Shot by shot analysis - Jake

 Opening logos

The Lionsgate opening logo and our opening logo are similar in that they have differing colours depending on the genre. In this case the red connotes blood, which basically represents the vampire genre in it's entirety, it's all about blood. So, straight away the audience knows this is a horror film and they have suggestions it's a vampire film. "Lionsgate" is quite a nondescript word, it hasn't got many connotations and is why it's a good production company name. Lunar connotes the moon and makes the film sound like a werewolf film, one of the problems with the name. But, the use of the moon represents night, and vampires can only come out at night so it sort of works.

 Titles

In the titles we have a series of missing persons posters. This is similar to Lost Boys' opening titles in which various missing posters are surrounded by people having a fun time and enjoying themselves, this makes the missing people seem like an everyday thing and people just live with it. We didn't want to do this, we wanted to show the missing poster and have some evidence of what happened to them. This goes along with the conventions of people being taken or being killed by vampires.

 Sub-genre Conventions

We wanted more of a subtle vampire so we didn't go with the black eyes or incredibly pale, but we did want the animalistic appearance of a blood smeared face. We tried not to have a completely crazy, blood covered vampire. I think we did quite well with the blood, making it look like he's tried to wipe it off. As well as blood we have the sharpened teeth of a vampire.





Establishing character

By having the character alone, it shows he something of a maverick. He is able to run from a vampire showing he's agile. By having the vampire smaller than the protagonist it shows the power that the vampire has, creating fear in the larger person.






Mise-en-scene




By dressing the main character in white it connotes their innocence and naivety. By adding blood to the shirt, it gives a contrast between the innocence and the seriousness of a situation. White shows the purity of the character, adding the blood taints the character. It is also good as it seems cold and distant, like we wanted the vampire to seem, until finally being brought back to life when he sees the wound.

Key point 1 - The domestication of blood

In the film, Daybreakers, vampires are able to buy blood and it's very domesticated. In our film we wanted to replicate the same idea. Not as grandeur or marketed but more an underground thing. Vampire black markets and what not. Of course, being as this is only the start of the film we couldn't explain this or show this so we had a throwback in the opening credits. A simple thing from a look but it's importance would become known as the film progressed. Having the vampires selling and buying blood challenges the usual belief that vampires are all out killing for the blood.

Key point 2 - Not burning in sun

We decided to go against the usual idea of having vampires burning in the sun. Instead we had the sun hurt initially, but not kill. This way we could have the vampire go outside and interact with the world. This way we could have only the most powerful vampires killed by the light, this would be integral to the plot later on. We wanted to get the shot to be blindingly bright to represent the vampire having to adjust to his new found senses. The saturation of the light as the blinds were raised was a nice touch, showing the sunlight enter the room.