Genre
Zombieland is
a 2009 American zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer. It is in many ways very conventional
of a zombie film.
- The costume
used for the zombies it has a lot of blood and gore and the zombies have pale
faces with the contrasting red blood on them.
-The location-
the zombies have been put into a real life situation which is a very conventional.
-The
storyline-Typically the survivors all try and escape the clutch of the zombies
and try to get to a safe location but one by one they are bitten by zombies.
-The props-
Guns are used and seen throughout the clip
The fact that
this is a zombie comedy means that instead of the opening being incredibly scary for the audience it cleverly uses a
voiceover spoken by the main character so the audience finds it amusing but
also heart racing.
Form and Style
-The first shot
that is shown is clear view of an American flag flapping in the wind. The
audience will begin to realize something is not right when the camera gives a
wider shot of the scene. A POV shot is used to display an overturned vehicle on
fire and the White house on fire in the distance. The well-known yet
destructive setting creates instant panic as the audience doesn’t have enough
information at this point to know what is going on.
-Foreboding is
created by sound, mise-en-scene, editing and camera work.
-
Character exposition is created through narrative.
-The opening
of this film is formatted like a diary. The audience can hear the protagonist’s
voice commenting on what the audience can see. The audience gets to hear his
opinions and theory’s about surviving a zombie apocalypse.
-Instantly the title
connotes that the film is about zombies and that there is a mass invasion. It is also quite a comical title connoting the
fact it is a zom-com.
Film
Language
Mise-en-scene
Props costume character positioning and location are used
to convey meaning.
-The location is in a busy town in America. This creates
immense chaos and panic due to the destruction being caused in such a busy
place. There are cars on fire and spinning out of control through out the clip
intensifying the danger.
- Props such as guns are used for defensive. This is a
conventional prop for zombie films.
-The zombies are positioned above their victim a lot of
the time. For example at the start of the clip a zombie leaps above and toward
the victim. This connotes the idea that the zombies more intimidating and
presenting the zombies advantages and superiorty in the sequence.
-Costume- all characters are in average everyday normal
clothing, even the zombies. This creates verisimilitude and realism.
-In the clip the weather was very grey and raining, it is
very typical of horror films in general to include bad weather. It connotes
that the situation is very dangerous and bad and creates a eerier and worrisome
atmosphere.
Camera
-POV shots are used so the audience can relate to the
characters and feel vulnerable.
- Shaky handicam is used to connote chaos and panic.
-low angle shots of zombies are used to make them appear
more powerful and intimidating
-Non-Diegetic sound is used to intensify the panic of the
situation. For example the audience can hear car alarms, fire burning,
explosions, smashing noises, people screaming and cars beeping. All of this connotes the danger
the humans are in.
- Also there are gruesome sounds of the zombies ripping
open the flesh of the humans and the grotesque unnatural breathing and panting
noises they make whilst running. This represents the fact that the zombies aren’t
humans anymore and that they are very unnatural.
-Diegetic sound was used to provide a voiceover. The
protagonist of the film is commenting on what is happening and his opinions on
the situation. This encourages the audience to relate and identify to the
protagonist.
- The audience knows from the voiceover that the
protagonist is an organised person as he has created a ’list of rules’ which has
helped him survive
-Smoke and fire are edited onto buildings and cars in
post production. This emphasises the destruction the city is under.
-Also added in post production was the camera effects. At
the start of the clip the camera appears to quickly cut out and the screen goes
fuzzy and grey.
- Slow-motion was used in the opening to capture the
audiences attention. Such as when a victim is being catapulted out of her car across
a road, it is in slow-motion making the fall more dramatic and striking.
-Then structure
of the narrative is that first the audience sees how one human is being
attacked by a zombie and isn’t aware of the mass scale of zombie invasion.
However as the sequence goes on it is
revealed to the audience that the zombies are all over the world.
-The major themes
presented were human Vs. unnatural (zombie)
-The audience identifies
with the protagonist as he is commenting on the situation through a voiceover,
So the audience hear all of his reactions and thoughts. In some ways the
protagonist is alienated at the start due to the fact we can only hear him and
not see him. It isn’t easy to relate
-Tension is
created and maintained due to the fact the audience is unable to know where the
zombies will appear next. The fact that the setting is in a real place creates
realism and intensifies the tension. At one point in the sequence a zombie is
shot and appears to be dead. However it gets back up and attacks the human. The
fact that the audience thought the danger was destroyed could have sparked some
relief but when it regained consciousness it puts the audience even more on
edge. Also the fact that the zombies appeared to be surrounding the whole world
creates an intense impact. The zombies were shown in bathrooms, town centres
and outside home, and finally a shot of the world looking grey and on fire
confirmed the zombies immense take over.
Representation
and Ideology
-The
protagonist of the opening is represented as smart and organised. This is evident
in the fact he has created a list of rules to stay alive.
-In the
sequence instead of representing the young little girls as innocent and
vulnerable they were
portrayed in a
very different light, which is progressive. They were shown as vicious and uncontrollable creatures. For example there was a LS of the young girls with blood dripping down there pretty pink and yellow dresses while they were chasing after a car in order to attack the driver. This constructs an emergent ideology as instead of the young girls being
the victims they were the monsters. -Also this sequence challenges the dominant ideology that parents are more powerful then there children. This is shown clearly in this sequence where the parent is driving away in horror from the intimidating and more powerful zombie children.
-The first shot in the opening sequence is of the American Flag. The only ethnicity presented in this sequence is Americans. This presents the dominant ideology that America has the most important story to tell due to it's hegemonic status as only the destruction in America is being shown rather than any other country. Although it is made clear in one shot, the ELS when the world is shown as grey and fiery, that the entire world is being affected only America is shown in detail. It is as if the rest of the world is marginalised.
Media Audience
-I think the
target audience for zombie land is the core audience of 15-29 year olds. I
think it is suitable for teens due to the fact it is a comedy even if it is
quite gory, also as it is a comedy I believe it would appeal to male and
female.
- A dominant
reading of this clip would be that the world has had a huge outbreak of zombies
and that they are terrorizing the world and people are trying to hide and
escape from them.
-An
oppositional reading would be that the world is at peace.
Institutional
context
Zombieland was
distributed by Relativity Media and Pariah. The industrial film was produced
with a budget of $23.6 million and then received a box office of $102 million. The
film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Zombieland was released by Sony Pictures
Home Entertainment. Twitter
used to create hype about the film, where others can connect and talk about the
upcoming film. A teaser video was created; also the film has its own website
which advertises the Blu-ray and DVD of the film. It was also released as a
film got the PSP UMD. There is also a website called zombielandrules.com where
the rules featured in the film are listed. The film was featured in TIME
magazine and there were Radio and TV appearances and interviews. As well the
film appeared at the festivals Comic Con and Fantastic Fest.
Ideas we could
take
-The use of a
voice over
-Slow-motion to
attract focus to a dramatic moment
-iconography that
emphasized the them
- The business of
a location can create a certain amount of chaos
-The use of
interactive integrated titles
-Using
progressive ideologies
Excellent analysis - well done
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