Fantasy Research: Technical Analysis of a Fantasy Title Sequence – What We Do in the Shadows.

Introduction.

For our fantasy brief, we were tasked with analysing the intro or opening scene of a fantasy tv show. The show that i chose was What We Do in the Shadows. I chose this show because i have been watching it recently and really enjoying it, and i know a lot more about this tv show than i did for Shadow and Bone or the Witcher. It is based on a film from 2014 of the same name by Jermaine Clement (known for Flight of the Conchords) and Taika Waititi (known for directing the new Thor movies) – two filmmakers from New Zealand. The tv show is largely written and produced by them also. Both the Film and TV Show combine themes of fantasy and comedy – the basic concept of the show being a mockumentary about vampires that live in the modern day where their interaction with the modern world creates comedy and the interesting storylines that the show finds its basis on. Its plot is generally loose between episodes, but the show is not episodic, as although most of the episodes have their own plot, that plot often influences later episodes in an indirect way, or rather there is a progression of time in the show. Other episodes are more directly linked together. I will be analysing the opening few minutes of the first episode in this blog.

Credit to the BBC and FX for screenshots and video clips of What We Do in the Shadows. My use of their copyrighted material is fair, because I am not making any money off  of it, I am not showing this blog to the public and I am using their clips for educational purposes and providing an analysis of the TV show.

Cinematography.

The show opens with a mid shot of Guillermo, a vampire’s familiar (servant) standing in the middle of the shot looking very seriously directly into the camera. This creates a sense of tension and seriousness, and also sets the mood of the show as being dramatic. What this is doing is setting up the first joke of the show, which is a break in the tension that the opening 30 seconds creates, where the dramatic character reveal of Nandor the vampire is interrupted by his coffin lid getting stuck as he is trying to get out. This clearly reveals the show to be a comedy.

The first shot of What We Do in the Shadows.

The camera then cuts to an interview-sytle mid shot of the same character in a different room, setting the precedent that this tv show is a mockumentary. The next shot follows the documentary style of filming too, as you can clearly tell that the cameras are handheld as they follow Guillermo around a room, in the same way that a real documentaty would have a camera crew on location filming the subject of their documentary. Most of the shots in the show are handheld in this way as though the show was non-fictional.

In the same mockumentary style, the other two main characters (Nadja and Laszlo) are introduced to the show and while they are talking to each other, the camera pans between them and zooms in on character’s faces and emotions for comedic effect. This is shown below.

Nandor tells Laszlo and Nadja about the letter.

Laszlo becomes frustrated at Nandor’s irrational proposal to go into another room to                                                                                                                                                                                               read the letter, and the camera zooms in on his face to show this for comedic effect.

Sound.

Backing track.

The music in the opening scene is very dramatic and tense, with the main melodies being played on string instruments. The first piece of music featured in the show is “Az Vey Dem Tatm” by Black Ox Orkestar – a quartet that plays European Jewish folk music, which is entirely sung in Yiddish. Their music was also featured in the What We Do in the Shadows movie (source).

This style of european folk music fits with conventions and tropes of the vampire fantasy genre – as vampires are often portrayed as being from Transylvania (a region in Romania) or eastern europe in general because of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, which created a lot of tropes in the vampire subgenre because of its success. The book follows the diary of a solicitor who travels to Transylvania to meet a rich Count (and powerful vampire) named Dracula who is looking to buy a house in England (so that he can eat rich English people and become more powerful). Ever since its release, vampire media has drawn inspiration from Dracula and its tropes – such as movies like Nosferatu, videogames such as Castlevania and TV shows like What We Do in the Shadows. Over all, this piece of music was chosen to create tension in the audience, and establish the show’s genre – adding to the theme of vampires. This music is an example of non-diegetic sound.

 

Voiceover.

On the other hand, some of the sound in the intro of What We Do in the Shadows is conventional of the Mockumentary style in the show – opposed to the more fantasy themed areas of the show. This is seen in the example below, where Guillermo is opening Nandor’s coffin and his own voice cuts over the end of the clip as voiceover, before it cuts to a shot of him giving an interview to the documentary filmmakers and continuing what was said in the voiceover clip. This style of voiceover is typical of many Documentaries – showing the subject of the documentary acting as they usually would day to day, with audio of an interview with them over playing over the top of that footage. Below is a clip of this example from the show, to clearly show what I’m talking about.

