I was introduced to this series by a friend of mine, I had heard about it before but never watched it myself. I chose The Mentalist as my drama series for this project because, after looking into it a bit more, I found this to have a very interesting storyline. Crime and serious business mixed with humor and ease created a great atmosphere. And it triggered the interest to go forward with this series, as well as a lot of the different shots are very "normal" and standard, so it inspired me to see what I can do to mix it up a little bit and try to give it more details and perhaps a new/interesting way of looking at things.

As a part of my research on this series, I have here looked at two different episodes, directed by two different directors. I wanted to do this to see if one of them has set the pace for the rest of the series if they were very similar or totally different from each other.


There is clearly a style of directing, where a variety of medium shots, long shots, medium close-up and VSL is mostly used to portray the story unfolding. This is where I get inspired to try out different types of angles, and making it more interesting that way. As it is in this second episode, it is vert general and standard. Which works very well, but it is what triggers me to wanna try something else.


The mood is discreet and at the same time not overdone, it is a light and humorous atmosphere even though there are serious and evil cases going on and/or being solved. I really like the feel to it, and the pace is just great.

What is very clear, is that comparing the two episodes by different directors, there is clear but yet an invisible distinguish between the two. It is fair to say that I believe the first episodes from the first director, David Nutter, sat the standard and base for the whole series. 

Chris Long has developed the episodes from the base, and done more to them, in the style of what I am looking to do. I want to challenge it a bit more, Chris has managed to keep the authentic and base-like layout. But at the same time, he has definitely pushed some boundaries in front of himself while going forward with his style of directing. 

The main message and storyline reach out to the audience with both directors, but I think Chris manages to reach just a little bit further due to a little bit more thinking outside the box, new angles, and style.