The Twilight Saga: New Moon

The latest phenomenon of Twilight had it's second instalment much to the pleasure of most of the young female population, and the disdain of the young males.

As a fan myself, I was nervous as the second film, New Moon, had a new director. I wanted to know if the film would be as close to the book as the first had been, whether the striking cinematography would continue into the sequel, and whether it would really capture me as the first film had.

Although you could tell the film wasn't done by the same director, and larger sections of the book were left out than the first. Shot in widescreen, the film had a warm glow to the shots throughout (perhaps reflecting the focus on the warm-blooded werewolves in this film, perhaps unconsidered?) and had plenty of action, special effects, and a fast paced story to keep the audience interested. However, this was where the problem lay for me, the focus seemed to be on keeping the teenage girls happy and following a story, with less careful focus on the cinematographic look and visual feel.

What I felt it really lacked was the cinematographic lure I had with Twilight. The ultra widescreen, icey blue lighting and filter on nearly all shots, jaunty diagonal angles, and the intrigue of rarely ever seeing a the full length of a person throughout the two hours. Twilight really sparked an enthusiasm for looking at the aesthetic feel of a film and not just following a story. The typography for Twilight really inspired me too as I felt it was carefully considered in the process and the effects added only drew me in more (and in fact influenced my hydrophobia typographic project).

Overall, New Moon is a brilliant film for fans, but it does not really step up to the seduction, and truly engrossing nature of Twilight which sets it apart from most teenage films.

Watch the trailer for New Moon here:

Watch the trailer for Twilight here: