Parallel Action Essay, Research Paper

D.W. Griffith?s Techniques of Filmmaking

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.