Let Me In - Amara Bullen

Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves, is about a bullied young boy that befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian.

I chose this film because the soundtrack to the opening of this film drew me in and stood out as a good example of a horror movie. I thought that the sounds used were quite threatening and the shots used were interesting as they leave the viewer guessing and making up stories in their heads as to what's happening in the film.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjL7VEFvOxM

 

While the producer credits are shown on the screen by fading in at the very beginning, an echoing choir is singing in one tone that gradually becomes clearer and louder. On top of this, a harp is very slowly playing in a minor tone making the atmosphere sad. The plucks of the harp strings echo so that they end up combining into the sound of the choir singing. The sound drifts off into a minor scale which makes the choir sound haunting almost as it comes across as harsh and drifting out of tone. The sounds put together enhance a scary surrounding making the viewer feel tense and adds to the scary affect making it seem like something is wrong but they don't know what yet so it keeps the viewers guessing the worst.

 

A black screen is shown and the choir becomes quieter and a fade in of each word of the title is shown in big, bold letters, written in red. The colour red is often referred to blood and death as it is written in front of a black screen. This may give the viewer an image that death may occur in the film. After the title has fully appeared, the choir fades out into nothing as well as the title which fades out into blackness once again.
 

A loud booming drum breaks the silence which repeats while a place and date appears on the screen (Los Alamos, New Mexico, March 1983) which can scare the viewer as this relates more to real life.

The sound of wind builds up before a picture is shown on the screen. The wind gets louder and a low brass instrument accompanies the drum, playing the same haunting note over and over.

A small, orange light is show in the middle of the screen is zoomed into it to see that it's an establishing shot of an ambulance and a few police cars going round a winding road surrounded by some trees. Sirens fade in and become louder as the camera nears closer to re-enforce the audience that they are police cars. This shot can make the viewer interested in what's happening but nervous at the same time as the sirens are on so something must have happened and they're surrounded by trees on a winding road so they could be far away from a safe place.

A factor of mise-en-scene is that this scene is filmed at night as its pitch black which can scare people as some people are afraid of the dark and most bad things happen at night. I can also be quite threatening as you can't see what’s lurking in the dark, if there is anything there or not.

 

A tracking shot of the police cars and an ambulance is shown from in the trees and the sound of the vehicles is emphasised to show that they are driving quickly, building suspense to show that they need to get to the destination quickly.

 

A shot shown from the inside the police car is of the front of the window showing that it's snowing heavily as the window-wipers are moving quickly.
 

  A straight edit to a shot of the radio which has a radio transmission of a man asking for them to reply in code. The voice is stereotypically a man's voice as he must be a police man and this role is stereotypically carried out by a man as they are known to be the braver and stronger gender.

 

 The next straight edit is blurry and isn't very clear as to what it's showing. It seems to show a trolley bed as the camera moves to show the bottom of the foot of a person that is laying down on the bed. The camera is quite shaky so suggest that it's shot inside of the ambulance. To add to the fact that they're moving quickly, creaking and shaking of the bed and things in the ambulance are cluttering noisily.

Scissors are shown cutting the material, supposedly belonging to the person's on the bed showing that he must be injured, leaving the viewers with no idea of what's going on making them wonder how they got there? Who he/ she is with? What's wrong with them? etc.

 

The hand of the person reaches up and grabs one of the uniformed men who tries to stop him/her. The uniformed man is stereotypically male as it seems they're dealing with something major and women aren't seen to be able to handle too much pressure and blood.

 

Another straight edit changes to show the radio again and the voice replying, inside the ambulance describes the 'male' that is injured in the ambulance. This is typical for the person lying on the bed to be a male as they tend to get up to no good and misbehave more than women.

 

Different shots are shown to be helping the man on the bed  but faces haven't been shown yet so this also adds to the curiosity of the viewers as it leaves things unknown.

 

 
Sounds of the patient being sick and making strange noises may freak the viewers out, still not fully understanding what's happening. The report on the radio said that he had swallowed acid so this could link in which can gross the viewers out and feel his pain almost.

All the while, the brass instrument and drum had been playing quietly in the background, unnoticeably yet still haunting like.

 

 

All sounds come to a sharp, high pitched sound and all is quiet. A straight edit is shown of the back of a man in what looks like a hospital.