also found that “overall, action pictures…usually in genres such as crime, thriller or

adventure, are those that most closely approach the 1/f pattern” (Herbert, 2010).

Cutting’s research shows that whilst there is an innate sense of rhythm, there is also

an element of evolution and refining that has occurred in editing. This is where other

methodologies such as the neurological approach are relevant. The neurological

approach considers that rhythm in editing is not just a ‘felt’ phenomenon, but rather

something that is learned. More recent theorizing by neurologists in areas of study

related to recognition and the functioning of mirror neurons during intentional

movement (in film this is cutting) have led to alternative proposals to our

understanding of editing rhythm. In Cinema 2: The Time Image, Giles Deleuze, a

noted supporter of the neurological approach, discusses “the sensory, kinetic,

intensive, affective and rhythmic” (Deleuze, 1989, p. 29) areas of cinema editing. It

proposes a model in which the body harvests, records, retrieves and reiterates

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evidence about rhythm. Whilst this concept appears to have validity, it is nonetheless

important to remember the strengths of other approaches, such as cognitivism.

Interestingly, James Cutting also found in his research that “individual films from

every genre and every era have almost perfect 1/f rhythms…such as Rebel Without A

Cause (Ray, 1955) or The 39 Steps (Hitchcock, 1935)” (Herbert, 2010). The fact that

films have matched this 1/f fluctuation since the birth of film is supportive of a more

cognitive approach.

To conclude, this literature review has investigated and documented some of the key

conceptual frameworks, theories and approaches that drive editing.

This includes scientific frameworks such as the cognitive approach as well as more

anecdotal approaches, such as Walter Murch’s criteria for deciding when to cut.

Outside of the edit suite, a number of frameworks such as the innovation radar will be

useful in understanding the production process on crime dramas. It is often forgotten

that editing is something unique to film (Pearlman, 2009), and is often coerced and

influenced by the impact of the industry business model. The nature of this coercion

and the level of influence is yet to be contextualised, and is something the two case

studies will help determine.

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CHAPTER 2

Case Study: Criminal Minds

Criminal Minds (Davis, 2005-Present) is a police procedural that follows a specialist

team of FBI agents who investigate the most disturbing cases of violent crime all over

the United States. The aim of the team is to profile and catch the criminal before he or

she attacks again. The programme is a product of CBS, one of ‘The Big Four’

television networks in the United States and has enjoyed success for over 9 seasons

with a strong fan base (Jensen, 2012).

When applying the innovation radar framework to Criminal Minds it is interesting to

see how many external forces affected the editors who work on the show. In terms of

offerings, Criminal Minds was developed and released at a time when there were

dozens of series in a similar vein. Crime Television was a well-established genre, and

Criminal Minds offered a variation on this format without straying too far from the

formula, providing fast-paced action that was easy to pick up and follow (CBS.com,

2011).

According to creator Jeff Davis, Criminal Mind’s target demographic is 18-49

females, typical of police procedurals which “seem to grab a large female audience”

(Beele, 2009). This 18-49 female audience are what demographic researchers term

‘Generation V’. Generation V are a group of consumers who have radically shifted

their media habits to accommodate the range of new platforms that fit into their busy

lifestyles. They are the earliest adopters of technology out of any demographic, as

well as watching the least live TV, preferring to stream recorded broadcasts instead.

They require content that grabs them immediately and connects with themes such as

family, love and revenge (Google and YouTube, 2012). From an editor’s perspective,

this means a show like Criminal Minds requires an arresting opening scene that

emphasizes such themes, or the target audience will simply turn off. The result? In

Season 3, 12 out of the 20 episodes introduce in the opening scene the kidnap or

murder of a mother or son. (CBS.com, 2011). The method by which the editor has

constructed and ordered these scenes means that from the very first frame of most

episodes the target audience has a character they can easily connect with.

