This week’s been quite a crazy week. Since we had our presentations and pitches for Project Briefs 3 and 4, there wasn’t any screening. However during our workshop on Thursday we were given small shots of vampire flicks. There came a little common denominator when it comes to vampire films, as discussed during the workshop, we see a really attractive dominant male that seems to be able to work his way around the ladies. We also see the vampire’s relation to always being wealthy and holds a certain stature in a hierarchical organisation. The shots that were screened during class also portrays most vampires to take on a pale look, mostly white men, and has a very strong sex appeal. Which leads to my next point in vampire films. We tend to see a lot of bare, the traditional fetish for necks, and wrists of a vampire can pointed clearly in most films. A very fine line between romance and bloodshed, pain and pleasure, another common trait of the vampire cravings for blood to survive.

However, the films that were featured during the workshop differed from one another in their own ways too. The respective filmmakers played around with genre tropes, taking hints and ideas from other genres and adding it into the mix of their vampire film. In Twilight (2008) directed by Catherine Hardwicke, we see stereotypical teenage girl falling in love with a good looking dreamy guy, which happens to be a vampire. He goes through an internal conflict with himself on the conventions of being a vampire and the morals of being human. He knows that he can’t pursue a relationship with a mortal due to his vampire urges for blood, but he is struggling to keep his emotions and feelings at bay for the girl he is falling for. Another thing that set Twilight apart from the rest of the other vampire films was that it was set in modern times and the use of American accents (oppose to the Vicotrian English Literature, Shakespeare accent), which, I believe, makes it more relatable for viewers, especially for the demographic the film was targeting (ie. teenage girls).

Filmmakers and writers tap into other genres, borrowing various tropes and conventions to keep things fresh and new while still maintaining  the regular vampire flick. Reason being to make more money in general. Making a film that not only appeals to the whole vampire cult following but other genre following as well. Of course, it is always hard to find a one-size-fits-all model, and there are always bound to have purists and haters, but it still generates a new following or fanbase for hybridity or maybe even just an update to the other older vampire films.