The film Blade actually starts off in Media res, with no establishing shot. So straight away we are in the middle of action, and as the audience we are thrown into a car with the two characters. Immediately we see shot-reverse-shot being used, this reveals to the audience the protagonists personality and shows the characters conversation. This reveals the females menacing, knowing ways.
Right at the start of the film, whilst in the car, we see both characters rather enthusiastic. The hand held camera used in this scene provokes curiosity and increases the tension. From just this short encounter with the characters, we come to realise that the male character is being represented as a stereotypical American. He seems to be infatuated with the female character and cannot seem to take his eyes off her. Straight away, we can guess that he is being manipulated and fooled by the female. Continuing on this, he doesn't appear to really know what is going on, whereas the woman appears to be in charge and leading the pair. Iconography is an important part of this opening. The two protagonists hugely contrast to each other. The women has pale skin, dark clothing, feisty red hair, a bold dark lipstick, which hugely contrasts to the normal portrayal of women. On the other hand, we see the male being represented as a stupid, blonde American, wearing baggy clothes, he comes across as very naïve. We can see that the female is a strong, determined women, and although she seems to be happy and joyful laughing away with the male in the car, she has a menacing look on her face and seems to be very aware of what she is doing, again re-enforcing to us the fact that she is in complete control of the situation, as well as the male. Moreover, the fact that we see her driving, and never the male, again demonstrates her dominance and power over the male.
In addition, the bold, bright red subtitles used, which can be seen above, have strong connotations to blood and death, they could also foreshadow the future events of the opening. From my point of view the boldness of the text and colour used in these subtitles reveals the genre of this film. These credits last for the entire 5 minutes, possible to keep the idea of blood in our heads.
All of a sudden we cut to a scene in a butchery. We see her leading the way, again demonstrating how she is in charge. Moreover, the cold colour palette used in the butchers, makes all the actors appear lifeless and look dead. This leads us to believe that these people are not in-fact human and should not be trusted. Tracking shots have been used in this scene to reveal the sheer size of the butchery, and also to foreshadow the future events of the film, with the hanging pig carcasses. Another tracking show is used to reveal another rack, but this time covered in a bag which appeared to have human bodies hanging from them; obviously this alarms the male character, and we see the concern and panic taking over his face. The medium/long shots used in this scene reveal the miss en scene. In addition, as the meat goes past the camera, we feel like as if we are really there in the action, and it creates more tension.
As the pair begin to walk towards the 'club,' music begins to play, this music is diegetic, which builds up to the music in the club. As the man and women both walk around the corner, we see a huge man guarding a large door, equally as pale as the women, who seems to be a body guard. The female and the bodyguard exchange dialogue in what seems to be Russian, the females fiery temper is again revealed as she seems to be demanding the bodyguard. It appears to be Russian that they are speaking, which would enforce the stereotype of vampires being of an Eastern European origin. The medium shot of the women again shows how sexualised she is, and being very manipulative, the woman can see that the American is becoming concerned, so she kisses him, a medium shot of the pair kissing, again showing how naïve the American is, that even though he is petrified, a kiss from the woman can take all his fears away.
Furthermore, a point of view shot is used, so we enter the club first. As the door opens, we are transported into complete darkness. Inside the club, there is a montage of clips of people dancing that are extremely blurry, it is almost as if their identity is trying to be concealed, this obviously increases the tension. The music continues to get loader as we enter the club, this along with strobe lighting, slow motion clips and jump cuts have all been used in conjunction in an attempt to disorientate the audience. As the people in the club slowly come into focus, we quickly realise that they are all weirdly dressed in white, which gets the audience thinking and also foreshadows the rest of the opening. A women also dressed in white is then seen, jump cuts alongside non-diegetic sound have been used to make it seem that this women can move faster than light; again hinting to the audience that these people are inhumane.
The next scene, delivers a huge variety of shots; some close up and some out of focus. Moreover, there is also several fast paced shots, which have been used to demonstrate the lively, upbeat characteristics of a night club, which hugely contrasts to the dead, lifeless vampires. Once again a tracking shot has been used, it pans above the crowd and shows a hook. The iconography of a hook connotes death, possibly the stupid American's fate.
The fiery red hair women then makes her way over the women who appeared to move faster than light and they begin to dance with each other. Overly excited the stupid American reaches for the red haired women, however the blonde haired woman defensively pushes him away, again displaying her inhuman strength. Rejected by the woman, the American stands alone in the middle of the dance floor, where suddenly small droplets of what appears to be blood fall into his hands. For the first time in this opening, we are shown a close up shot of the male, which draws attention to this moment, and demonstrates its importance. The expression on his face shows his confusion. Clearly puzzled, he lifts his finger, to taste the mysterious dark liquid, when he suddenly realises that this mysterious substance is actually blood. In the corner of the club we can see three people sexually active. This suits the stereotype that vampires are very promiscuous.
Moreover, the camera then slowly tilts up to reveal everyone in the club holding their hands up to the ceiling. Possibly suggesting that something major that attracts all these people to the club is immanent. Previously the lighting in the club had been very limited and many angles were blurry. The lighting starts to get better, and the focus clearer as we pan in on the DJ. This better lighting reveals a sign to us behind the DJ, with the word "BLOODBATH," printed on a white canvas, which is a metaphor.
We then move onto a close up shot of sprinklers, suddenly blood begins to poor out of them, covering the vampires below. Moving on, we are then shown a montage of shots showing the vampires enjoyment of being covered in blood. However, on the other hand we see the man still looking petrified and bewildered. His red haired date then finds him, she is almost un-recognizable saturated in blood, asking him, "what's wrong baby?" Whilst saying this, she reveals her gigantic fangs, confirming her identity as a vampire. Non-diegetic sound here of a cat hissing makes the women appear carnivorous and dangerous. Clearly scared, the American desperately tries to escape the blood bath. However he finds himself surrounded by hissing vampires, all displaying their petrifying fangs. We then see the American shoved to the floor by one of the angry vampires. Now desperate for an escape route, the man tries to crawl his way through the blood covered club. Through the use of a low level shot, a man dressed in full black leather is revealed. The sprinklers have now shut off, and after a loud non-diegetic sound, the music begins to lessen as well. With the camera slowly panning up, we receive another glance at this un-known man. However, before we are able to get a real look at him, we cut to the vampires shocked faces. Their reactions reveal to us the importance and relevance of this character.
No comments:
Post a Comment