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In terms of process, Criminal Minds has felt the effect of numerous external and

internal production forces. Externally, as a network television show, it is subject to

tight regulation by the FCC, and cannot broadcast content that could be deemed

obscene by the average viewer (FCC.gov, 2003). For example, in season 4, episode

“Cold Comfort”, there is a scene in which a character turns to make a lewd gesture –

i.e. ‘flipping the bird’ – but the editor cuts away to an angle which hides this

(CBS.com, 2011). This is a case where the edit may well have been compromised due

to regulation, which understandably has a large impact on the editing. With various

guidelines on what can and can’t be shown, it becomes the editor’s task to instead

imply mature content. However, in this case, an argument could also be made that the

editor cuts away from showing the gesture for another reason - to maintain the

lighthearted tone of the scene’s dialogue. By using Walter Murch’s criteria for

editing, it seems unlikely an editor would want to offend a programme’s audience

within the first 5 minutes.

When it comes to the violence in Criminal Minds, Murch’s approach to editing

doesn’t necessarily hold up. In violent scenes, it is probable that the editor wants to

emote fear and horror from their audience. But, like foul language, violence also has

rigorous regulation. Whilst Criminal Minds is a show that has often been criticized for

its high level of violence, the violence is not allowed to be lingered on for a

significant portion of time (FCC.gov, 2003). As a result, the editor is almost forced

into cutting a scene as he or she would an action scene. There are typically quick and

sharp cuts between shots that disorientate the viewer whilst minimising the amount of

time focusing on the physicality of the bloodshed. For example, examine the use of

cutting between extreme close ups, such as in the example given in figure 1 below.

Figure 1 - Scene from S07E02. Timestamp: 00:04:03:22 to 00:04:07:13

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These three shots take place within 3.8 seconds, giving each shot an average duration

of 1.2 seconds. The extremely fast rhythm of cutting allows the editor to communicate

the nature of the violence without graphic detail. This editing technique is usually part

of something called a “blip clip” where the editor shows the audience around 10-15

seconds worth of the crime happening, followed by a hard cut away to a completely

different scene, allowing a quick transition straight into the driving narrative (Brown,

2012). The practice of ‘less is more’ is reinforced by Roger Crittenden in Fine Cuts

(2005), who explains that an editor’s job in television is to strip the edit down to its

bare bones of emotion…insinuating to the audience how they might feel, rather than

showing them” (Crittenden, 2005, p. 361). This approach applies very well to network

television shows such as Criminal Minds, which are subjected to much tighter and

rigorous regulation both internally and from the FCC. For the editor, it is more about

implying violence rather than showing violence. In a press release at the time of the

show’s premiere, The Mark Gordon Company, one of the show’s producers, insisted

that the shows instant success came from its focus on the criminals themselves rather

than the crime itself (Messer, 2013).

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Criminal Minds is defined by its broadcaster, CBS, as a “procedural crime thriller”

(CBS.com, 2011). It fits into this genre well but has made changes from season to

season due to a number of reasons. Lawrence Alloway’s theory of the “comedy of

newness” has particular significance here because Criminal Minds has been making

the small and incremental changes Alloway discusses.Examine the changes made to

the cast over the show’s first to current (ninth) season in figure 2 above, for example.

Creator Jeff Davis explained that the nature of network television shows is such “that

scheduling and long shoots for up to 24 episodes worth of footage over 9 seasons can

be challenging amongst much of our creative team and talent” (Beele, 2009). This has

a direct impact upon the creative control of the editor. For example, Mandy Patinkin,

an actor who played the lead character of Agent Jason Gideon, left the show abruptly,

stating that he didn’t know the writers were going to “kill and rape all these women

every night” (Taormina, 2012). Patinkin only agreed to film one scene at the

beginning of season 3, leaving the writers and editors in disarray. As a result, the first

5 episodes had to be restructured and character arcs had to be edited out entirely

(Beele, 2009).

These same kinds of issues can also emerge during episode re-ordering too. This is

when the network decides to air particular episodes out of the order they were edited

in. There are a number of reasons for episode re-ordering, such as budgetary concerns

Figure 2 – Opening titles - Top left-right: season 1 and 4, bottom left-right: season 6 and 8

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or issues with re-shoots or re-writes. Therefore, the editor has to create a finished

product that can be potentially shown in any order in relation to other episodes. What

usually results is a minimization of character storylines or development, and a heavier

focus on that episode’s particular case. Character arcs often then become secondary,

such as in Season 7 when one of the lead characters, Dr. Spencer Reid, begins to

develop signs of bi-polar disease (CBS.com, 2011). However, a writer’s strike

occurred during this time and this storyline was dropped and has not yet returned. One

of the show’s editors, Paul Jensen, described how they will “get about 20-30 hours

footage…then get 5 days to put together a cut” (Jensen, 2012).

