A Textual Analysis for Crime Scene Investigation (CSI)

CSI is an American crime drama/thriller about criminologists who search for evidence to solve mysterious murders. The episode I will be analysing is series 9, episode 15 'Kill me if you can'.



In this episode our criminologist have to visit three different crime scenes in one night. These crimes all seem to be unrelated however later on during the show, forensic evidence gives a link between the three.

One thing I have noticed about thrillers is they always begin with an extreme close up but never on the face of character, but on a body part to show what they are doing and to leave the audience wondering who this character is. The opening scene is usually an introduction to our murder victim either before they have been killed or just after once the investigation has been started. The use of the extreme close up is very common in thrillers especially in CSI as its pure use is to show the emotion on a characters face and to create intensity in the scene.

CSI also used a lot of flashbacks to recreate to the audience events that had happened before. This allows us to see what happened without having to start at the beginning of the story. It also gives us the chance to fill in questions that we had at the start, or to make the audience wonder as it will make them change the view they had started with.

Another common aspect used in CSI is a medium two shot. CSI uses a lot of diegetic sound such as dialogue. The dialogue is mostly between two people so it's pretty obvious why a two shot is so common within the show. The medium shot allows from the waist up of both characters to be seen in the shot. This aspect is not usually identified with thrillers usually however it fits in perfectly with CSI and does not draw it to any other genre. Dialogue between the characters in this shot is usually official, and between two criminologist.

This thriller in particular as mentioned earlier is about criminologists these character types are important to the show as they form the basis of the story line. The director of CSI uses a lot of low angle shots to make them look superior especially when in conversation with a public citizen. Our criminologist characters are always positioned higher than other characters to show they have more power and authority. For example; the criminologist characters will be standing while a member of the public will be sitting down on a chair.

A common aspect of mise-en-scene is lighting. Typical thriller lighting, often shown in CSI is dark or dim lighting. It helps to create mystery, it also helps to create a sense of danger. Protagonist's costumes in thrillers are always light colours especially when in a dim light. I suppose this is a contrast of good and bad. It is common in thrillers to see this, so it helps us identify that CSI comes under the thriller genre.


An editing technique used to help generalise this show to a thriller would be the use of ellipsis. A potential suspect is recalling a specific event, and the ellipsis helps to speed up the recall, however it still manages to give all the details needed. It is a common editing technique is thrillers as it helps to create intensity, we can feel the emotion the character is going through rather than just seeing it.

The director of CSI also used a slow motion effect, in this case it is when one of the victims has been stabbed by her mother after an argument. It makes the event slow down so the power of it can be absorbed by the audience. It helps to cause suspense, and also to stress the situation. It is something usually seen in action films, it helps to give this thriller a sense of action and perhaps to create a cross genre.