Thursday, 18 November 2010

Let the Right One in - Notes

Vladimir Propp (1895 – 1970)
Character roles:
1)      The hero – the character who seeks something (e.g. James bond) – In films and TV, the hero can be male or female – someone who moves the story on (e.g. Bridget Jones, James Bond, Homer Simpson)
2)      The villain (e.g. Goldfinger)
3)      The Donor – who provides an object with some magic property (e.g. Q)
4)      The helper – aids the hero (e.g. Telix Leiter)
5)      The princess – often the object of the villains schemes (e.g. Pussy Galore)
6)      Her father – who rewards the hero
7)      The dispatcher – sends the hero on his way (e.g. M)
8)      The false hero – seems to be hero initially, turns out to be evil or a red herring*
Red herring
A Character/Object that is introduced as seemingly important. It is left behind/forgotten/never mentioned again. Turns out to have no importance
Claude Levi – Strauss (1908 – 2009)
Binary Opposites
Good v Evil
Black v White
Tall v Short
Old v Young
Etc etc
Tzvetan Todorov (1939 – present)
All stories begin with a equilibrium, this is disrupted, then restored.
A classic beginning, middle and end narrative structure.
3 Part narrative structures
1)      Equilibrium
2)      Disrupted equilibrium
3)      Restoration of equilibration, or new equilibrium.



Let the Right One In
Notes: Apply on theories above. Also refer to mise en scene, sound/music and representation of characters and place, and camera work.
-          Swedish with English subtitles
-          Quiet music at start credits, snowing, dark, very little happening
-          Empty street, young child looking out window, midshot
-          Close up man driving car, child humming, orchestral music starts loud
-          Kid picks up a knife
-          ‘Squeal’ like a pig repeated
-          Average Childs bedroom
-          Man puts cardboard against window
-          Child is clever about murder related topics
-          Bully calls child a piggy
-          Man sets up briefcase of items. Murder equipment?
-          Yep definitely murder items. Kills man, hangs him upside down from tree at night, collects blood from hanging corpse ……. Ew (longshot)
-          Dog catches murderer. Murderer runs leaving the collected blood
-          Child goes outside with knife out……..and talks to a tree???? Then stabs the tree
-          Girl shows up and asks what he’s doing
-          Tells him she lives next door
-          Says she can’t be his friend
-          Murderer gets on bus, realises he forgot the blood, woman yells at him for failing, asks for forgiveness
-          Next day teachers discussing the murder
-          Bully’s search for child ‘Oskar’, calling him piggy
-          Mum bans Oskar leaving the flats, due to murder
-          Oskar takes newspaper, collects news on murders in a note pad
-          Murderer is Oskar new next door neighbour, and the girl is his child
-          Oskar goes out into courtyard, plays with rubix cube, eerie music, girls speaks to him, both say they wish to be alone
-          Oskar gives rubix cube to girl, then says she smells funny (close up on cube)
-          Girl’s forgotten how to feel
-          Girl is ill? Close up
-          Girl asks stranger to help her, from the shadows under a bridge then eats him and snaps his neck. Vampire/Zombie?
-          Oskar listens to next door
-          Dude with a lot of cats witnessed girl attack man and informs his friends from a distance
-          Go to scene and find blood
-          Body being dragged away
-          Pushes body into ice river
-          Oskar finds his rubix cube on frame, completed (close up)
-          Girl is called Eli, 12 years old, same as Oskar
-          Close up of the 2
-          Teacher reads story
-          Oskar stays after school to study Morse code
-          Bullies surround Oskar and demand to see what Oskar was doing
-          Oskar says no, bullies whip him and leave
-          Oskar lies to his mum about cut
-          Eli asks about the cut, Oskar tells her  Eli says hit back and offer to help him
-          Man watching from window
-          Eli orders the man around, taps on the wall to communicate to Oskar
-          Oskar joins weight lifting club
-          Cat hates Eli, Oskar offers Eli a sweet, she says no
-          Eli tries sweet throws up
-          Oskar hugs Eli (close up) Eli asks if Oskar likes her
-          Oskar goes to his dads, do activities together montage
-          Meanwhile man is getting ready to kill another person for Eli, and asks her not to see Oskar tonight
-          He goes to an after school club and watches
-          Attempts murder as before, but nearly gets caught, puts acid on his face, close up
-          Oskar goes to weightlifting and finds his trousers in urinal
-          Man gets caught and arrested for murder
-          Eli goes to hospital where her father is, climbs up from outside, bites him and he falls from window
-          Eli goes to oskars, and gets into bed
-          Oslar asks Eli to be his girlfriend, Eli says shes not a girl
-          Eli seems really unaware about socialising, nervously holds his hand
-          Leaves him a note
-          School goes on skating trip on a frozen river
-          Same place as Eli’s first victim was dumped
-          Bullies start on Oskar, Oskar hits him round head with a stick and cuts his ear
-          Little kids find body
-          Oskar lifting heavier weights
-          One of bully’s mate talks to Oskar
-          Oskar takes Eli under a bridge? Eli congratulates him for hitting bully
-          Oskar cuts his hand with his knife, wanting to nix with Eli
-          Vampire instincts kick in, eli orders Oskar to go
-          Couple get into argument, woman storms off, eli attacks her but bloke stops the attack, eli runs
-          Woman starts to become a vampire
-          Oskar back at his dads
-          Dads friends shows up, Oskar doesn’t seem to like him
-          They both start drinking and smoking
-          Elis note said ‘I must go and live or stay and die’
-          Woman has thirst, goes to where her friends are, all the cats hiss at her and attack her
-          She’s rushed to hospital
-          Oskar goes to Eli and asks if shes a vampire
-          Oskar uncomfortable and leaves
-          Bloke and woman at hospital, eerie music, Woman asks man to end her life
-          Oskar and mum mess around with toothbrushes
-          Doctors undo woman restrains, she asks him to open blinds, she sets on fire
-          Eli goes to oskars, and asks to be let in
-          Oskars wants to know what happens if he doesn’t invite her, she starts to bleed
-          She asks him to be her for a while
-          Repeats what oskar was saying at the start

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