What has become clear when looking at Criminal Minds is that editors are under huge

pressure from a number of different angles that seem to exist in network television

programme production. From regulation to writer’s strikes, it seems editors have less

and less control over the final creation. Instead, they are tasked with constructing a

product, week-after-week, in a process that Jennifer Forrest would call “remaking the

pilot” (Forrest, 2002). Due to heavy regulation, there has also been a small revolution

in the presentation of violence. Criminal Mind’s editors have the task of emoting and

implying high levels of graphic and sexual violence, without showing more than is

allowed - a skill and technique that a network television’s environment has helped

improve and develop.

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Syd Field used the “Three Act Plot Structure” framework in order to analyse

contemporary action-picture narratives. The problem that editors on Criminal Minds

encounter lies in the inherently commercial nature of network television – specifically

advertisement breaks. In US broadcasts of the show, there are 3 advertisement breaks

within each 60-minute broadcast, which forces a four-act structure upon the narrative.

It then becomes the editor’s task, during what Criminal Mind’s editor Paul Jensen

described as “the final revision of the script” (Jensen, 2012) to adopt Field’s approach

into a four act structure (see figure 3 below).

Figure 3 – 4 act structure (personal use)

What this adaptation ends up achieving is a commercialized restructuring to the edit.

Mark Lawson, a writer for The Guardian, argues in his article ‘Do Ad breaks make

for better dramas?’ that as a result “the body count, nine times out of ten, will always

rise” (Lawson, 2014). In Field’s 3-act structure this would only need to happen once,

but in the commercialized programme there is a need for multiple twists in order to

maintain the attention of the audience. “In TV fiction, the advertising industry is the

friend of the serial killer” (Lawson, 2014). These twists before the advertisement

breaks have become a staple of the crime genre, and are what Mark Turner would

define in his approach to narrative as cognitive mechanisms.

Act 1Same as act 1 in Field's Three Act StructureEstablishes the nature of the problem facing protagonists

Act 2

Same as act 2 in Field's Three Act StructureAnother problem occurs (usually another victim), unsuccessful attempt to confront enemy

Act 3Repetition of act 2 in Field's Three Act Strucutre, except stakes are higherTime is running out for the protagonists to confront the enemy

Act 4Same as act 3 in Field's Three Act StructureProtagonists take control and achieve a final decisive victory

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In Criminal Minds, there are several stand-out mechanisms in the editing that weave

into the show’s ability to be recognized and branded. When repeated and often

sharpened they become essential tools for the construction of any given episode’s

narrative. For example, almost every Criminal Minds episode features the following

audio and visual motif, shown in figure 4 below. It is a long shot of the BAU’s private

jet as they travel to and from the location of each particular episode. Off-screen, the

audience will hear something called a bookend quote. This is a quote read off-screen

by one of the characters that appears at the beginning and/or end of the programme. It

usually reflects or hints at the theme present in each particular episode.

Key to genre theory and to many of the conceptual frameworks outlined in the

literature review was the term ‘action picture’. This was an audiovisual text that

adhered close to the 1/f fluctuation pattern, as outlined by James Cutting’s research in

relation to chaos theory. There are two noticeable types of scenes in which the editor

has controlled the rhythm of his/her edit in order to achieve the modern, action-driven

pace. These are the dialogue scenes and the action scenes. In the following analysis,

action scenes are any section of the episode in which the overall physical movements

are more dominant than conversational dialogue.

Firstly, the dialogue scenes are tightly edited. Take for example the first scene after

the opening credits from Season 3, episode “Children of the Dark” (2007). The

Figure 4 - Top left-right: S07E02, S04E18. Bottom left-right: S04E14, S03E04

18


duration of the first 10 shots, beginning on the first shot in which the dialogue began,

have been counted (see table 1 below).

