Torchwood Season 1 Episode 11

Torchwood - Season 1
Episode 11: "Combat"

Torchwood is a British science fiction television show created as a spin off of the Doctor Who series. Torchwood's base is located in Cardiff, Wales, since there is a rift in time and space going through the city. Aliens and generally nasty creatures are constantly being drawn to and sometimes coming out of the rift, making its protection an important task for the Torchwood team: Captain Jack Harkness, P.C. Gwen Cooper, Dr. Owen Harper, computer scientist Toshiko Sato, and Agent Ianto Jones.

Scene: After recovering from a vicious attack by an alien called a Weevil, Dr. Owen Harper visits some of the Weevils being detained in the Torchwood facility vaults to test out his new-found sense of fearlessness.

Shot 1: EXTERIOR. Cut in, Normal lens, high key/low contrast, natural light (sun), long shot of the Torchwood base, camera zooms in hard and pans down from the sky

Shot 2: INTERIOR. Normal lens, low key/high contrast, motivated lighting (fluorescent ceiling lights), camera starts as a long take of Owen and Ianto entering through the vault door then dollies into a medium-long shot of the characters from the chest up (stacking of Ianto and Owen from left to right), depth of field: we can see through the open door in the background past the wall. Ianto backs out and exits behind Owen, and shuts the door behind him. We pan with Owen as he moves further into the room to get a better look at the Weevil.

Shot 3: Cut to the Weevil's cell: normal lens, low key/high contrast, motivated lighting (same), still panning as the Weevil comes in for a close up

Shot 4: Cut back to Owen as we begin tracking to follow him, medium shot

Shot 5: Cut back to the Weevil; we are looking over Owen's shoulder as he shifts into the framing via rule of thirds on the right side of the screen

Shot 6: We are tracking as Owen's face moves into better lighting, still a medium shot

Shot 7: Cut back to the Weevil

Shot 8: Cut back to Owen and the camera stops tracking as Owen stops walking. We move out a little and Owen is perfectly on the right side, rule of thirds

Shot 9: Cut to a close up of the Weevil

Shot 10: Cut to a medium shot of Owen and we begin to dolly in closer; suddenly, the camera begins to tilt and the horizon goes dutch to reflect Owen's conflicting emotions of tenacity and confusion

Shot 11: Cut and we see the Weevil over Owen's shoulder -- the horizon is normal again and the Weevil cries out in fear and begins backing away from the cell door

Shot 12: Cut to a close up of the Weevil as it retreats into the shadows, low key/high contract, we pan with it and the camera begins to tilt off into a dutch horizon again

Shot 13: Cut to a close up of Owen's face and the horizon is dutch from a different angle, the music swells eerily, and we fade out.

As we pan and track with Owen, he follows along the Z-Axis moving from right to left, and then from left to right as he gets closer to the Weevil's cell.