Textual analysis- Identification of Genre in the opening of Blade

Blade (1998)

Blade is a 1998 American superhero film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Snipes plays Blade, a human-vampire hybrid who protects humans from vampires. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. In the opening of the film, there are many aspects that allows the film to be identified as a horror.

Sound
When the female vampire leads the blonde delusional male into the, what it seems like a vampire blood party, diegetic music begins. This music is fast pace, dance music that illustrates to the audience that theyre at some kind of rave. Just before the blood showers are turnt on in the film, the music decreases in volume and becomes very quiet. This causing a tense atmosphere to commence, because the audience are led to believe that something is going to happen. This is in fact true, because after this suspense, blood begins to spray from the showers on the ceiling which then leads to the diegetic dance to begin again very loudly. This shows that the climax of this particular scene has become. However, when the protagonist Blade enters, all music quickly decreases and we hear diegic whispers of "its him." Also, non-diegetic music begins that sounds very tense and mysterious. This depicts to the audience that Blade is the protagonist because all bad actions stop instantly and he has the authority to cause absolute silence in the scene.

Mise en Scene
The costume of the female character in the opening suggests a strong female with her black short dress and mysterious black raincoat, with her black high heels. Also, her hair is a hot red colour which could indicate the sense of blood and danger from what later happens in the scene. On the other hand, the male character has blonde hair which is stereotypically labels him as a stupid, delusional young man. This allows the audience to understand that the male character is in denial of what is going to happen. This is reinforced when the young man becomes easily distracted when the female vampire kisses him, stopping any curiosity he had about the situation he was in. Furthermore, there are many connotations of danger throughout the opening of Blade. The opening credits of the film depicts to the audience a sense of danger. This is because the writing consists on a bright red colour and the words are all in capitals. This highlights the rebellion that is revealed in the film.

Camera angles/movements
Throughout the opening of the film there are little signs that are seen in the camera shots which foreshadows what is going to happening in the scene. There is a long shot of dead animal corpses that is seen when the boy and girl are walking to the rave. This builds atmosphere and sets an enigma for the audience. This atmosphere is then increased when there is another long shot of what looks like dead human bodies. This allows the audience to begin to understand the situation that the boy has put himself into. After this, there is a medium which shows the boys facial expressions of him looking confused but excited. However, the females facial expressions indicates that she knows exactly what is going on. There is also a pan shot which slightly shows a meat hook. This builds tension as when seeing a weapon it indicates to the audience that something bad is going to happen. When the boy feels blood dripping on his hand which is key iconography that indicates danger, there is a slight zoom onto the boys face when he realises what is going to happen. While this is happening, there is are vampires putting their hands up in the air which adds to the suspense of what is going to happen. This suspense is then at its full intensity when the camera reveals a ban above the D.J which says 'Blood Bath.' By this point the audience realise what is going to happen. This then follows with a close up of the blood spraying from the showers on the ceiling, which is followed by a dolly shot showing the amount of blood. The screen is then dominated by red which is key iconography when the lady character visualises her fangs for the first time. After the editing cut shots of the different vampires at a fast pace which highlights the male characters scared and worried persona.

Editing
When both characters enter into the dance rave there are many jump cuts within the scene. This highlights to the audience how fast the vampires are compared to the human male who is very confused and frightened at this point in the film. Also there are slow motions shots at some points which could indicate that the vampires are in some kind of inhuman trance which is contrasted when the boy is seen in a normal shot at a normal pace. This highlights the difference between vampire and human. In the shot reverse shot right at the beginning of the scene, the camera is angle so the vampire is almost looking down on him. This shows the authority and power she has over the deluded human.Furthermore, the scene keeps cutting back to one character who is taking back in some promiscuous activities. This portrays to the audience the rebelling in social norms.