Shot No. Shot Duration (frames) Shot duration (seconds/frames))

1 115 4.6

2 53 2.1

3 40 1.6

4 45 1.8

5 130 5.2

6 48 1.9

7 28 1.1

8 102 4.1

9 57 2.3

10 98 3.9

Average Shot Duration 2.8 (70)

Table 1 - Shot Duration from S03E04 "Children of the Dark" (2007) scene

An average shot duration of 2.8 seconds demonstrates the snappy rhythm of the edit.

There is also frequent use of J-cuts, an editing technique whereby the audio portion of

the next clip plays prior to the video cut. This audio lead-in transition allows the

editor to tighten the phrasing of the dialogue, reducing the pauses between line

deliveries and creating a sense of urgency and pace. (Robertson, 2012). As previously

discussed, this is essential due to a network television show’s actual running time of

42 minutes. The cognitivist approach to this style of editing would argue that the

editor has tightened the pace as much as possible to match the natural pattern of

attention.

Furthermore, a study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information in 2014

found that the modern media audience attention span had reduced from an average of

12 minutes to an average of 5 minutes. A number of factors were cited in influencing

this, though the primary focus was on social media (NCBI, 2014). With this dramatic

change in a programme’s key demographic, editors are now under pressure to cater to

an ever-changing audience with ever-changing demands. This recent study also

supports cognitivisms psychobiological elements. The NCBI found in their research

19


that the chemical effect on the brain caused by hormones has also changed. “Stress

hormones and adrenaline respond faster to a change in environment, but don’t last as

long”, and oxytocin, the hormone that stimulates empathy, spikes more frequently and

in higher amounts (NCBI, 2014). As a result, editors on successful shows concentrate

on crafting an edit that fulfills the need for longer stretches of fast-paced, adrenaline-

inducing scenes. There is also a need to keep focus on characters that the audience can

sympathize with – the victims – which explains the need for parallel narratives.

Interestingly, as shown by table 2 below, the average length of a pre-credits scene

across the 3 episodes analyzed is just over five minutes.

Episode Pre-credits scene(s) total duration

Season 3 Episode 4 – “Children of

the Dark” (2007)

4’20” [4 minutes 20 seconds]

Season 4 Episode 18 – “Omnivore”

(2008)

6’25” [6 minutes 25 seconds]

Season 7 Episode 2 – “Proof” (2011) 4’53” [4 minutes 53 seconds]

Average duration 5’12” [5 minutes 12 seconds]

Table 2 - Pre-credits scene duration(s) and overall average across 3 case study

episodes of Criminal Minds (2005-present)

After the pre-credits scene and the credits themselves, the first advertising break is

taken (in US broadcasts) (Thompson, 2005). It cannot simply be coincidental that the

first act of an episode is almost identical in length to the average attention span of the

modern viewer. However, this recent research by the NCBI does have its drawbacks.

Many neurologists argue that it is impossible to draw these kinds of conclusions as

social media is such a new phenomenon and it is difficult to complete any meaningful

diachronic analysis. Therefore it may be many decades before evidence of changes in

attention span can be verified. (Goldacre, 2011).

Alongside the commercial imperative present in primetime television shows, the

editing approach in terms of action and storytelling is an attempt to grab the

audience’s attention. Furthermore, the structuring of the edit around commercial

breaks implies an understanding of the innate lapses in attention and the need for a

regular contrast of content – in this case the contrast between the programme itself

20


and the networks advertisements. If the cognitive approach to editing is valid, then the

approach predicts an above-average level of success, due to increased audience

longevity and attention. Erik Heher’s article on “Boring Films” (Neher, 2013)

maintains that if audiences find the rhythm of an edit frustrating or deliberate they

will simply turn off. When examining the popularity of Criminal Minds the prediction

made by the cognitive approach appears to hold some validity. From its debut in 2005

it has gone from strength to strength, eventually overtaking Lost (2004-2011) in

overall viewership. It then went on to be chosen as the post-Super Bowl spot in 2007,

a highly competitive scheduling slot, and is still one of the most watched US

primetime shows in 2014 (Turcuit, 2014). It is evident that there are a number of

factors that have allowed a large audience to connect with the show, and the rhythm,

narrative and structure is clearly one of these. However, there are certain assumptions

that have been made in this approach. There is an automatic assumption that the

consumer enjoys both the genre and action pictures in general. Audiences outside of

the “generation V” demographic of 18-49 females may well not have any interest in

the crime or thriller genre at all, and this alone is enough to influence their attention. It

is drastic to say that the editor is the only influence on a consumer’s decision to

connect and maintain consistent viewership

In summary, Criminal Minds is a show that has enjoyed an enormous amount of

success in a network television environment. It has found a sizeable audience by using

