Jerry Bruckheimer began his work in show business as an advertisement executive during the 1960’s and 70’s. After meeting Don Simpson, the two began work toward production in forming Simpson-Bruckheimer Productions in 1982. The pair created action/adventure films that were honored with numerous nominations and awards in the film industry world. However, when his partner Simpson died in 1996, Bruckheimer went off on his own toward a successful future in television production. Although he cranked out a few more hit movies on his own in the late nineties, he was working toward a new medium and had a genre in mind and began working on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) for CBS. When CSI became a hit he began production on CSI: Miami (2002), a spin-off taken place in Miami instead of Las Vegas. His next his show, Cold Case (2003), is set in Philadelphia and based on a homicide detective who focuses on reopening unsolved murder cases. A third CSI came along within the next years (2004) based in New York City.
It is obviously going to be the easiest to spot comparisons within the original CSI and its spin-off’s since they are basically the same show just set in different cities. The thematical motif of the show is the solving of a new murder each episode, as well as glamorization of being a CSI. Cold Case uses a recurring theme as well, but reopens cases instead of new murders. It makes detective work seem more alluring than everyday work really is. Bruckheimer begins each episode of CSI by giving the viewer a look at the crime-scene and person who got murdered using an establishing shot (a long shot that positions characters within their environments). The camera usually scans the room or area the murder took place with an extreme long shot (the human form is small and point of view is distant) so that you can take in the scene as a whole before the detectives begin to pick apart the crime scene. When the CSI’s show up, the framing switches to medium close up’s (showing half of the actor and showing more body language but not in specific detail) going between the actor/actress and what they are finding on the victim. This technique uses lots of pedestaling (vertical raising and lowering of the camera) between the actor and findings. After the head detective dramatically announces the findings of something substantial, the show shoots into the opening credits. This is a catchy song beginning with an aerial shot of the city in which the show takes place, followed by medium close up’s on each main character in a work scenario.
Cold Case’s main introduction is similar to the CSI’s in a few ways. It actually starts out with a mosaic of different pictures that deal with case solving and digging up old evidence. When showing each main character the camera uses close up’s on the faces and quickly flashes the actor/actresses name. The opening song is pretty dramatic as well, but is wordless and not as common as the pieces chosen for the CSI’s. Majority of Cold Case’s scenes take place in a questioning room where the detectives bring in numerous suspects looking desperately for answers. The crime scene investigators in CSI use the same tactics and much of the camera work during the questioning is alike, along with the actual rooms themselves. Bruckheimer’s similar camera framing in these shows makes his production work easy to spot.
Although Bruckheimer’s main television shows are all extremely alike, they are all hits with CBS and keep getting promoted to additional seasons. All shows have a story line and character interaction that carries on with episodes and seasons, but can still be enjoyed if you have no background information on the show or its characters. The trend in television has been murder mysteries for awhile now, and it seems to still be holding onto viewers. Bruckheimer’s success in this field is leading the charts due to his clever thematical motifs of mysteries and detective work.
References
Gordon, Kristina. Lecture. 8 Oct. 2009.
The Internet Movie Database. 19 Oct. 1990. 5 Oct. 2009
