1. Jake McLeod Van Helsing
Establishing extreme long shot, Helsing and
Carl are entering a village on horseback.The
streets are littered with people on foot;I
believe that the contrast between the
peasants on foot and Van Helsing on
horseback is a representation of the
differences of skill, honor, wealth and
powerbetween Helsing and the villagers. This and the way the villagerslook and
act to them as they stroll into the village only enforces the thought that they
think of him as an outsider, almost a stereotype In horrors. Van Helsing is
dressed in costly black leather while the villagers all wear cheap dyed wool,
Helsing’s boots are made from fine Italian leather with many straps and buckles,
whereas the villagers shoes (if they wear any at all) are made from scraps of
cloth or animal hide, this is the mise en scene of the film world and is a
stereotype of the typical hero entering a present village to save the occupants
from some sort of monster.
Tracking, medium two shot. Carl and Van
Helsing are walking through the village
trying to act nonchalant as they enter.
There is no background noise perhaps
suggesting something about the nature of
this film, still deadness, with the exception
of the noise of the villager’s tools caching
against each other. While they are walking,
the villagers have gathered around them and they talking about Helsing’s past
and why he hunts monsters, the confusion is cut short as they reach a dead end
and Carl only then realizes that they have been surrounded. This scene is a setup
for another and it only serves is as a bridge.
Extreme long shot, Van Helsing and Carl has
been surrounded by armed villages and the
town’s undertaker who warnsthem of the
town’s mistrust of strangers, This is a
representation of this town being united
against him as the ‘stranger’ to them is an
outsider, an unwanted intruder in this close
community that only serves to threaten what little safety they have left. This
feeling is only strengthened by phrases from the undertaker, ‘strangers don’t last
long here’. An observation can be made that the undertaker seems to be well
dressed and at least somewhat well-kept compared to the rest of the village. This
may say something of the town’s troubles and the undertaker getting a lot of
business.

2. A medium-close up of the villagers; this is
the first time the viewers can clearly see the
villagers, although they are armed and
seem ready to fight the heroalthough the
sight of them does not exactly scream evil,
Their clothes and genial look puts the
viewer in mind of simple hard-working
villagers rather than evil minions and on a closer look they are only armed with
tools not weapons; pitchforks, wood axes and sickles; Whereas Helsing is armed
with all manner of swords, artifacts and gadget. By this point in the scene the
viewer would ofnote the misunderstanding and should by feeling somewhat
sympathetic towards the villagers.
Low angle medium long over the shoulder
two shot. As Anna Valerious enters this a
sound enhance with her footsteps thus
creating a much larger impact when the
viewer sees Anna for the first time in this
seen. When she appears at first it is only her
boots, an item of clothing that is more
commonly associated with men normally as an indicator of power however these
are much more high heels than boots and thigh high, this is most likely just a way
of keeping male viewers interested during a seen with little or no action. All of
Anna Valerious cloths are black meaning she is in mourning, in an earlier seen
her brother was killed by a werewolf, this may fit in to a female stereotypy, in a
‘outdated view’ a woman is supposed to ‘love her man when he is there, miss a
man when he is gone and mourn a man when he nether comes back’. Van Helsing
is being commandedto take off his hat and drop his weapons by Anna Valerious;
the low angle shotsuggests that she is in a position of power which subverts the
female stereotypic, with her standing over Helsing and Carl.Meaningin this
scenethat they are powerless or hold little power which is ajuxtaposition to the
male hero, as she commands them,she is always stood in an aggressive and
powerful position and her clothes seem to be made from fine silks with a hard
fabric corset. The fine clothes and the way she presents herself suggests that she
may be in a position of higher class or be in charge of the town. If so than this
town is most likely a catholic town judgingfrom the crucifix around her neck, this
fits in with the mise en scene of the film world with Helsing being a supernatural
action horror strongly gravitated around Christianity.Although in this movie,
unlike others Helsing is Catholic rather than Protestant but this could be put
down to ether a misunderstanding ordifference of views on part of the director.
Cut away, close up. During being
threatened Van Helsing pulls back his
coat and begins to slowly reach for his
crossbow (what looks like a gun)
however this is a massive step in the
wrong direction in maid of mise en
scene with Van Helsing being a fantasy,

3. Fantasies are normally stereotypes of having only sword and bow. When the
close up shows mutable crucifixes hanging from a chine on his waistcoat as well
as having one engraved on handle of his weapon this shows beyond a doubt that
Helsing takes his rerigen seriously and is willing to fight for it .
Extreme long three shot, three
monsters are attacking the village. Van
Helsing pulls out a crossbow and
points it the monsters, thecamera look
directly in to the crossbow and the
viewer is made to feel like they are
being shot at. Then the camera is
looking the other way, at the sky
followed by a pull focus/zoom in to alow angle extreme long shot on three
women vampires swooping down at Van Helsing and the village. The low angle is
paused here to make the audience feel vulnerable or frightened, with the feeling
that the vampires are made to look like they are swooping down on to the
audience.Clearly the audience can see these creatures are not natural and the
fast movement suggests that they are dangerous andthey’re to kill Van Helsing
and/or the villagers.
Lowangelmedium two shot, Helsing and
Anna Valerious are being attacked by
creatures unknown, a look of panic is on
Anna’s face this is typical of a female
stereotypy with the main female character
usually being used as a kick off point for
the male hero to save her, however in this
the male hero (Helsing) completely
ignores the damsel and forces on the monsters.
Fasttracking long shot, Anna is running
for two vampires and dogging the
arrows fired by Van Helsing, the fast
pace and whooshing of arrows make
the scene seem hectic and tents. After
failing to grab her, the vampires grab
hold of a villager and tear his neck of to
drink his blood, this is the first time the
audientsis shown this act and therefore shown the full brutality of they monsters
so that they may relate the protagonists goal of riding the world of these evil
creatures.