Parallel Editing Essay, Research Paper

Parallel editing, or the ability to make two separate actions happen at the same

time, was innovated by D.W. Griffith and is exclusive to films. Action films are

a good source for these, as they give the impression of tensely reaching a

climax in the film. In Vampires, by John Carpenter (1998), there are two

sequences which include parallel editing. The first example happens rather early

in the movie. At this point, a team of vampire slayers commissioned by the

Catholic Church are having a party at a motel. this occurs after they slayed all

the vampires in a nearby nest, losing the head vampire, Valek. The parallel

action begins when the three survivors come back to the motel during daylight in

order to bury the The sequence goes as follows: The jeep Montoya and Katrina are

in drives onto the road. you see Montoya snaking on some food Jack is putting

decapitated heads in a blood-stained white sheet. The jeep continues driving

down a small road. Jack sets the motel on fire, and buries the bag of heads in a

shallow grave. Shot of Jack in a truck. Some rosary beads with a crucifix are

violently swinging from the rearview mirror of Jack?s truck. He stares at it.

It gives the sense that Jack has done something that he should be disturbed by,

but he is successful at blocking out his emotions. Montoya and the dazed Katrina

check into a hotel room. Montoya is made to be very impatient and unnecessarily

vulgar. Jack is at a payphone talking to someone. He says that his team was

killed. In the background across the street is a large brick wall with a very

colorful mural of the Virgin Mary. It cuts to Montoya watching the news in the

hotel room, and he is watching the news coverage of the burning motel room. It

gives the effect that although there is a definite supernatural element, the

incident was very real and many innocent people were brutally killed. Jack is at

a church being treated for his wounds at a church or somewhere religious. This

creates the feeling that Jack turns to religion when he needs it, and he feels

burdened by it at other times. The sequence ends with a shot of Valek on top of

a moving train. The whole sequence lasted only a few minutes. The second

sequence is towards the end of the movie. Katrina has been infected by the Valek,

and she maintains a psychic link with him. Just before every shot of the

vampires, there is a shot of Katrina?s face, signaling that it is being viewed

by her. The sequence goes as follows: Jack, in the bathroom of the hotel, is

asking Father Adam what the vampires are looking for. Shot of Valek and his team

of vampires awakening from the ground and walking to a monastery in a desertous

area. Jack argues with Father Adam because he does not want to tell Jack. He

violently convinces Father Adam to comply.