Bram Stoker's Dracula

Bram Stoker's Dracula is the 1992 adaptation of the Dracula story and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola with an all star cast, including: Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. The film was an Important endeavour for Coppola because his production company, Zoetrope, was in a tough financial situation. Fortunately the film was a blockbuster hit and the company was saved. The opening eleven minutes of the film, which I am looking at, neatly cover the origin of Dracula and events which set the story in motion.

The cinematic style of the film owes a lot to the movies which inspired it -Nosferatu, Dracula (1931) and Dracula (1951)- particularly in Coppola's choice to use as few digital effects as possible (infact there is only one in the entire film). The effect of choosing not to use digital effects is that the film has an ageless quality to the special effects. This is because CGI tends not to age well when compared to practical effects. e.g.

  The practical Uruk Hai make up in Lord of the rings still stands up today, where as Jar Jar is showing his Age compared to the work in Avatar. That being said even Avatar is already showing it's age compared to the CGI for the latest Mass Effect game.

   The music also deserves special note because it harks back to Hammer and horror films of the 40's to 70's. Which solidifies the aesthetic established by the visual style.

The use of practical affects is particularly ingenious in two instances. The first cleverly uses already filmed footage projected onto the backdrop of the scene to make it appear as if Dracula's eyes are appearing in the sky.

The second interesting use of practical effects is during the battle scene with Dracula where the soldiers fighting in the background are all shadow puppets. While this is not intensely realistic it gives the whole scene, and indeed further uses of similar techniques give the whole film, an air of fantasy without appearing simply badly done.

The colour palette is also exaggerated which gives it a feeling of heightened reality, or fantasy. This combined with some of the other techniques listed above and the clear fantasy of Dracula's castle

 

       

Dracula's castle in fact was directly inspired by Resistance - The Black Idol.

 

  

Some of the more interesting techniques used are high angle shots, so high they are almost straight down. Top down shots are regularly used to show the character in their surroundings and often to show them isolated there. The technique is used in this manner to show the character Renfield in his cell. However, the angle is slightly off which gives the shot a weird overtone. The other use of a very high angle shot is when Dracula has lost his love. The use of the technique here seems figurative, to show that Dracula is now alone, isolated, now that his love is dead. 

Another interesting point is that the two loves in this 

scene are both wearing colours associated with love 

and lust -Elizabetha Green and Dracula Red- and 

Dracula's in particular carries other connotations such as blood and anger.

One other point worthy of note is the quality of the framing of many of the shots in this film. The cinematographer was Michael Ballhaus who has been nominated for three academy awards.

  In this show Dracula is framed directly in the centre and is flanked by the door and the torches. The door almost create a corridor focusing our view on Dracula.

 

 Here the shot encompasses so many elements all framed in the centre by the well lit cross.

Once again a centralised shot of the two characters framed by scenery.

In terms of marketing there was a single trailer that had to be recalled because audiences found it too intense. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x-JGNTHXbos" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

  

Casino Royale

Casino Royale was pegged as' the first film in the Bond reboot franchise' which is a cunning marketing tool used to distance the new films from the old despite the Bond character existing in a 'floating timeline'. It is an attempt at a faithful adaption of the first Bond novel, of the same name, and aims to bring the series back to it's roots by displaying a younger and more realistic Bond.  Martin Campbell , who proved his ability to establish a new grittier bond when he directed 'Goldeneye' eleven years earlier, and Daniel Craig stars as the new Bond. The casting choice was controversial because Craig breaks away from the traditional dark haired and suave persona attributed to Bond. Instead he gives off a Matt Damon esque vibe with a muscled physique to further notch up the realism.

The first two scenes. Which comprise the opening, title sequence and plot set up. Are what I will be looking at. These total nine minutes and thirty nine seconds, which is fairly conventional for the openings of thrillers in terms of what it tries to get done in the ten minute window.

The opening scene is comprised of two elements. The first is Bond's assassination of an English official. The second is a fight, inter-cut into the assassination scene. These two elements neatly set up Bond's character and the new, realistic tone for the film. Both are also shot in black and white hinting at the events acting as a prologue for the events of the film.

The assassination element of the scene is set up with the usual establishing shot and anchoring text telling us where we are. From that point onwards long takes are used juxtaposing the tense slow paced action against the inter-cut fight scene. Only Diagetic sounds a present within this scene and at the start very little noise is present at all.

The entire exchange between Bond and the official takes place in a darkly lit office. The darkness keeps the audience from being able to see everything that is going on, adding to the tension because of what could be unseen. The darkness also adds symbolically to the shot representing the darkness of the deeds performed in the office. The final touch of the lighting is the decision to put Bond's target in more light than Bond, possibly highlighting how exposed he is compared to Bond.

There are two more visual flares in this half of the scene. The first is the use of a great deal of props in the room to intensify the claustrophobia created by the darkness. The second is the momentary flash of a picture of the chief's family as Bond shoots him; this final affect adds an interesting bit of commentary on Bond's actions, casting them in greater, shades of grey, realism.

Two more aspects of the production are communicated via this half of the scene. The first is the return of the Bond wit in the form of 'I know where you keep your gun' in response to the chief saying 'shame, we barely got to know one another'. And a callous remark of 'yeas... considerably' after he kills the man. However, while these both pay homage to the traditional Bond dialogue there is an emphasis on toning it down to be less flamboyant and cliché. This is most evident in the remark Bond makes as it is less witty and more callous.

