Essay

How does the opening scene of Triple X establish Zander, as a rebellious hero?

In the beginning of the scene, we see the boot of the senators car and the bumper sticker says "Skateboarding is a crime". Later on in the clip we see one of Zanders friends who is famous for sports such as skateboarding. This creates a dislike towards the senator because we favor the celebrity, and we all know that there is nothing really wrong with skateboarding, and it's definitely not a crime.
All movie characters consist of good and bad or heroes and villains. Villains are usually ill mannered and rude to the heroes. The beginning of this sequence has the perfect example of this, when the senator impolitely speaks to Zander, this helps us to easily establish who the hero is (Zander) and who the villain is (the senator).
The rebellious side of our hero is first shown in the shot which shows his tattoos, a few shots after that we see yet another tattoo on his neck which says xXx. Due to the title of the film 'Triple X', this tattoo shows us who the main character is, ordinarily the main character falls into the good/hero category. Also, when Zander steals the car he casually drives away whilst the mirrors are broken by the arch he drives under, this again shows us his rebellious side.
Heroes are consistently on the public's side, and this opening tells us that Zander is on the peoples side, trying to take away the potential bands on things such as video games and rock music, that not everyone is happy about.

Additionally, he shows that he doesn't care about the consequences of his actions, as we distinctly see that he is aware of whose car he's stealing and that the police will chase him. He does not commit any acts of violence. However he does pull a very brave stunt with the bridge jump, whilst jumping off the car, the non-diagetic music playing, sounds a lot like something you would hear in a James bond movie, which makes it very theatrical and makes him look like even more of a hero.

During the time at which Zander is driving the car and videoing himself, he calls the senator a "Bad man", generally the good is against the bad so once again this suggest that Zander is the hero.

Fright Night: movie comments

This film contains a lot of iconography which is quiet common. Throughout the film we see many crucifixes which were also cleverly used in the credits, on letters such as 'T'.  The main vampire in this movie is called 'Jerry', as a male vampire, he keeps up the stereotypes since he is tall, dark and handsome. Blood is seen constantly in the movie, as well as things such as garlic, fangs, and wooden stakes.
Most scenes which had vampires in them, contained a very dull background or -if it was day light- they would be with a women/ drinking blood. Scenes of the other main characters contained many crucifixes or casual room decor.

Writing and Creating:

Brief Synopsis

A young girl who has lived decades of her life - vampires don't age - alone, after living through and watching every member of her family get old and pass away, has never understood fully the life and power she has as a vampire, or the reason she is one. She has always been against killing and drinking human blood, however one day her thirst grew immensely and she needed something stronger than animal blood. That night, she waited at her bedroom window, which had a clear view of an alley close by. When she spotted a person with a large backpack, she felt they would be vulnerable enough to attack and take a bite into. After speeding down from her room to the alley, she quickly approached her victim and pierced her fangs into his neck.

After seconds of tasting his blood and hearing his cries and panic die down, she could no longer face the idea of taking someones life for her own pleasure. While removing her fangs from his now pale neck, she checked his pulse to assure he was still alive. She walked away and didn't turn back because she could not bare looking at a weak body lying on the ground knowing she had put him there.

All her years of living as a vampire, she thought she was alone, and without knowing if there were others, she was unable to study her being. She wasn't aware of her power, strength and effect on humans.

What she didn't realise, was that by her letting this boy live after she had bitten him, she had turned him into a vampire too, and her unique venom in his veins would cause him to instantly attach himself to her.

As she walked away, the weak body on the ground had risen up and was following her home. She was no longer alone.

When she got to her front door, she turned around to close it and sees the boy standing in front of her. She stared at him in confusion and slowly walked backwards, away from him. She asked him why he was just standing there and he replied saying that he was waiting to be invited in. Her eagerness to know why he came to her door caused herself to let him in (she knew she could protect herself).

She soon learns the reason this boy had come to her, and both set of on a hunt to find out the truth about vampires and their origin. On their travels to gain knowledge they come across many troubles, obstacles and dangerous people trying to use them. They visit many places, including Delphi where they find out the truth. The young girl was the last child of Ambrogio and Selene and had been lost for hundreds of years, after being kidnapped by a powerful cult with a thirst for immortality. The girl was named after her mother Selene.

The long journey of truth brings together the young boy and girl, they fall in love and get married, and spend the rest of their years together.

Watching and Analysing: Part 2

The Lost Boys 

The opening sequence didn't have a lot of dialogue, however I feel that the dialogue used was not as effective as the dialogue in Let the Right One In. When we here the first character speak at the end of the opening, his words suggest that he is the leader of the group because he says " Okay boys lets go" and they immediately follow. The director emphasises how much trouble the group of boys have caused by stooping the diagetic carousel music, when security take hold of one of them. This opening sequence represents the vampires in this movie to be trouble makers, and the more dominant male vampire seems to be a ladies man as he starts trouble when flirting with another mans girlfriend. Also whilst getting off the boardwalk he watches and stares at two women then smiles to himself.

Watching and Analysing: Part 1

Let the Right One In

From the trailer I would say that this movie is a thriller and it's sub genre is romance. This is because of the dark and dull setting, and also later on in the trailer we see that the two characters seem to be growing strong attachments to one another. The non diagetic music playing in the clip gives it a sense of  mystery and makes the audience feel tense as there is no dialogue. However coming to the end of the trailer, little dialogue is put in and the effect it gives is that it makes the audience focus on the few words said by the characters to try build as much of a profile of them as possible. Due to there being little dialogue it gives the audience almost no insight to what the film will be about, which will mean when they watch the film they will have no expectations of the storyline, and therefore can hardly be disappointed. The representations of vampires in this film is quite unique because the trailer has very gruesome scenes e.g the little girl (vampire) eating a human and leaving with blood dripping from her face, giving the message that she is a bad or evil inspire. However it also represents her as caring because she saves the boy from the people bullying him.

5 Top Tips Issue 33

1. Know the rules of your Genre
   Knowing the generic conventions of your genre will help your work to be much better received

2. Break the rules
    By changing the common generics of the genre of your film will shock and interest your audience

3. Plan your film
    Planning is very important in media, creativity needs structure to work

4. Narrative and names
    Using good structural theories will help to build a strong narrative, and names help to create an identity           and focus within a project. Names also give the audience an insight to characters and the film

5.  Personality
     Filming what you know gives things more of an honest element.