How does Bleak House build up tension and mystery in this extract?

Bleak House is a television adaptation of the classic Dickens’s tale shown on BBC One. Although it conforms to some of the conventions of the period drama genre, it also brings ideas and techniques from other genres and creates drama in a modern and contemporary way.

The music plays a big part in building tension and mystery in this piece, with eerie sound effects and rising pitches coming in at crucial points in the drama. It is appropriate for the genre and time period, with classical instruments like violin and piano. There’s also a faint heartbeat sound effect in the background, a concept taken from the hospital drama genre to add suspense and predetermine that something fatal may happen, this sound effect comes in just before Lady Deadlock faints.

Bleak House creates a realistic sense of voyeurism through the composition and mise en scene, this engages the audience making them sit on the edge of their seats and allowing them to feel more involved as if spying on the characters. There are frequently objects in the foreground of the scene obscuring full vision and giving the impression that the audience are spying where they shouldn’t be. This also makes have to concentrate more, almost as though they have to work out the mystery themselves. Lady Dedlock walks straight across the camera at one point, suggesting she is out of vision and out of the picture now; at the end of the clip, Lady Dedlock is seen looking into a mirror, with objects in the way, this shows her reflection and again creates voyeurism.

As Lady Dedlock is about to faint, the camera work becomes shaky and has a handheld effect; this reflects her state of mind and predetermines what is about to happen. The handheld camera effect is taken from the thriller/horror genre, used to engage the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. It allows the audience to relate to the feeling of being dizzy and light-headed. Effects are also used to blur the handwriting of the letter that Lady Dedlock looks at, a point of view shot to again show her state of mind and physical state. Extreme close ups are also used as Lady Dedlock looks at the letter, the camera sharply zooms into the ‘J’, showing her focus and allowing the audience to piece together the plot puzzle themselves.

As the lodger, Nemo, comes into his room, throwing his money onto the desk the editing repeatedly cuts, missing out pieces of action and showing his frantic search for money. A sharp zoom is also used as soon as Nemo comes through the door, predetermining him as some sort of villain and supporting his frantic and hectic state. A much slower zoom is used on the character of Mr Tulkinghorn, this contrasts his character as different to Nemo, a higher class and status but still one of ‘the bad guys’ in the episode.

Overall, the combination of camera work, composition and music contribute to building tension and mystery, the purpose of this programme genre. It keeps the audience well engaged and in suspense.