An analysis of Editing in 24

The clip of 24 presented the opening of the series; with some political issues being followed by a family scene which turns out to be far from perfect. 24 is a TV drama that doesn’t stick to the stereotypical style of continuity editing but still maintains a feel of verisimilitude due to everything happening in real time.
The sequence starts with a split screen of multiple people and gradually focuses upon one man. This figure of a man then consumes both of the split screens which focus on him from different angles; this highlighted coverage of the man could suggest that men are predominant within the storyline. However, throughout the sequence there are multiple motivated cuts in order to hide the identity of the man; this could represent the stereotypical view that men are sneaky and untrustworthy as his full character is not revealed. What’s more this use of editing according to Walter Murch enhances the emotion of the viewer as the motivated cuts create mystery, creating tension as we aren’t sure about the character on screen; this feel of tension reflects the characters emotion as he is clearing participating in an act that he shouldn’t be doing, making him nervous. Motivated editing is used once again but this time to portray women; this comes when we follow the president’s wife. Rather than cut to a shot where as were presented with her face there is a long take where we track the back of her head; however her face is shown once she reaches the president. This reluctance to reveal her face connotes to the audience that women are insignificant as well as representing that the character is nothing with out the president; representing women as subservient to men. Furthermore, during this long take a graphic of the time comes up with the time; not only does this show the progress in the episode but it also acts as a denotation about women. The graphic of the time draws the attention away from the action of screen; graphics such as this are often presented in areas of low action or interest; therefore, by showing it while the woman is on screen it could suggest that she is boring and to some extend irrelevant as her presences is undermined by the graphic.
The next scene to follow is one that presents the main character’s home life and the problems with it. As the daughter ‘Kim’ exits to her bedroom we watch her walking away, rather than having a matched cut showing her reaction towards her mother as she exits the room. Not only does this shot foreshadow Kim’s disappearance as she exits the shot rather than us following her, but it could once again represent women as unimportant. Prior to this, Kim was insulting her mother; therefore you would expect a cutaway of her face to emphasize this hatred as she walks past the character she was just insulting. By not presenting her emotion it undermines her anger, representing it was an everyday occurrence, thus representing the stereotype that women are emotional.
To conclude, it is clear that 24 uses editing very efficiently throughout; representing any thinks about the characters. From the representations that I have analyzed I think that the main denotation is that women are easily demoralized and often not valued within such a physical profession. However, despite this I would not state that it connotes women in a negative light but simply sways towards a more stereotypical view that women are not as able.