 

The Main Theme.

An analyis of the sound in the intro of any TV show would not be complete without explaining the theme music included in it.  The main theme of What We Do in the Shadows is a song called ‘You’re Dead’ by  Norma Tanega, who was an american folk singer and painter who was mainly active in the 1960s. The song ‘You’re Dead’ was released in 1966.

The lines at the end of every verse of the intro song are “you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead and out of this world” which relates quite literally to vampires, as they are both undead and supernatrual creatures. The folk style of this song fits with some of the other music included in the show, particularly the song that i have already talked about – Az Vey Dem Tatm. I think the use of folk music in What We Do in the Shadows helps to keep the show lighthearted and not too dramatic. It also outlines how the vampires in the show are very old, and living in the modern day is a culture shock for them –  the acoustic instruments in folk music show this archaeic-ness and help to outline the fantasy theme.

‘You’re Dead’ is also featured in the What We Do in the Shadows movie, and serves the same purpose of introducing the film and its theme.

 

Lighting.

The lighting is low key in each shot, to show that it is night time, and the Vampires’ home is dimly lit because they do not like bright light – sunlight kills them. The lighting is also used to add to the theme, as vampires are commonly associated with candlelight and old fashioned ways of lighting buildings – since a lot of media depicts them as creatures that have lived for hundreds of years in the past, in eras from the medieval period up to the victorian era. This impacts the audience, as it creates a more mysterious and gloomy atmosphere – which is coventional of the vampire fantasy genre.

A screenshot to show the low-key lighting of this first scene.

 

Mise en scene.

The set of this opening scene provides a lot of information about the setting and characters of What We Do in the Shadows. The main set piece featured in this scene is Nandor’s Coffin – a large, black coffin that is adorned with a gothic-style pattern. It is the kind of coffin that a vampire would be associated with – as opposed to a plain wooden coffin, or an open casket which are more often associated with normal, real world funerals. This coffin essentially serves as Nandor’s bed, and is where he sleeps during the day. There are steps leading up to the coffin, which shows that someone frequently needs to get in and out of it, whereas a coffin for any normal person would only need to be entered once. The coffin lies in the centre of the room, signifying that the person inside is important and that the coffin’s function is more important than the other furniture around. Like how the bed is the most prominent piece of furniture in a bedroom.

Aside from the coffin, the rest of the room is furnished like a bedroom. The walls of the room are half painted red and half covered in black wood, with old-looking paintings and candle holders hanging against them. a weathered carpet lays across the floor, and dusty pieces of furniture sit at the edges of the room – over all, it looks like the room of a dead person who died a long time ago, and so informs the audience more about the vampire fantasy theme of the show, which includes such gothic themes and imagery. This set serves as a backdrop to blend the different comedy and fantasy genres.

Editing.

Jump cuts show the passage of time as Guillermo tries to open Nandor’s coffin – these cuts are used to emphasize the comedy of this scene at the very opening  of the show. The video clip that i used in the sound: voiceover portion of this analysis shows these jump cuts and so I have included it here as well, for convenience.

The clip shown below shows an example of What We Do in the Shadows’ editing that fits into the mockumentary style of the show. as a new character is introduced, their name appears on screen to let the audience know who they are – this type of editing is used in documentaries so that the audience knows who everyone involved in the documentary is, so that the filmmakers can focus on the topic of the documentary. It is a very non-fiction way to reveal a person’s name, as a fictional tv show would usually introduce a character’s name by using dialogue. There is usually a period of time for me when I start watching a new show, where I can’t remember  all the character’s names because they are not introduced in such an explicit way.

 

Conclusion.

In conclusion, the elements i have explained in this analysis serve to set the scene for the beginning of What We do In the Shadows. They establish the genre as being a mixture of vampire-fantasy and mockumentary. They also establish two of the most important characters, and introduce the viewer to their home, and their relationship to each other. The opening few minutes of this show are excellent in their design, their purpose is to set the scene – which they have done well (as proven by this analysis). Analysing a fantasy TV show intro in this detailed manner has helped me with coming up with the structure of my own TV show intro.