Comparing Lie To Me

FOX’s critically acclaimed crime drama Lie To Me broke grounds with its unusual attempt at creating a show centered around the psychology of criminals, and the aspect of lying. Lie To Me aired from 2009 to 2011, starring Tim Roth, who played as Dr. Cal Lightman, a genius body language psychologist who used applied psychology to assist in the catching of criminals. Now, compared to other crime dramas, such as NCIS and CSI, Lie To Me used similar styles that made it feel like another crime drama, and had a few unique approaches that separated it from the others. Traditional crime dramas use a basic narrative: equilibrium, a disruption, and a restore of balance. Furthermore, these shows usually consist of characters who: solve the crimes, commit the crimes, and the victims. Comparing Lie to Me to other dramas, we see this same character pattern pop up. Back to the narrative, each of Lie to Me’s episodes follow the pattern of a crime that needs to be solved, with most episodes ending with all loose ends being tied up, generally at the end of the episode, and some overarching story to keep viewers interested. Stylistically, our crime dramas use the “single
camera” method, usually filmed on set and at locations. The camera is generally cinematographic, which the entire episode feels real world, and uses various angles in order to show how a scene would be shown. For example with angles, an over-the-shoulder shot would be used when analyzing evidence, or landscape views when looking at a crime scene. Lighting fluctuates between lights and darks, usually in order to set a mood of a particular scene, such as dim during a death or investigation, or light when a criminal is being interviewed or a crime had been solved. When using sets and locations, crime dramas have a HQ set (such as Lightman’s consulting firm) or would be shot at various locations depending on the particular crime of that episode.
Comparing Lie To Me to other dramas, it’s almost a cookie cutter crime drama pattern that is shared across all of television.
What really separated Lie To Me from the others was its camera movement and close ups. Instead of being about another cop detective drama, Dr. Lightman would focus on facial patterns in order to detect if the person he is interviewing was lying. Now to portray this on camera, the scenes would be edited, particularly with very close close-ups, in order to show the characters faces. Camera movement wasn’t particularly big, since most scenes would switch between all the characters on the screen, then to one character. Small edits would be made with emphasize on facial patterns, that way, the viewer would be able to observe and detect the small facial patterns that Dr. Lightman is
seeing.
Overall, this drama pattern is repeated over the course of the 3 seasons Lie To Me aired. Each episode influenced by previous episodes, and each having their own unique plot. Separating from the rest, the team at the Lightman Corps used psychology and detection of facial patterns in order to create a unique television drama not seen in CSI or NCIS. Stylistically, Lie To Me is very similar to other crime dramas, but it’s subtle changes with focuses on character faces is what made it stand out from the rest. As interesting as the concept was, the show didn’t last long, and was never renewed for a 4th season by FOX.