What We Do In The Shadows (2014)- Analysis

An underrated masterpiece directed by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement called What We Do In The Shadows was released in 2014. The film documents the day to day life of several vampires leading up to the Unholy Masquerade, an inclusive event held annually for the dead, by the dead. The audience holds witness to an attempt at a “dinner party” that ultimately leads to an unlikely friendship in an unlikely way. This film makes use of mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography, and editing to create a humorous atmosphere during what could have otherwise been a horror sequence.

An important element towards film aside from the visuals are the sounds. During the sequence in which Nick (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer) transforms into a vampire, Waititi and Clement make use of both diegetic and nondiegetic sounds. The main focus lay within the dialogue. During the first scene in which the guests enter the home, there is no background music. Along with the dialogue spoken and the sounds created within the world, narration is often overlapping the footage. The use of narration help tie shots together as one cohesive unit.

Music in the sequence is first used diegetically when Viago (Taika Waititi) begins a record for the dinner guests. This is heard throughout the rest of the dinner table scenes. When it cuts to a talking head, the record music is not heard. As it cuts back to the dinner table, the record music resumes. One can infer that that means that additional music had not been edited in, and the sounds from the world are only in at this point. The music heard from the record player changes when Viago enters with the guests’ “dinner,” indicating that a change is occuring. The music changes once again from diegetic to non-diegetic when Nick decides he has had enough of the vampires’ pranks and wants to leave. When he leaves the dining room, ominous operatic music began to play in the background. This music is not within the world as it follows Nick through the house. The cue for the chase scene begins when Nick hears Jackie’s (Jackie van Beek) car unlock. Once he sees her leave, the jumbled clarinet noise overwhelms the scene and sets the tone during the chase scene. If a more serious and suspenseful track were to be chosen over the clarient, the audience would have felt more fear than humor.

A commonly used trick in horror sequences is using silence before a scare. Nick enters a room away from the vampires and the clarinet music stopped. As the music and the clawing of the door stops, Nick releases a breath of relief. As soon as things resume being amok, the chaotic music starts up again and the chase continues until he leaves the house completely. The scene is punctuated with the growls of Petyr (Ben Fransham) as he catches Nick. When Nick begins to tell his story of being turned into a vampire in the next scene, he tells the audience, “Petyr bit me,” which is followed by touching piano music to create a sentimental tone. As he describes the transformation feeling like a flu, under the narration and music, one can hear Nick from the clips screaming as his bones crack. Once Nick is accepted into the group of vampires, uplifting music begins to play to show that a bright future awaits.

Cinematography plays an important role in telling the story of these vampires. The premise of the film is to appear as if it were filmed as a documentary. This entails handheld camera shots that are often eye-level. Deep focus cinematography is often used because realistically, there would be no predicting where the action will occur. Overall, during the indoor scenes, the lighting is evenly distributed. The camera work is often on the shakier side given its handheld nature. A lot of fast zooms and pans are used as well. During Nick’s chase scene, the camera is particularly shaky as the cameraman runs behind Nick. One iconic shot is Nick falling down the stairs, and the camera looks down on him, removing any power that Nick may have had before that moment as he is visibly outnumbered and overpowered. The lighting is also slightly low key, as the background is mostly dark, but the shadows on Nick’s face are not as sharp as one would see with normal low key lighting. When Nick reaches the outside of the house, he is surrounded by darkness and silence, creating a looming atmosphere. It is then when Petyr’s pale skin starkly contrasts the dark sky when he grabs Nick.

A stationary camera and a steady shot is taken during the one-on-one talking heads. These shots, in a real documentary, would be premeditated. This is where medium close-ups and the like are used. There are two other instances within this sequence in which a steady set-up is used. The first is found after Petyr has captured Nick, and the camera steadily pans to the other vampires as they lament his capture. The other is when Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) is dancing sensually for his friends. He is placed right in the center of the frame, ensuring that his is the only thing that the viewer will focus on.

Coinciding with how the shots are made is what they are made of. How everything is shown on screen is important to the overall storytelling, even if they are objects sitting in the background. The dinner portion of the sequence, for instance, makes use of mise en scene to show off the characters’ relations and the oddities of the household altogether. The house looks run down and disgusting, as a home that has been lived in by several men for hundreds of years would be. This, however, does not appear to deter any of the dinner guests. They sit down at a large dinner table that has only two plate settings despite there being six people present. Your average person would see the house and would feel unsettled immediately. The fact that the house has such an unwelcoming atmosphere and no one cares adds to the layers of humor. In addition to that particular scene, Nick and Deacon are seated at each ends of the table. This foreshadows the distaste for each other that is present throughout the rest of the film. The three humans all sit together on one side of the table, apart from the vampires as well. This type of composition is used again later in the sequence after Stu (Stuart Rutherford) is introduced. As all the vampires stand together as a group, Stu stands slightly apart from everyone else, signifying that he does not exactly fit in as a human.

The chase scene is set in dark, claustrophobic corridors. This setting adds to the feeling of being trapped. This feeling is doubled down as Nick is visibly being cornered by a vampire every way he turns, and almost every door is either locked or has something waiting behind it, such as Viago drinking the blood from a dead Josephine, or a Vladislav-faced cat. It is interesting because from all other shots of the home, the layout does not appear to have so many twists and turns, however in this particular scene it is cut in a way that makes it feel as if he is running through a labyrinth.

The distance between Nick and Deacon is emphasised again in the following scene when Nick returns to the house. He and Deacon face each other, standing on opposite sides of the room while Viago and Vladislav sit on the floor and watch. Nick says as narration that he has not yet been accepted into the group. This is followed by a shot of Nick flying over the city alone, and as the shot progresses, the other three are scene flying by his side. Through this short montage, Nick befriends the others. He still stands out, however, as they are walking around the town, all the vampires are wearing dark colors as Nick wears a red coat.

Raw footage on its own will not be enough to create a cohesive and entertaining film. Editing is another element that is a necessary part of making What We Do In The Shadows as great a film as it is. It establishes the pacing, which is important especially for comedic films. For the first portion of the sequence, shots are cut according to the dialogue on screen. It would go between medium wide shots of Deacon and Nick on opposite sides of the dinner table in a shot reverse shot format as they interacted.

The editing also allowed flashbacks in the film. The use of this did not interrupt the flow but rather helped in storytelling. Just as the first scene begins, it starts with Nick and Josephine entering the lion’s den, and then cuts to Jackie and her process in getting guests to come to the dinner party. Another instance in which flashbacks were used was in the last scene of the sequence. Nick appears completely transformed a flashback is initiated, rather than showing the footage as it happened. Montages were used throughout the final scene as well, in both the flashback and to show what was happening presently, as Nick became friends with the others. Flashbacks and montages were used in this instance to keep the pace going as to focus on the relationship between all the characters, instead of being a Nick-based film.

During the chase scene of the sequence, jump cuts were utilized a lot. This allowed an effect that showed how Nick felt jumbled and lost as he ran around the house. These fast cuts coupled with the strange music created a chaotic atmosphere. Later in the chase, after Nick is attacked via backpack, the cuts become more invisible and longer. Pans and zooms are used rather than cutting to another shot. In one shot, one can see running alone, and with a fast pan, the three vampires have ganged together, chasing him down, enhancing his vulnerability.

What We Do In The Shadows uses pace and visual cues to create a hilarious film. Had it been filmed in another way, the jokes would not have hit the same way. Waititi and Clement took two of the most popular subjects at the time, vampires and mockumentaries, to create something unique and memorable.