Blade Opening (1998)

Blade

Mise en scene;

Colour – The colours in the sequence are all dark connoting danger and forming a link that its night at the party, and the dark is a more dangerous and scary thing for an audience. This sets the mood. Furthermore the text of the titles comes up in red, which connotes blood. It also anchors the fact that the film is about vampires and that human blood will be spilt.

Facial expression – None of the people in the room are friendly, none of them smile, and they keep their expressions very serious and unwelcoming.

Setting – They are at an underground party, these are usually illegal especially since it looks like a warehouse of some sort. This therefore connotes danger and that the environment is not safe, secure or supervised. We get the feeling that anything can happen.

Props – The DJ is wearing a hat with two lights on, which we keep getting a shot of. The lights shining through the dark crowd could show that the main man in the sequence is in danger, they are warning lights. Also there are meat hooks on the ceiling, which gives us the impression that the man is in fact meat/prey and has been lured down into the snake pit.

Camera Shot/Movement;

Medium shot of human man is much more personal since he is centre frame and surrounded by everyone else. At this point the audience realise that he is trapped and in danger. Therefore by using this shot we get a feel of him being both trapped and close enough to see his expression.

There is a two shot when the man dances with another woman in the club but she pushes his away. This shows that the woman has a lot of physical strength as she knocks him right back into the crowd. Therefore the audience will feel that this is unusual since she is a slim, blonde female. It challenges the stereotype therefore she cannot be human…

The use of tracking follows a particular woman through the crowd. This emphasis among the flicking shots indicates to us that at this early stage she will be an important character in the rest of the film.

Editing;

Mostly straight cuts, which are flickering rapidly, this makes the atmosphere jumpy and more unpredictable as if something will suddenly appear any minute.

Sound;

The sound is diegetic as it is being played in the club; it’s a heavy and fast paced beat that could represent the heartbeat of the human man. It could also represent that beneath the typical fast paced party there is something more sinister and heavy.