21


its genre to its advantage, and connected with its key demographic, 18-49 women. It

appears that the role of the editors on Criminal Minds is to produce a product that

achieves certain criteria. Firstly, it has to grab the audience from the very beginning.

The result is pacing and rhythm that you would find, according to James Cutting’s

research, in an ‘action picture’. The second criteria is regulation. Regulation has been

shown to have a huge influence on a show such as Criminal Minds, which deals with

horrific violence. It has become the editor’s function to communicate the emotion and

horror in such violence, whilst regulating and ultimately minimizing how much

graphic violence is shown on-screen. Finally, there is the commercial imperative

behind network television, which has had a massive impact on television editing.

They work to tight deadlines to reduce cost and streamline production and have to

create episodes in which the structure, rhythm and mechanisms are recognizable to

the consumer. In terms of specificity, an editor working on a show such as Criminal

Minds is subject to very detailed controls and criteria.

CHAPTER 3

22


Case Study: True Detective

True Detective (2014) is an original HBO-commissioned anthology crime drama

written by novelist Nic Pizzolatto. Taking place in 2012, Louisiana State Police

Detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart are brought in to revisit a homicide case they

thought solved in 1995. As the inquiry unfolds in present day through separate

interrogations, the two former detectives narrate the story of their original

investigation, reopening unhealed wounds, and drawing into question their supposed

solving of a bizarre ritualistic murder in 1995. The timelines converge in 2012 as each

man is pulled back into a world they believed they'd left behind (HBO, 2013).

As a content producer, HBO is a prime example of disruptive product becoming a

main market competitor. From HBO’s inception, it aimed to undermine and challenge

the Hollywood-controlled television industry. Initially airing content such as R-rated

movies, due to the lack of regulation of cable and subscription services, it grew into

financing it’s own productions. (Mair, 1988). A clear case of disruptive market

innovation, it eventually became a leader in “quality programming with exclusive

access” (Leverette, Ott, & Buckley, 2009). HBO also made a bold move in

distinguishing itself from the TV industry – or precisely, the image associated with

the TV industry. In the 1990’s, television was seen as an inferior medium in terms of

overall quality to cinema. HBO began incorporating into its promotional slogans “It’s

not TV. It’s HBO”, the implication being is that TV is everyone else (their

competitors). As a result, HBO’s demographic became the “quality demographic” –

ages 18-49, with the audience expecting “quality language, sex and violence”

(Leverette, Ott, & Buckley, 2009, p. 33).

For example, the scene below (figure 5) from episode 4 – “Who Goes There”

(Pizzolatto, 2014) - demonstrates the amount of graphic on-screen violence that is

allowed on channels such as HBO.

23


This opens up a number of opportunities for editors. Previously, Criminal Minds

(2005-Present) demonstrated how editors were required to imply violence rather than

show it. As discussed previously the two main reasons for this are regulation and

where violence is inferred rather than graphic. Criminal Minds is a show about

understanding why criminals do the awful things they do (CBS.com, 2011), and

ultimately holds an optimistic premise –if we can understand them then we can catch

them. In stark contrast, True Detective holds an incredibly disheartening philosophy

at its core – that humanity is “an error of evolution and ultimately meaningless…and

that we should stop reproducing” (Calia, 2014). As a result, the imagery, violence and

sex have to be appropriately lurid and explicit. The editor has to construct the same

set-ups and payoffs of violence that the editors of Criminal Minds have to, but use a

completely different technique.

