This piece of the fourth episode of the third season of Black Mirror emphasizes how out of place the main character feels in the environment that was shown in the piece.
In the beginning, the shot fades into view of a lit up landscape. The camera angle moves downward, then tilts across the street to show a bright, but rough-looking environment. The audience’s attention is immediate drawn to the bright neon sign of the club, since it is the most noticeable part of the scene. The theme music slowly softens as the ambient sound slowly becomes louder. The theme music then intensifies as the main character is shown. There is some camera movement that changes from track to dolly movement. The camera briefly tilts, then shows a close-up of her face, as she is assessing her environment. Her attention is then redirected to the dialogue between Kelly and Wes. There is an eyeline match to show the audience what she is trying to understand about the environment. The asynchronous sound of the club music is then played as her attention is drawn to the club, as if the music is beckoning her inside to escape the loneliness of the outside. As the sound is played, the camera shot switches from a close-up to a mid-shot before she goes inside.
The mise-en-scène of the first scene is established through the environment of the street and the appearances of the people. The environment is shown to have big bright neon signs, but rough and shady looking streets. The clothes and hair of the people tells that this scene was probably set in the eighties. The older looking cars also give off an eighties setting.
As the scene advances, the audience is shown a club scene that is displayed through a camera tilt with some dolly movement. The background music is a mixture of some ambient sounds of the people in the club mixed with the soundtrack music of the audio being played inside the club. Her attention is then grabbed by the arcade area, somewhere where it is okay to be alone and not feel lonely. The arcade area is shown through an eyeline match, then a zoom-reverse-zoom of the camera. The sound also changes so that the sound effects of arcade gaming systems can be heard, while the soundtrack music of the club slowly softens. A boy then approaches her and some shot-reverse-shot is seen as the dialogue between them is happening. Just as she loses the game and the boy is asking to spend time with her, the theme music intensifies as if she remembers that she feels out of place again and wants to be alone.
The main character’s appearance further illustrates why she feels out of place in that setting. Her clothing shows that she seems very intellectual and modest. Since she seems smart, she might not come across as trendy or cool, which could contribute to why she feels out of place in that environment.
The scene then transitions to Kelly being introduced in the shot and meeting the main character. There is dolly movement then zoom-reverse-zoom on Kelly as she sets her signs on the main character. The soundtrack music briefly gets louder then fades as the dialogue between Kelly, Wes, and the main character starts. There is then shot-reverse-shot during their conversation. After Wes leaves, the camera angles reposition to over-the-shoulder shots between Kelly and the main character. The camera angle then changes again to a two-shot that experiences a zoom-reverse-zoom just before their conversation relocates.
The main character briefly experiences some joy in the fact that she not alone anymore as show with her facial expressions. She shows a smile and her attitude seems to lighten up as if she feels not lonely for once.
In the last part of this scene, the camera angle starts by tilting from the bartender to the conversation between Kelly and the main character. There is shot-reverse-shot seen between them as their conversation continues. The soundtrack music intensifies slightly during their dialogue. The camera angle ends with some over-the-shoulder shot scenes between them. As the over-the-shoulder shots are happening, the main character starts to feel uncomfortable as if remembering that she is always out of place and this is not a normal experience she usually feels.
In total, all the technical elements of the camera angles and movement, sound, mise-en-scene, and editing combined to create an uncomfortable and lonely environment for the main character. The constant refocusing of her attention is trying to distract her from the fact that she feels that way. Also, the constant rejection of things that tried to solve the loneliness shows that she feels out of place personally and will not do anything to fix it.
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