Textual Analysis: Blade

The film begins in media res where we jump straight into the action. An establishing shot was not used, therefore, it draws the audience in and provokes curiosity. The two protagonists are presented to the audience who are both riding in a car. The camera is quite shaky but it adds to the effect as if the viewers are also in the car with them. There is a woman with deep red hair which is contrasted by her pale skin. Red heads are stereo-typically quite feisty which adds to her quite seemingly dominant and meanacing personality. The fact that she is also the one driving to the car indicates that she is the one in power. Her dark clothes and dark red hair can signify danger which also forebodes and hints the coming events. Red and Black are commonly associated with threat and death. The editing technique used was shot reverse shot so the audience can see both sides and the large contrast between the two characters. Next, the audience is introduced to the male protagonist who is a stereotypical American with blonde hair and baggy clothing. People with blonde hair are also portrayed as stupid and naive which illustrates how the man seems quite easily lead by the woman.

 

Throughout most of the opening, there are credits which are in a deep red colour and are bold capital letters. This illustrates that it is a horror film and connotates blood and danger. The credits are constantly changing position so the audience is not distracted from the action-it fits well within the frame.

The location is then revealed to find them in a slaughter house with a view of animal carcasses hanging down. A tracking shot is used to show the surroundings as well as to follow the action. As we pass, there are cages noticeably in the room. This suggests inescapability and subtly hints that the man is going to be trapped. The woman is a few paces in front of the man which proves for her to be the more dominant one.

The camera then cuts to when they walk through a door, using a medium shot so we can see more detail. Again, the woman is slightly ahead. The expression on the man seems to be quite excited and amused by his surroundings whereas the woman seems to be in a hurry and is not interested. As the scene continues, the woman gives a knowing look to a man as they pass through. The man has also got pale skin hinting that they may not be human. It has come to my attention that the lighting is rather grey and of a cold colour palette, contributing to the fact that there are dead animals surrounding them, so everything seems almost lifeless.

There is non-diegetic music in the background which gives off a quite eerie feeling, matching the current scene.

His amusement soon changes to a slightly worried and confused expression as he spots something in front of him whilst the woman does not seem to find it distressing. There is a tracking shot at this point so the audience are not shown what it is. The camera movement, match on action, then reveals what looked like human bodies in white bags. the man emphasises his fear and confusion by asking a question out loud which is also intended for the viewers as they are probably wondering the same thing.

As the woman comes to a stop, she shouts something to a man at the end of the corridor in a different language. The colours in the corridor are quite dark which forebodes what would happen next. Another character is introduced to the audience-it is a tall, good looking, pale skinned man wearing a large black coat. By this point, the audience may have figured out that there may be something wrong about the people. They all have very similar features. The language the woman is speaking in is possibly Russian which draws the conclusion that they are not from America.  All the features conclude and hint that they are in fact, vampires. This is shown by their stereotypical pale skin, dark clothing and language which origins are probably from Transylvania, typical from where vampires come from. There are deliberately no subtitles to leave the audience curious about what she said. The woman obviously does not want the man to know what it means. and distracts him by kissing him. This highlights the stereotypical man who only cares about sex.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the man standing next to the large rusty door. As the door opens, there is nothing but darkness which can show that they are literally walking into danger and connotates the mans death. The camera zooms in closer to the door to show the characters walking in. In the background there is digetic music which is lively and upbeat.

We now can see the source of the music as it gradually gets louder as the characters walk in to what is a club. There is a montage of clips so the audience can see the scene from multiple viewpoints. the colours are rather dark and there is strobe lighting to contrast the darkness. The credits are still playing out, the red colour standing out amongst the background. The constant pulse of light makes it quite to focus which is emphasised by some slow motion scenes. The slow motion scenes are genreally when women are on camera to give a more sexualised effect. A woman dressed in white comes within the camera shot and there is a series of jump cuts to where the woman is now standing in a different position. The audience can not see the woman moving which demonstrates typical vampire abilities to be able to move very quickly. There is a non-digetic sound effect every time the woman moved to illustrate the speed.

The camera pans above the crowd so the audience is able to see from a higher viewpoint. As it passes, an iconography of a  hook comes in to view. This signifies that the club is not a safe place and can hint that there will be injuries-it is unnatural for a hook to be randomly placed there.

