The Twilight Saga

The long-awaited second installment to the Twilight saga was released on November 20, 2009. I was part of the crowd anticipating to see Edward’s glittery chest. For those who are unfamiliar with the series, the movies are adaptations of the books written by Stephenie Meyer. The second book, and the sequel to the film, is titled New Moon. The film opens with the celebration of Bella’s birthday at the Cullens’ residence. Everything was going according to Alice’s plan until Bella started opening her gifts. Bella opened an envelope and got a paper cut. At this point, the frame focused on Bella staring at her finger as blood beaded on her finger. Then the frame focused on Jasper who is the newest member to the Cullen family and has the least control over his appetite for blood. Then the frame shifted to give a full view of all the members of the Cullen family whose shocked stares bounced between Bella and Jasper in slow motion. Edward, of course, was on guard to protect his love and jumped right in front of Bella just before Jasper reached her. Then the rest of the family helped calm Jasper down and Carlisle, Edward’s dad, looked at Bella’s injuries. Edward felt horrible for risking Bella’s life and convinced himself that he is no good for Bella. So Edward and the rest of his family moved away and left Bella all by herself in the gloomy town of Forks.

Bella fell in a deep depression and she started participating in dangerous activities. In one occasion, she started learning how to ride a motorcycle with her friend Jacob. She was accelerating too fast and suddenly a mirage of Edward’s head appeared on the screen telling Bella to stop. Edward’s head floating randomly on the screen ruined the romantic and protective feeling that this part of the story was supposed to evoke. Instead, I found the scene awkward and quite hilarious. I also observed that the best parts of the movie are those that are shown in the trailer. The rest of the movie seemed like fillers to make the movie last for two hours.

The acting in this film was disappointing, though it could be expected from the actors’ performance in the first movie, Twilight. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson seemed like they were just reading their lines from a cue card. They lacked the emotion and passion that the characters Bella and Edward were supposed to have according to the book. Their facial expressions did not match the emotion that they were supposed to convey in a scene. When Edward was saying goodbye to Bella at the beginning of the movie, Pattinson tried to show his character’s pain by wrinkling his forehead and looking down towards the ground. This did not convince the audience that Edward was solemnly conflicted between leaving Bella forever and endangering her life. Kristen Stewart also lacked the facial expressions throughout the movie. Though I cannot remember specific scenes, most of her acting consisted of shaking her head a little when her character is confused. Both actors played down their roles in the movie; their portrayals of their characters were too nonchalant. But do not forget about Jacob Black played by Taylor Lautner. As many people knew, Lautner gained about twenty pounds of pure muscle for his role as Bella’s friend. If they did not know, then they found out in New Moon. Jacob hardly wore a shirt in this movie and as I recall, half of the audience screamed when they first saw Lautner’s abs. Based on their performances, the casting in the movie was based on the fans the actors were able draw to watch the movie rather than their acting skills. The movie was just trying to sell Steward, Pattinson and Lautner.

I was disappointed when I saw Twilight but I also considered the fact that there was probably not a lot of money to fund the movie. Thus, I was hopeful for New Moon since Twilight seemed like it was successful in the box office. However I decided that the reason the movies are not good is due to the poor performances of the actors. A constant thought in my head while I was watching New Moon was how Pattinson and Stewart needed improvements in their acting. It was very disappointing to see them portray Bella and Edward, characters whom I loved in the book. The film also lacked an intricate plot but this may be due to the book itself. I would recommend New Moon only for lazy summer afternoons when there is nothing good to watch on the television, but I would not recommend lining up outside the theater at midnight to see this film.

Film Score

One of M. Night Shyamalan’s supernatural movies is The Village. The Village is a story about a little village that seems to be set in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The village is isolated and surrounded by the woods, which is rumored to have monsters. The village has a group of elders who set the rules and one of the most important rules is that no one can leave the village and enter the woods. Suspicions arise when the elders deny the children permission to leave the village to get medicine from elsewhere. Soon enough, the secrets of the elders are unraveled to the audience. This segment of the film contains the score titled “Those We Don’t Speak Of” composed by James Newton Howard; this film score was nominated for best original film score at the Academy Awards.

The film segment opens with a villager who is in charge of the night watch for the monsters who are referred to as “those we don’t speak of”. There is no music but the sounds of insects in the background could be heard. The lack of music emphasizes the watchman’s aloneness because when people are alone and scared, their hearing senses are in full alert and they hear even the most miniscule sound. The silence creates a sense of desertedness and builds up the suspense for the upcoming events. The watchman peeks under the door and a sudden diminuendo of drums and maracas is heard and fades as the monster passes. This acts as a surprising element to make viewers’ hearts race. Afterwards, the low-pitched wind instrument creates a feeling of eeriness and suspense because it brings up to mind The Twilight Zone and aliens. The absence of lyrics helps the audience to focus on the mysteriousness of the scene through their senses rather than images evoked by words.

After the watchman rings the bell, the energy in the scene changes. The music increases in volume and speed to match the panic among the villagers as they hear the ringing of the bell. In the background, drums imitate the sound of a thumping heart to make the viewers’ hearts race. There are short bursts of instruments to create a sense of urgency as people flee to the safety of their homes. In the next scene, everyone seems to have hidden except for Lucius, who initially wanted to get medicine from the other towns. The music stops as he hides at the side of the house and the monster enters the frame from the right. The scene returns to Ivy, the blind girl who is waiting for Lucius at the door. The audience does not know whether or not the monster got to Lucius. Does the pause in the music mean the end of Lucius? Viewers are held at the edge of their seats because Ivy senses that Lucius is outside but her sister says, “He’s inside safe somewhere….” This is a dramatic irony because the audience knows that he might not be safe but Ivy’s sister thinks he is.

The climax of this film segment begins when Ivy extends her hand out for Lucius. On the left side of the frame, the lamp highlights Ivy’s hand while the right side of the frame is completely dark. There are globes of light in the distance spanning across the top of the frame, which serves as a guide for Lucius to Ivy’s hand. The music starts again and the repeating beat of the drums and the string instruments build up the suspense. Throughout the film segment, repetitions of beats and volumes play big roles creating suspense. The speed of the beat also creates suspense; usually suspense increases with an increase in speed. As soon as Lucius grabs Ivy’s hand, string instruments play a repeating, fast-paced beat. In contrast to the earlier parts of the scene, this dramatizes the fact that Lucius came to Ivy at the very last moment. The fast pace is in contrast with the slow motion of the picture. The combination of the string instruments, the fast beat and the slow motion swirl of her skirt and hair makes this scene quiet epic. There is also a romantic tone evoked by the violin and as the frame captures a shot of just Lucius and Ivy’s holding hands. Then the tone of the violin changes after they are all inside the hiding place. A sense of hope is created which matches the characters’ facial expressions. The dark background and the highlighted faces also add to this hopeful tone. Lastly, the scene closes with the two little girls centered in the frame. Which audience would not want hope of survival for these girls?

So there is a reason why “Those We Don’t Speak Of” was nominated for best film score. James Newton Howard did an excellent job in composing the film score to convey to the audience exactly what emotion or tone to feel. Whether it is fear, suspense or romance, the music will sure guide you to your emotions.