In Criminal Minds the scenes of the violence are essentially action-scenes, featuring

incredibly sharp and quick cutting (see figure 1), with the average shot lasting around

1.2 seconds. It is about escalating tension until breaking point, and the release from

this tension comes when the blip clip or scene ends and transitions to a dialogue-

orientated scene centered usually around the protagonists. In True Detective, the

quicker cutting and build up of tension takes place prior to the actual violence. When

the violence occurs, this is the release. The editor lingers on the violence, taking

longer to cut away. Take for example this scene towards the end of episode 6, in

which the relationship between the protagonists Cohle (played by Matthew

McConaughey) and Marty (played by Woody Harrelson) comes to breaking point.

The lead up to the fight as Marty prepares to ambush Cohle is the real build up in

tension, the real action scene. There is quick, frenetic cutting between the same shot

(see figure 6 below) - the edit is unpredictable in the same way Marty’s mental state is

unpredictable.

Shots (edit moving top-bottom) Shot duration

31 frames [1.6 seconds]

24



26 frames [1.1 second]



Average shot duration 51 frames [2.04 seconds]Figure 6 – lead up to Marty and Cohle fight scene, Season 1 Episode 6 (personal use)

Now compare this to the scene that follows (figure 7), in which the violence breaks

out when Marty assaults Cohle.

Shots (edit moving top-bottom) Shot duration


25






Average shot duration 101 frames [4.06 seconds]Figure 7- Marty and Cohle fight scene, Season 1 Episode 6 (personal use)

The rhythm of the cuts has slowed down and upon the violence exploding, the editor

choses to move, for the only time in the entire scene, to a wide shot. It is this that

signifies the release from emotional tension the violence provides. The editor is

releasing the audience from shaky, hand-help mid shots and close ups into a

comfortable, still wide. The violence that follows lingers, as the editor re-introduces

the hand-held mid-shots. They cut between these only when the action dictates,

dropping the rhythm and pacing of the cuts significantly. Using Walter Murch’s

approach to cutting, it is easy to see why the editor has cut this way. It is primarily

about the build up and release of emotion, and the editor has cut based on emotion,

Murch’s most important criteria (Murch, 2001). On the other hand, Criminal Minds

26


(2005-Present) is a show where you could argue that the editing is more orientated

towards story. This is because the victims of violence are often new, little-introduced

characters, so there is no real emotional arc being completed in the violence. Instead,

the cutting in Criminal Minds is rapid, aiming to advance and set up the plot. During

scenes of violence, the frenetic editing style is designed to emote confusion and horror

from the audience, whereas as we’ve seen with True Detective, the editing of the

violence is almost ritualistic and sexual. It focuses on showing the audience the

emotion of the characters, but not necessarily telling the audience how to feel.

In a recent interview with Matthew McConaughey, the Film Society of the Lincoln

Centre asked him how True Detective was structured. McConaughey answered that

the whole production team treated the 8 episodes as “a 450-page film script…split

into three acts” (McConaughey, 2014). Creator Nic Pizzolatto is from a literature and

novel-writing background and in Kevin Macfarland’s review of True Detective he

praises the show for taking the same amount of time (eight hours) as it would take to

read a crime novel. This, alongside numerous “Lovecraftian horror…blended into

new-age Nathanial Hawthorne territory” has helped it attain a compelling cinematic

style, argues McFarland (McFarland, 2014). If True Detective is essentially cinematic

in structure, then it becomes the role of the editor to divide Field’s three-act narrative

over multiple episodes, as opposed to stuffing multiple acts within each episode – the

case with Criminal Minds. Below is a broad outline of how True Detective was

structured throughout all 8, 60-minute episodes.

27


Figure 8 - 3 act structure over 8 episodes (personal use)

