Dexter: Deep Dark and Dangerous

DEXTER

I recently started re-watching Dexter with my boyfriend and I am still amazed by how much I enjoy watching it a second time. I have watched up until the 6th season and have not watched further than that. This series is incredible; the music, location, editing and production in general is awesome. I would love to work on the set of this show because it is so well made and I would enjoy being around such creative individuals.

For those of you who aren't Dexter fans (yet) its premise revolves around our protagonist (which should be an antagonist) Dexter. Interesting thing about Dex is that he kills bad people and justifies it. He also is a blood spatter analysis and works for the Miami Metro police. Oh, irony. Anyway, I love that this show makes the viewer love Dexter, and they too justify his killings. Even though he is in fact a murderer himself. 

The composition of each episode is great, the storytelling is well done and I personally enjoy his narrations throughout. It makes the viewer be able to be in Dexter's mind and this ultimately makes the viewer sympathize with him. The casting of this show is also very well done, as each characters purpose and belonging is very intentional. The musical score for the show is one of my favorites of all time. Its beautiful, eerie, and haunting. It really ties all the elements of the show together.

If these above paragraphs haven't yet convinced you to watch the show, then I don't know what will. Dexter combines all the right elements to make the show suspenseful, funny, and overall enjoyable. 

^^And how can you resist that face???

Dexter.

There's not much else needed to be said. Anyone who has followed the TV show Dexter knows how intense it is and how it leaves the viewers on the edge of their seat. I watched a few seasons, stopped, and just got back into it so I admit I've been off my game for a while. But I literally cannot wait for the next episode each time the week comes around.

SPOILER ALERT



However, this last episode had me a little thrown off. Maybe because Dexter is starting to break out of what we know him to be. His relationship with Hannah has always had me a little iffy, because I was so surprised to see him so willing to open up to someone for the first time the way he does with her. She causes him to do things completely out of his character. For instance, as a result of her being kidnapped by Isaak, he helps Isaak out with his would be assassins, and stabs one of them like it was nothing right in the middle of a shooting range. We all know this is WAY too messy for Dexter's liking.  Hannah is corrupting our much loved character!

I was also very sad to see Isaak killed off. I'm not sure how they would've went about it, but I would've loved to see some kind of relationship come about between Dexter and Isaak. They had a great dynamic and the dialogue between them was always so compelling.

I also wish they would address Deb's feelings for Dexter a bit more. That was a HUGE thing to drop on him and they are continuing their lives as if it didn't happen.

While I acknowledge there are some minor holes/things that bother me about Dexter, it's still a fantastic show. Definitely a great example of the kind of thing I'd hope to work on in the future :)

-Nick

Showtime Series: Opening Credits

I am a huge fan of many of the series that Showtime currently has on air (and many that are sadly no longer on.) Just a few weeks ago, I became hooked on Shameless--yet another compelling series to add to the list of Showtime programming that I absolutely adore.

One of the things that really engage me about Shameless (aside from the fantastic acting and always compelling writing), is their opening credits. As I began to think more about it, I realized that many of the series that Showtime has, have very interesting opening credits and reveal a lot about what the show is about to the audience. Nowadays, shows tend to have much shorter opening credits—if any at all. Think about the quick opening of Modern Family and Community. Their openings are approximately thirty seconds long or shorter. It seems that nowadays, shows are choosing to cut down time by having shorter credits, but Showtime (and HBO) have maintained longer opening credits that are visually interesting, and revealing about the series.

Let’s take a look at Dexter. It is a show about a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department. The opening credits to the show, doesn’t show one image of him killing anyone. But the images are so powerful because they are extremely close up and even though it is an orange being juiced, and laces being tied, they convey a deeper meaning. The song being played conveys precision, as well as mystery. The shots are gruesome and make you cringe and when in combination with the music—it makes the perfect opening to the show.



Shameless on the other hand is pretty explicit with their opening sequence. The song playing in the background immediately expresses chaos and distraction. The show is about a poor and dysfunctional family trying to survive on Chicago’s southside in spite of their drunk father. The opening sequence features every main character and shows a bit of their personality—and it all takes place in a bathroom, a very private place. Unfortunately for the Gallagher family, there is no privacy, so the opening credits fit exactly.

Click here to view the video: Shameless Opening

The other show that I watch on Showtime is The Big C (view my previous blogpost.) It is about a woman, Cathy, dealing with cancer. Their opening credits are very representative of Cathy’s state. In the credits, she is inside a pool, looking out on the world as they stare at her every move. It is apparent that Cathy wants to feel free but instead feels trapped. The song playing is about life, which of course is very fitting since the entire theme of the show is about the struggles that come with life.



Opening credits aren't something that I often think about, but they appear to be a powerful tool in engaging an audience. It is after all, the first thing that a person sees before the show begins, so it must speak for the series.

