Case Study - Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

Social Meanings
Many social meanings here are presented through mise-en-scene, for example the female character here is wearing a costume which looks like nightwear, presenting something that could seem socially scandalous.
Men are also socially expected to be stronger, however here he is showed as weaker to the female vampire.
The vampire's outfit is very strange for the time, as he is in victorian costume here could present him as a social outcast.

Connotative Features
The use of an overcast sky and the creepy mansion is connotative of typical gothic films, as well as the red lighting used and the bats within the image.
The white colour of the dresses connotes to purity and virginity, and links to how typical vampire beliefs are that they feed off the blood of young and virginal women. The bats are also very significant of the horror genre, as these animals are nocturnal and more mysterious. There is also a full moon in the background which is also connotative of mysterious beings such as werewolves, which are typical of the horror genre.

 Hermeneutic/Proairetic/Semiotic codes
In this poster, there are several hermeneutic codes, for example, what are the relation of the two vampires? Why are the bats attacking the vampires rather than helping them? What is going to happen to the other two people? Is the mansion in the background the vampires'? And this means that the audience will be attracted to the film in order to have their questions answered. The proairetic codes here include what the vampires are about to do to the people, what the bats are doing, as well as the vampires trying to get rid of the bats. A prominent semiotic code in this is the white dresses on the female characters, which represent virginity (traditionally) and therefore poses the question of why the evil character is wearing something used to identify someone poor. The mansion also signifies mystery and spookyness, and how in older mansions mysterious things generally tend to happen.


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