Within each episode, there is a range of experimentation with the presentation and

telling of the narrative. There are three time frames in which True Detective takes

place: 1995 when the original crime was committed, 2002 – when Cohle’s breakdown

and obsession with the case begins, and 2012 - the present. The film is presented

through various narrators, some reliable, some unreliable, which work in parallel with

flashbacks. True Detective takes in this sense a very cognitive approach to narrative

editing. Parts of the characters testimony are often left out or twisted and distorted,

much in the same way time affects our ability to retrieve and recall memories. There

is a form of reconstitution and reconstruction happening on screen and the audience

only knows as much as the detectives up until the final episode. In the final episode,

the audience is fed information, such as the identity and activities of the real killer that

the detectives do not know. This results in the finale effectively becoming a

traditional police procedural. The change in narrative editing may well have been

made for a number of reasons, but it seems realistic to assume it was to help create a

definitive end to the show. In Criminal Minds, almost every episode ends with the

criminal’s identity being revealed after confrontation and capture. When True

Detective shifts its narrative to echo that of a police procedural, it is communicating

to the audience to expect a finite conclusion. McConaughey explained that from the

very start everyone knew that True Detective would be a “finite piece of work…that

Episodes 1-3 [ACT 1]Set-up: Victim(s) introduced, backstory of protagonistsAdditional set-up: Themes, tone and mysteries/red-herrings

Episodes 4-6 [ACT 2]Confrontation of villain(s)Success followed by immediate failure

Episodes 7-8 [ACT 3]Resolution of mysteryConfrontation of villain

28


we shot for three months” (McConaughey, 2014). Once again, it appears that virtually

all the production elements were designed to create a cinematic product. For a crime

TV editor this is a huge step in a different direction. Programmes such as True

Detective are the most novelist form of television. As Kevin Macfarland points out, it

can “air week-to-week in order to take advantage of the Internet publicity machine,

but remains blissfully unaffected by the demands of audience expectations”

(McFarland, 2014). This is where we can begin to see immediate differences between

True Detective and Criminal Minds in terms of the external factors that influence

editing. With Criminal Minds, there is a huge reliance on Nielsen ratings and

repetition of certain mechanisms and genre motifs. In True Detective it is almost

immune to these factors. It was made as a stand-alone piece to be aired in a shorter 8-

week span, and its primary selling point was not the genre, but rather the label of

“quality television” assigned to HBO’s productions.

However, it would be naïve to ignore the simple fact that HBO is a business.

Ultimately, there is still a responsibility upon the editor to create a marketable

product. Due to the fact that True Detective is designed to be an anthology series –

where each season features a different story and different set of characters (TV

Tropes, 2004) – it is the editor’s role to create mechanisms, pacing and tone that can

be replicated in further series. Due to the immediate success of the first season at least

two more seasons have been ordered (Littleton, 2014), and keeping the aesthetic and

tonal elements the same will be key to HBO in creating a recognizable and successful

product. Jennifer Forrest’s work in remake theory has particular significance here, as

the editor takes on the role of reiterating and reinventing the source material – in this

case the first season of True Detective. For future seasons the core motifs will likely

remain and the editor has to use rhythm, tone and cutting techniques to achieve a level

of aesthetic convergence. However, with the production of season 2 of True Detective

yet to begin, it is difficult to say to what degree the editing will vary. It is important

to remember that when talking about the remake theory in this sense it is significantly

different from the way Criminal Minds approaches its reiterations and cycles. In

Criminal Minds, each episode is a remake in its own sense, with the editor often

changing. In True Detective, each episode is not a remake but rather a smaller part of

what could well be viewed as a single 8-hour film. There are not many narrative

29


mechanisms that True Detective repeats from episode to episode. There is no pre-

credits sequence; each episode simply begins from where the previous episode ended.

As we have seen, HBO appears to be converging more and more towards marketing

itself as a cinematic experience. The implications for television editing as a whole is

huge, opening up a new industry of “freedom and authorship…from the industrial

process created by network television and its obsession with pleasing all” (Leverette,

Ott, & Buckley, 2009, p. 87). Many of the outside influences that a network show like

Criminal Minds suffers from are at the very least minimized and at the most a non-

issue. By looking at True Detective through narrative and rhythm theory, this freedom

and its effect on the editing process has become clearer. For example, the range and

contrast in the pacing styles shown is a key result of the greater control afforded to

editors. Additionally, the unconventional structuring of individual episodes and the

experimentation with various unreliable narrators is evidence of this greater creative

freedom. When compared to Criminal Minds, it also becomes clear that True

Detective lacks the amount of narrative mechanisms that the editing of Criminal

Minds relies upon. That said, True Detective is a new show, and future seasons may

reveal that editors do not have as much free reign as originally thought. It is important

to remember that when Criminal Minds began it was widely considered a fresh and

unconventional crime drama. Now, after 8 more seasons it is seen as a staple of the

crime genre that has an incredibly recognizable formula.