About Chinatown

So I took Arturo's advice and watched Chinatown over the weekend. I just got to say that If you guys are interesting in watching one of the most developed story lines you will probably see in the movie industry, this is your movie. A brief review, directed by Roman Polansky, Chinatown tells the story of private investigator, Jack Gittes (Jack Nicholson), as we tries to unveil a conspiracy to steal the water supply of the city of Los Angeles. I know this storyline sounds kind of dull and overdone, but I think that Chinatown is more than that. The plot for this story unfolds by itself. The audience goes along with the movie as this reveals every key point of the story. This type of storytelling is so subtle that you don't even realize the complexity of it until you are done watching the movie. It just flows very naturally. I don't want to spoil the movie, but the big theme of the story (the water supply stealing) ends up being not as important as the story lines between the characters develop and overshadow the water supply storyline. I also think that it's really impressive that Polansky only use the main character, Jack Gittes, as his only mean to reveal the plot.

Chinatown reminded me of Dexter. In this show we also get a lot of information from Dexter's point of view. Dexter is also a suspenseful drama where the audience follows him as he investigates his different victims. For example, the way both of this characters sneak around to get the information that they need is pretty similar.

But coming back to Chinatown, its composition is pretty interesting as well. There is some pretty cool shots in this movie. Especially when Gitter is observing or hiding from someone, which brings me back to the story being tell only through Gitter's point of view.

I think that this movie is worth watching. I'm not really into movies from the 70's and early 80's because they tend to be pretty cheesy with the music and the general mood (and I did see some of this in Chinatown, especially during the credits), but I guess that was the style back in those days. But you should definitely watch this movie since it's a great example of storytelling and direction.

The Emmy Losers

A lot of people talk about who won the Emmy's, but I'm here to talk about some notable actors that went empty handed this year. I'd like to start with the leading actor from one of my favorite shows, Michael Hall. Hall is Dexter in the show Dexter. Connie Britton also missed out. She plays, Tami Taylor on another of my favorite shows Friday Night Lights. It was good to see Coach Taylor win but I think that Britton had a much better performance then her male counterpart. Finally, Steve Carell walked away empty handed. Carell has repeatedly put up stellar performances as Michael Scott in the Office, however he has never won. I know the people who won the Emmy's deserved it and there are others who should have won that didn't that I didn't mention but that is just my opinion on the topic.

Dexter: A Good Way to KILL Some Time

I love television but there is one show for me that sticks out above all the rest and that is Dexter. Dexter is a show on Showtime about Dexter Morgan, a blood splatter analyst for the Miami Metro police department. The first season was based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Dexter is your average guy except for one small difference; he kills people. One of the reasons I like this show besides from the suspense it creates is how it makes the viewer feel for Dexter. Even though he kills people, he only kills bad guys and other killers. So in a way he is an anti-hero and the viewer almost roots for him to escape so he can rid the world of evil. It brings up a good question. Is Dexter a good person doing bad things or a bad person doing good things?

Besides from great storytelling and acting, done especially well by Emmy nominated actor Michael C. Hall who plays Dexter, the production team makes some interesting and great aesthetic choices. First off the color of red is everywhere. Dexter will drink red wine and eat red meat. Streetlights behind Dexter’s head will often be red. Red, obviously, is supposed to signify blood, which Dexter sees a lot of. Another example is what they do to show the different sides of Dexter. When Dexter is the good, average Miami citizen upbeat Latin music plays against the sunny Miami city. The colors are bright and the world just seems happy. However when Dexter is acting as his “dark passenger” the lighting becomes chiaroscuro. There is a sharp contrast between light and dark (which is a metaphor for the sharp contrast between his two sides). Soft and creepy music also plays as Dexter slowly lurks in the dark.

Harry Morgan, a cop and Dexter’s dead adoptive father, will interfere with Dexter’s life and remind him about the code they set up so he will not get caught. Whenever Dexter sees him the scene gets a little blurry and the lighting becomes brighter, especially around Harry. This could be interpreted like Harry is Dexter’s guardian angel, a mystical figure coming back to help Dexter when he needs it the most.

One of the greatest aesthetic pieces of Dexter is seen every week in the opening credits, which is Dexter’s morning routine. There are many close ups and extreme close ups that show Dexter getting ready for the day. All of these show his precision and his eye for details. It is also edited in a unique way. First it is edited into “choppy” segments (pun intended) and like a horror movie the killer is not revealed until the end (Dexter is finally visible in the last few seconds of the video). These shots, especially in extreme close ups, also look very scary and brutal. For example when he tightens the lace on his shoe or cuts into a piece of meat, it looks like he is strangling someone or cutting into a body. It’s practically his killing cycle! The audience will definitely know what they are getting themselves into as they watch these credits! Finally despite all of these scary images his morning routine is very similar to ours and is supposed to show no matter how crazy or demented Dexter is, he is still human. He shaves, flosses his teeth, and locks the door to his house as he leaves just as we all do every morning. In a way he is just like all of us (except he finds very different ways to use his free time).

For more information on Dexter, check out it's Showtime website. The new (sixth) season premiere is October 2nd!