As we see the red haired woman emerge from the crowd, she looks ahead and the camera cuts back to the girl dressed in white, where another jump cut takes place. The 180° rule was used to ensure that the two characters seem to be looking directly at each other and shot reverse shot was used. The camera then cuts back and fourth between the American man and the woman to show what is happening from both sides. The woman walks off without the man, leaving him to stand on his own. The man seems to be unsure and reluctant at first, but then he starts dancing with everyone else. He then makes his way through the crowd, receiving strange looks from some of the people. This is obviously a bad sign and suggests that he does not fit in with everyone else.

The man finds his way towards the red haired woman, whom she is dancing with the woman dressed in white. As he tries to intervene, the woman pushes him away which displays her strength. The push seems to be quite hard because the man staggers a few paces backwards. This demonstrates another well known vampire ability. As we can see, the man seems to be so naive that he can't sense trouble which encourages the stereotypical blonde American. However, the man seems to begin feeling quite worried which is shown by a close up of his facial expressions. There is another montage of shots as the man walks away rejected, in which, a thing that has been noticed is that most of the outfits are white, almost like a kind of contamination suit which hints that things will get messy.  

 

As the man looks down, the camera cuts to a close up of his hand to find drops of what seems to be blood. The man touches the liquid and tastes it. The camera is quite close, filming from above his chest. This is so we can see his expression and a close view of the action. He now looks worried and scared Behind him, we can see that everyone has begun to raise there hands up towards the ceiling. This may indicate that something is going to happen. It is a visual representation of the scene reaching to the climax. The camers then cuts to a view of the DJ and behind him, bright lights switch on revealing a white banner with the writing 'BLOODBATH' written on it, stating literally 

what is going to happen.

There is a close up of the sprinklers on the ceiling, in which, blood starts pouring out of it. We now know the source of the dripping blood. The camera pans across the top of the crowd revealing all the sprinklers on the ceiling and everyone's arms raised-they seem to be enjoying the blood unlike the man. A montage of shots are used to show the people dancing in the blood and so the audience can see the scene from different angles. In between those shots, it cuts back to the man several times to show that he is now panicking.

The man turns around to find himself face to face with the red haired woman again. The camera movement, shot reverse shot is used to show the lines of dialogue between the man and the red haired woman. They are both close ups so the audience can identify the expressions and the detail. They are both fully covered in blood. The woman asks a rhetorical question and by doing so, she reveals her fangs. The man screams and desperately tries to run away but struggles to do so. A medium shot is used to show him struggling to get through the crowd. The camera cuts to close up to another man with fangs and then the swish pan technique moves to the helpless American man again. The frames are mostly close up to show their fangs. As the camera shows each vampire, there are digetic animalistic sounds which have been edited in to make it sound like it is coming from that character. This emphasises the how the vampires are evil, almost like an animal catching it's prey. 

Continuing struggling a head-on shot shows the man getting punched hard in the face. he then falls to the ground and tries to crawl his way out. This is followed by a tracking shot where the man is being kicked harshly by the crowd surrounding him. A non-digetic sound effect cuts off the loud club music and a close-up shows the sprinklers dying. There is non-digetic music which starts off quiet as a sustained high pitch string instrument which gets louder, representing the suspense building up. The music then ends with a low dramatic gong as the camera films the man looking up. It a POV shot where the camera pans upwards on a body clothed in a clean black outfit standing in front of him.  However, it stops just beneath the head to conceal his identity which keeps the audience curious. Even though we do not know who it is, the shape of the body shows that it is a male. It cuts back to the man on the floor who tries to get up. This is filmed at a high angle looking down on the man which can suggest that the man standing in front of him is more superior than the others. This type of shot can make the man seem weak and inferior.

 Several shots show the crowd much more subdued which shows how they respect the man dressed in black. There are quiet murmurings amongst the crowd as the camera films them parting for the man standing at the front which is a slight low angle shot. The audience gets a clear view of the man whose face is now shown wearing dark sunglasses. The low angle is subtle which contrasts the previous one of the American man on the floor because it is filmed from a high angle, facing up towards the man. Despite the different angles, they both highlight the power that the man owns-it is as if he is above everyone else. A medium shot shows the man in slightly more detail. We can now see his serious expression which, from what we gather, he is a powerful and dominating character.