Forensic Cinematography: Forensics through Cinema

By: Manjiri Baride

Introduction to Forensic Cinematography

Forensic Cinematography is a union of Forensic Science and the art of Cinematics. It includes the actual application of principles of Forensic Science into movie making. This creates a real representation of the workings of forensics for the audience. This effect, in turn, creates awareness of the subject in the community. From famous movies like “Forensic” to popular series like “Asur” and “Forensic Files”, forensics can be seen in plenty of entertainment channels, including Tollywood movies like “Agent Sai” and popular crime podcasts like “My Favorite Murder”. These movies, series, short films, podcasts, books, etc., have given birth to a new idea in the viewer’s mind, which can increase awareness about the discipline. 

Historical Impact of Forensic Science in Entertainment

Even in the early days of Forensic Science, it can be noted that it first gained popularity with a series of books and movies of “Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These were detective series in which Sir Doyle portrayed Sherlock Holmes as a detective who solves crimes through his keen observation of the scene of crime and evidence analysis, which are two fundamental requirements and necessities of Forensic Science. Movies, series, short films, and books have a great impact on society.

Role of Entertainment in Educating about Forensic Science

These elements represent the current scenarios of society and display an ideal version of it. These entertainment channels carry the ability to spread knowledge about Forensic Science as well as to direct its future course with respect to an increased section of the population turning towards the discipline to pursue their career.  In the Indian context, many of the current student population of the subject have come to know about it by watching a TV show called “CID” in their childhood. This show showcased forensic science as a scientific tool to aid in criminal investigations and showed how the interpretation and analysis of evidence collected from the crime scene can be used for apt justice delivery.  Even in today’s layout, many people do not know about Forensic Science. This fact is mainly concerned with the elderly as well as the uneducated section of our population. A possible reason for this could be the lack of awareness about the mere existence of the subject within their lifespan coupled with the lack of advancements within the entertainment industry. A major part of current youths are aware of Forensic Science being a distinct discipline as they have been exposed to these movies, series, books, etc., which is a part of everything explaining the meaning of Forensic Science.  Cinematography is the art of creating cinema by motion-picture photography. It uses several technologies to produce high-quality, truthful and entertaining content. To make a movie, several commodities are required apart from actors, directors and producers. A full-fledged team of researchers, experts, data scientists, and lawyers is needed to ensure that the movie generated displays well-researched data, is lawfully correct, and showcases the true knowledge of the field concerned.

Audience Preference for True Crime Content

According to a survey, people prefer to watch true crime media via a variety of formats, and they enjoy true crime stories portraying real-life instances of murder, kidnapping and other shocking crimes. 35% say they consume true crime content at least once a week. 52% watch TV shows, 39% watch films, 23% read books, 20% watch online videos, 17% listen to podcasts and 15% view online articles or forums.¹ This shows that many people prefer to watch crime thrillers over any other entertainment genre. This makes cinema an enormously wide platform to spread knowledge about Forensic Science. Crime thrillers show the investigation using scientific and digital evidence, integrating the findings of digital and cyber forensic information with results of forensic evidence analysis and the parallel working of digital and cyber forensic professionals with traditional forensic experts, which is very new and surprising for people apart from the forensic community. For instance, in a series, the culprit was identified by his ear, as ear prints are as unique as fingerprints. By digitalizing these prints and matching them with surveillance footage, the culprit can be identified. This phenomenon, as shown in the series, caught the viewers’ attention.

Application of Locard’s Principle in Crime Thrillers

The core of Forensic Science is based on a principle called the “Principle of Exchange” or “Locard’s Principle of Exchange” by Sir Edmond Locard, father of Forensic Science. The principle states that “the perpetrator of a crime will bring something into the crime scene and leave with something from it, and that both can be used as forensic evidence.”² Dr. Locard formulated it as “Every contact leaves a trace”³. Crime thriller entertainment platforms use this very principle for show investigation and to catch the audience’s attention. The presence of evidence at the crime scene, evidence matching, and their analysis and interpretation, as we see on TV, in movie theatres, or in drama clubs, is based simply on this principle itself. 

The entire arena of Forensic Cinematography is based on Forensic Science, its basic principles and laws, its disciplines, and the art and science of motion picture photography. This very nascent field might not be directly counted in the immediate list of branches of Forensic Science as the outcomes of this field may not be used for legal purposes or in the court of law as any other immediate branches of Forensic Science like Forensic Toxicology, Forensic Biology, Ballistics, Document and Fingerprint Examination, Forensic Psychology, etc. however, it can be a legitimate and most widely spread platform for spreading awareness about the subject. If we look around us, we can measurably notice that there is still very little acknowledgement regarding Forensic Science in this era where new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Data Science (DS), Virtual Reality (VR) etc. are studied and accepted universally. To overcome this, there is an urgent need to increase awareness and knowledge about Forensic Science in every individual of our population by all means that are legally and ethically sound. Though there is a distinguishable change regarding the recognition of the subject among people, majorly in the educated and privileged sector, there is still a great demand for the rise of acknowledgement of the subject amongst the common people.

Conclusion

To conclude, Forensic Cinematography is an innovative integration of Forensic Science and the art of Cinematography which, when correctly used, can provide a substantial platform for the former to be more widely known. As a result, many young people might want to consider building a career in the field willingly and because of their own personal interest. This whole cycle can finally give rise to many brilliant forensic professionals working in FSLs as investigators and private detectives. The youths of the world need to be well aware of all the possible career options in front of them and hence could make a better and more informed choice involving their interests and skills for a successful career.

Surely, there is a primary need for forensic professionals to know about Forensic Cinematography and to guide directors, scriptwriters as well and story writers regarding the working of Forensic Science, types of evidence that can be found in a particular offence, evidence collection and their analysis and most importantly the interpretation of this analysis and how it can be used for investigation, all of these things are necessary for correct and apt representation of Forensic Science for viewers. Regardless, Forensic Cinematography can be the platform to spread awareness about the existence of Forensic Science and its work as people nowadays tend to watch movies, series, and short films, listen to podcasts, and read books for entertainment and stress relief and what better way to let people know about the subject effectively than to make it available for them to watch, read and listen in their free time!

REFERENCES

• 1. True Crime: Insight Into The Human Fascination With The Who-Done-It; Emma Richards; Social Science Space, 2023.
• 2. Locard’s Exchange Principle; Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia
• 3. Edmond Locard; Petherick et al.; The Forensic Library, 2010.