The fight inter-cut into the tense scene sets the tone for the films action. The first thing we notice is that the location is grimy, it's a bathroom and a dirty one at that. The action is shot with a shaky camera but not cut so quickly that the audience is given whiplash, unable to see what is going on. The reactions by the actors are attempts at realism with concentration on their face. The fight choreography is simple and messy, such as when Bond nearly gets killed when the bad guy picks up his gun. And the death brutal. This half of the scene basically communicates to us that the action is going to be gritty and real, in keeping with the trend sent by the Bourne movies.

We then cut to the 'Gun barrel' sequence, another returning motif, and the opening titles.

The design of the whole scene is reminiscent of the cover of Casino Royale the book, this was an intentional design on behalf of the film crew. It's major visual theme is that of the suits of playing cards in a deck of cards, referencing the primary plot event in the film. It is also noticeably lacking in naked/ semi naked women, a staple for Bond openings. This is maybe due to not wanting to push the women as object angle of the stories any more and due to the presence of the strong female lead.

The opening titles also feature a song by Chris cornell. The lyrics are well woven into the film. For instance the song references the cost of being able to kill others and repetition of 'knowing my name' which is of course referencing how we all know Bond.

Once this opening is over we cut straight to a scene of a gurilla military camp complete with mud, tents and ak47's. The anchoring text tells us we are in Uganda. The purpose of this scene is to set up the major plot and primary bad guy, along with the mastermind bad guy 'mister white'.

There are a few interesting touches in this scene. First off is the close up on le chieefs inhaler, a later plot point. The second is the bit of foreshadowing show in the dialogue between mister White and the freedom fighter FF:'How can I trust a man I have never met with my money?' W:'My organisation only supplies the introduction'. Mr White's lack of endorsement quietly highlights future events, it also introduces the 'Organisation'.

The final point is the stand off moment where the camera cuts to close up's of each of the character's faces while playing high pitched strings to up the tension.

The promotional materials highlighted below further showcase the new gritty aspect they are trying to run with in this Bond film.

In conclusion the opening of Casino royale has several examples of doing what it sets out to do, which is to re-invent the character for the 21^st century as a more realistic and gritty character in the real world.

No country for old men

   No Country For Old Men was directed by the Coen brothers. In the opening fourteen minutes all three of the principle characters are introduced and the stage is set. In a word I would call this opening subtle and to go further I would say it is low key. It is clear from the lack of action, though there is violence, in the first fourteen minutes that this is not a rip roaring action based macguffin movie; in fact the said item seems incidental when compared to the development of the characters.

   None of the characters introduced fit the bill for an action movie. Josh Brolin plays Llewelyn Moss, the hunter, who is shown to be slow and thorough but an average guy and the 'hero'. Tommy Lee Jones plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell whom we only hear via the voice over which thematically fits his role in the film as an insightful observer of the fallout of Llewelyn's activities. Javier Bardem plays Anton Chigurh, the principle antagonist.

   The direction is slow, which allows for thinking time as the events unfold. Thinking time is something rarely present in big Hollywood films so immediately this tells you the focus of this film is very different. There are close ups only when required, such as when the money is revealed and Chigurh's weapon is shown, otherwise the camera sticks to medium and long shots to help frame the characters in their surroundings. These two elements, slow paced and mostly medium to long shots, really solidify the atmosphere because you are given so much time to observe the whole picture and helps show the Vastness of the locations.

Also worthy of note is that there is 10 minutes with near to no dialogue, no action and no music, because of how rare elements like this are the artistic direction the film runs with is very obvious from the start.

   In the promotional material for the film there were at least four posters. Three display the bottom half of the three principle characters with a phrase relating to their arc in the film. Each of these has been put through a filter to give it a unique aesthetic. Llewelyn's is the closest to reality -displaying his every day guy side-, Sheriff Bell has a reddish hue -likening it to cowboy films of their hay-day- and Chigurh's is bleached -possibly due to his lack of emotions or a further reference to death-.

  The fourth poster has Llewelyn running from the ghostly face of Chigurh. This looks more like a horror poster than a drama. It paints Chigurh as an almost omnipresent threat which cannot be escaped which is similar to how he is painted in the film.

In depth analysis of Anton Chigurh

   The most interesting element present within the first fourteen minutes of the film is the primary antagonist: Anton Chigurh. His actions throughout the opening of the film are the most worthy of further analysis.

His black attire and dark hair tells us that he is the antagonist and this, like Llewelyn's white hat, is a carryover from the cowboy genre where black equates the bad guy. He is also clearly Spanish and considering that the film is set in America that makes him an outsider which is indicative of the mysterious and unknowable aspect of his character because he is not one of them and is thus outside their understanding. If we look we also see his face is oddly pale and his hair falls like a shroud around him. The pale, almost white, face and shroud like hair intimates to me that Chigurh is meant to be death.

   

  His weapon, the cattle stun, is also indicative of his character and his way of thinking. The weapon, because of it's outlandish nature, once again solidifies the idea that he is an outsider which people struggle to understand. His weapon is so enigmatic that the deputy that brings him in is confused as to its purpose. The weapon, used to kill helpless cattle, and the way he uses it, literally asking the man to stay still while Chigurh presses it against his head, demonstrates that Chigurh thinking of humans as little more than animals that are to be put down when needed.

   Finally in the scene where Chigurh kills the deputy we have a looking straight down shot (usually used to show the character's isolation) showing a crazed expression on Chigurh's face as he strangles the deputy but when the deputy dies Chigurh lapses into a face of calm enjoyment; both of these detach us further from the character solidifying his role as the outsider.