Film Project Genre Research - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

In the first two minutes of the first episode of Law & Order: SVU, Payback,  the audience is immediately brought to a crime scene where Detectives Stabler and Benson are investigating a murder. Emergency services are on scene to inspect the body just to find the victim with missing body parts. In the beginning of the show, the screen fades out of black to a view of the city of New York at night. A sound bridge consisted of car horns and construction work going on in the background was used to show that the city was busy at the time of the crime. An establishing shot of the crime scene is shown with police and other emergencies on scene. To capture a closer look, a crane was used to gradually get a mid-shot view. The crane continues to be used until the detectives get near the vehicle where an eye line match meets with Detective Stabler and the victim. Conversation between the detectives and an emergency services prolongs, causing a consistent amount of shot/reverse shot between the characters. Sound effects such as the sound of drills from the construction and police cars continue to blare as the detectives and other emergency services inspect the scene. This scenes ends with a fade out into a black screen into the intro of the show. The costs to produce and film this show were around $450k per episode with Mariska Hartigay being the most payed actor on set. She made approximately $400k per episode. This show has been nominated for a multitude of awards such as the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for Christopher Meloni's amazing portrayal as Detective Elliot Stabler and the Peoples Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic TV Actress for Mariska Hartigay.