30


CHAPTER 4

Conclusion

Applying conceptual frameworks and theories to two case studies has provided an in-

depth evaluation of how different editing styles has resulted in two very different TV

shows that also share some similarities. Both True Detective (2014) and Criminal

Minds (2005-Present) are very successful TV shows that are of the same genre and

aimed at the same demographic. In the 2012-2013 season, over 12 million Americans

tuned in to watch Criminal Minds every week (Schneider, 2013). Likewise, True

Detective went from strength to strength, with the finale being watched by HBO’s

largest audience since 2010, and subsequently the on-demand catch up service “HBO

Go” was crashed by the volume of traffic trying to access the show (Christie, 2014).

Furthermore, both Criminal Minds and True Detective fight for the same coveted 18-

49 demographic – in which they both succeed well above expectations (Nielsen,

2011).

Analysis of the two shows using the frameworks discussed previously, as well as

taking into account narrative and rhythm, highlights some fundamental differences

between them. Criminal Minds has been designed to rigorously abide by the editing

conventions dictated by its genre. Its fast, no-fat approach to narrative editing allows

it to cover a four-act plot in which new characters are introduced regularly. In

contrast, True Detective’s pacing varies a huge degree, but is on the whole slower.

This disparity would suggest that the success of both shows in maintaining the

attention of their audience is due to a range of factors. Frameworks such as the

cognitive and neurological approach fail to acknowledge that there is no single pattern

of attention when it comes to rhythm. It is more likely that other factors such as tone,

style, presentation and marketing affect how viewers perceive rhythm.

31


There is also a distinct disparity in the editing of violence in both programmes.

Criminal Minds treats violence as an action scene, whereas True Detective treats the

violence as a cold spectator. The presentation of crime itself, as both a physical act

and as an idea is fundamentally different, and the editing is as responsible for this as

the writing, directing, performance and camerawork. True Detective begins by asking

whether humans are all essentially evil - that we are all monsters in the eye of

evolution. On the other hand, Criminal Minds draws a distinct line between justice

and evil, with the criminals being convicted in the eyes of the programme from the

outset and with the protagonists on the moral high ground throughout.

Approaches such as Walter Murch’s ‘Criteria for Cutting’ (Murch, 2001) have

provided insight into the semantic and emotional meanings of Criminal Minds’

editing style. This raises the question as to whether editors on tightly controlled

network shows such as Criminal Minds operate with this particular specificity due to

these tight controls, or due to aesthetic choices made on the show. Conclusions drawn

from using the innovation radar approach indicate that the restrictive nature of

network television production is most likely to be influential. Additionally, the

financial imperative behind a show such as Criminal Minds cannot be ignored as this

changes editing on numerous levels including narrative, style and rhythm – the most

prominent example of this being the effect of advertising breaks on editing structure.

The cinematisation of television is never more apparent than in True Detective, and it

owes this to its producer HBO. By treating HBO as a disruptive technology and

innovation, it is clear that True Detective was produced and edited in an environment

that makes an enemy of genre television such as Criminal Minds. Both Criminal

Minds and True Detective follow characters as they try to solve a case but this is

mostly where the similarities end. True Detective uses unreliable narrators and drops

more red herrings than clues, focusing on the emotional arc of multiple characters.

Criminal Minds focuses on the physical journey of the same group as they solve a

crime in a practical manner.

32


In conclusion, this dissertation set out to discover the specificity of editing in

television crime dramas. It is apparent that the editor is working to produce a product

that meets the needs of the business model whilst producing a piece of programming

that will capture the audience. What this investigation, analysis and comparison has

determined is that there is a significant disparity in the specificity of crime drama

editing and that these can be categorized and quantified. Hence editing techniques

have been molded and controlled by both the internal and external influences of

network television production. The skill of the editor lies in managing both of these

factors to afford them the creativity to produce something the audience understands

and recognizes.

33


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examing the specificity of tv editing in contemporary crime drama

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