Here is the 10 question homework on the film 'Let The Right One In' ( Set- 18th Oct )
1: I would not describe myself as a fan of horror films.
2: The trailer doesnt use very much speech, only in the middle and towards the end. This helps to build the suspense that the director wants to create within his film. However, the lines of dialogue which are used in this trailer seem to give away a key part of the film's storyline, especially the lines 'Are you a vampire?' and the use of screams. The screams, though, are considered to be one of the many features of a horror film.
3: Familiar Conventions Of Horror
- Vampires have a weakness to direct sunlight ( Seen with Ginia in the hospital after shes bitten by Eli)
- Vampires leave two holes in the neck of their victims ( Seen on Ginia's neck after incident with Eli )
- Use of an eerie/tension-building soundtrack BEFORE a key moment ( ( Just before Eli attacks)
- Sense of death ( Eli kills Jocke )
- Blood plays a significant role in gory nature of the film ( During Eli's attacks and draining of blood in the forest)
Different Conventions Of Horror
- Deals with emotional challenges of the main character ( Bullying Oskar deals with)
4: Oskar tends to be shown on his own throughout most of the film and doesnt really spend any of his school life with any of his classmates or children who also attend his school. Eli is sort of in the same situation as Oskar, however, this is because she is not a human but instead is a vampire, thus as a result, she hasnt really got the choice whether or not she wants to be with herslf or around others. Also, when there is blood involved in a certain situation, her vampire side takes over her, which forces her to keep away from humans, however, this excludes Oskar due to their forming relationship as close friends. Snow is also a very important feature in establishing 'being an outsider'. This is because snow muffles out sound and can give you the sense of being completely remote from the nearest person and can also heighten the sense of cautiousness.
5: Oskar's character frustrated me throughout this film. This is because he was clearly getting bullied by Conny and his friends and didn't put up a fight against them until right at the very end. Also he was just a very dull character because he didnt talk very much. Eli was ok, but you could quite easily tell what she was going to do next, making her character highly predictable.
6: In all honesty, none of the narrative appealed to me. The only thing that was slightly interesting was the choice of leaving a horror film on a 'happy ending'. You would have made the assumption, like I did, that something bad would happen at the very end which would keep the horror feel to the film. By doing this at the end of the film, it seems to change the aspect of how a horror film should end.
7: If you remove the idea of Eli being a vampire, then you would tend to make the film a romantic genre rather than a horror. This would mean that you would have to take out the main features of the horror genre. This would be all of the deaths, taking out many of the background characters so the narrative can focus on the two main characters, Oskar and Eli, without there being any interruptions to the story. There would also have to be a greater deal of dialogue within the film, so the feelings and emotions of the characters can be put across to the audience watching.
8: This domestic view of vampires can take most of the fear factor away from the film and as this film is of the horror genre, you really cannot afford to do that. The vampires need to be seen in a much more evil and scarier view, because in this film, we see vampires living in the same way that any other ordinary person would live their life, in a house. You need try and keep some of the classical features of the mythical legend of vampires, such as sleeping in a coffin etc.
9: ???
10 : ???
