Snakes and Mirrors: Set Design
cinematographer: Stijn van der Veken, set decorator: Fiona Gallagher, production designer : Peter Walpole
A vampire and a human framed by snakes.
The snakes in the mirror aren't quite eating their own tail but each snake is connected to another snake all around that mirror, by heads around tails, heads around heads or tails around tails.
Snakes have a lot of different symbolisms and meanings across cultures.
The snakes here could represent rebirth; sexual desire in some Abrahamic traditions.
The snakes aren't quite ouroboros, a symbol of infinity.
Large Serpentis Mirror in Verdegris- House of Hackney
I kind of love this mirror here and how it's used in the scene.
"Information is power, Guy. Information is all there is."
TS 13:21-13:26- Guy turns around to face Jasper and camera follows his gaze and the snake mirrors look like they're dropping to bite the back of his neck as he's facing the vampire in front of him. (i own nothing, obviously. )
Just look at how the snakes appear to drop in the frame to metaphorically bite Guy's neck in several places as the camera moves, Guy straightens up and turns around to face Jasper.
Snakes. Temptation. Knowledge. Guy turning around and standing up straight to look at Jasper who is towering over him and is framed by a snake up top. Turning around really to look at the bargain he doesn't realize he's making.
I haven't cropped this shot all, this is all the cinematographer. Snake in the mirror dropping towards Guys head, as he turns around and to look at the vampire with fangs behind him.
Jasper is a human who was transformed into a vampire --Guy is a human. Guy's skin was transformed/healed with Jasper's blood.
The snakes on the mirror are either asps or Egyptian cobras -- but they have fangs. As does Jasper, a vampire.
The shots in the mirror position the snakes to metaphorically bite Guy's neck. Like fangs dropping.
Keep in mind just before this moment:
Jasper says he knows Guy "can read minds". Knowledge that Guy didn't know he had, and shouldn't have.
Jasper says "he shouldn't do this [heal Guy with vampire blood]" because "it goes against the code" which is knowledge Guy doesn't have and maybe isn't supposed to have.
Jasper asks him to go eavesdropping in other people and vampires' minds which is knowledge Guy feels like he shouldn't have, to get the 752, which is a backup of knowledge neither Guy nor Jasper are supposed to have.
This is foreshadowing for all the face smashing
and also for Jasper dropping him to the ground and fanging out on him.
I'M JUST A WEE TALL LAD MAN
They are definitely fucking with the height of things in this bathroom for shots.
Jasper looks much taller than Guy in the shots when he's tending his forehead and when Guy is at the mirror.
The actors are at the same eye height when they are sitting on the tub and the chaise at the beginning of the scene
and when Guy lowers himself to sit back down to look at Jasper
when he's telling Guy he was the only known survivor of Mergu's coven.
I love how they're playing with the height of furniture and the mirror here to reinforce the impression that Guy is wee and Jasper is a big powerful vampire.
I guess it's harder to make lines like calling Guy a puppy and a child resonate later on if the viewer subconsciously realize both actors are roughly the same height even if Nick Denton is slouches as much as humanly possible.
The bathroom mirror in this shot is way too low for someone of Guy's height to use comfortably in front of the sink. It's also way too low for anyone else who'd likely use the bathroom -- Jasper or Owen. Maybe Jasper hasn't spent that much time in this bathroom to care about changing the height but it's not comfortable.
Slouch... Owen's actor Jonathan Aris is 5'11" 1.80m; Nicolas Denton claims to be 5'11 (180 cm), William Fichtner (6 ft 1.83m)
This is an excellent height for a sink and a mirror for someone who is about a foot shorter.
Is Guy submissive or is it just staged so he can crane his neck up when Jasper is standing over him or bend over in the mirror to look at his forehead?
They could easily both sit on the chaise and it would actually be easier to Jasper to look at Guy's forehead wound. Guy craning his head also just makes it easier for Jasper because he may actually be a bit too low here for Jasper.
It makes no sense to for Guy to sit on the tub edge, when the chaise lounge is right there, even if Jasper wanted to stand. It's uncomfortable to sit there, even if Guy's feet are planted on the floor, and deliberate staging to show Guy is on edge and Jasper can easily knock or throw him off balance.
like here...
