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In the spirit of watching Hannibal
on NBC, I had strange inclination to watch Dexter
again. Created by James Manos Jr., he developed, produced and wrote the pilot
for the Showtime drama series, which just recently came out saying this is the
eighth and final season starting this June instead of waiting usually by late
September.
What sets the show apart from any
show on the air is the fact that it’s about a serial killer, Dexter Morgan (played
by Michael C. Hall) who is in a way a good
serial killer with a code he lives by to make sure he only kills people who
are guilty of malicious crimes and murders before taking them off the streets
of Miami. Being a serial killer by night doesn’t pay the bills so by day,
Dexter is a blood splatter analysis for the Miami Metro Police Department.
Kinda of a reverse Superman, don’t ya think? Blood splatter analyst by day,
super serial killer by night.
What I love about Dexter is their simple and clean-cut
cinematography (along with their fabulous cast) and how well it incorporates
the attitude of the show. The most important factor is the voice over, without
it we wouldn’t be able to understand why Dexter Morgan is the way he is,
because as it turns out he, himself isn’t too sure about how he is the way he
is so its an impactful journey the audience and Dexter embark on together.
Through his voice over in the pilot we understand he was born without ‘emotions’
in a way and fakes them (just the way we fake them in our day to day as well)
so already the audience is connecting and siding with this damaged man. We are
given the chance to be inside Dexter’s head and go along with him because as
much as we question him he questions himself, it’s a very interesting
relationship and without it the show would be lost. The voice over also allows
for some jokes and commentary about regular people’s social behaviors and how
they interact with Dexter.
A cinematic choice that I saw in Hannibal but used in Dexter in entirely different ways is the
slow motion effect. In Hannibal it’s
used to show the slow decent of a dying victim while in Dexter the slow motion usually happens over a social behavior or
something that Dexter wants to direct importance to. Such as flirting cues from
a police officer or the slow turn from an angry employee or even the slow
motion of gazing at a crime scene in awe. In these slow motion examples it is
always seen through the eyes of Dexter and we are 99% in his perspective for
most of the show. The only time we are not in his perspective is when we are
the victims on his table, which is scary and thrilling because we get to
experience the last moments of a truly evil person underneath Dexter’s grasp. Other than that it seems like the camera is
always in front of Dexter since we are following him in his perspective.
Then there is truly easy symbolic
cinematography I can’t leave out, which is the nature of shadow and how when
Dexter is first introduced in the show he is perceived in profile driving along
the busy downtown Miami streets. How then we just see his eyes in the rearview
mirror, very haunting images with a man we barely know (but will come to accept
and love) with his soft, calm, monotone that portrays his lack of connection
with the world around him. Even his clothes when he is in serial killer mode are
dark thermals and cargo pants. But when he is in ‘Normal Mode’ he wears light
breezy pastel colors on the blood splatter job, especially in Miami you need to
keep cool outside. He is also always seen for the most part on the same eye
level or in the same frame as his coworkers at Miami Metro or his sister (and
also a police officer) Debra Morgan (played by Jennifer Carpenter). The only people
he doesn’t share the frame with and is usually on different eye levels with are
his victims and people he dislikes or dislikes him. When he is our Serial
Killer Dexter he is always seen in from a low camera angle, an authoritative
mode, like a puppeteer lingering his puppets on their strings of life until he
cuts them cleanly off. The victims are usually below him and we only see them
close up when they are on the table or from Dexter’s above angle perspective.
When people dislike or mistrust Dexter (like a certain Sgt. James Doakes played
by Erik King), Dexter is below the eye level of Doakes, which shows Doakes is
the more authoritative one and someone we should watch out for since we want
Dexter to keep doing what he is doing, which is making Miami safe.
Overall, I’m very sad to see this
show go but each season tackles another feat Dexter doesn’t think he can handle
based off his ‘Dark Passenger’. Which can be anything from dating, keeping his
two jobs from colliding under the Miami Metro Police Force, a nosy sister,
religion even being a father/good role model for people. So each season will
keep you wanting to know more and see how far can Dexter go without people finding
out his dark secret and just try to be a normal, sociable human being on top of
it all. If you have Showtime I suggest you take a watch, you will not be disappointed.
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