Zombie Films
The genre that my group have decided upon is a zombie film. To help us plan out our film plot, character roles, make-up, costumes, sound, camera angles etc., I chose to look at multiple zombie films to get ideas to help us with our planning.
Classic Narratives
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This is a screen shot from The Crazies showing a character sacrificing himself to save the others |
The normal storyline in a zombie film is that there is an outbreak of some sort of disease or infection that leads to a worldwide zombie attack. Zombie films tend to tell the story of how an unlikely group of people get together to fight for survival and try and find an end to this apocalyptic like world. The films tend to create a ‘safe house,’ a place where the group can shelter and plan their next moves but these locations often become breached, leaving the groups vulnerable and under attack. A character normally sacrifices themselves, to the zombies, in an effort to help the rest of the group escape to safety before a cure is found and the zombies become extinct. In most zombie films, most of the humans work together as equals as they are all struggling to survive; however, you sometimes get the odd one or two who disagree with the leader of the group and decide to go their separate ways but often get killed later on and found by the main group. Another common feature on a zombie storyline is a friend or a loved one which a group plan to find and rescue them but are often faced with many obstacles making it harder to save the loved one.
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This is a screen shot showing an apocalyptic like world from the Resident Evil-Afterlife trailer |
Mise en scène
I am now going to comment on the common mise en scène similarities that I picked up from researching zombie films.
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This is a screen shot from the 28 Days Later trailer showing an example of zombie movie make up |
Zombie films tend to be set in apocalyptic like world with roads filled with parked cars, smashed windows and an outbreak in the growth of wildlife, showing how time has passed since the ‘zombie apocalypse’ began. The choice of setting it in an urban area makes it feel recognisable to the audience so it makes it come across as more believable to the audience as it gives them a sense of reality, without it actually being real. Also, many zombie films have dull lighting or have scenes which are filmed in the night to create a mysterious atmosphere and create tension among the audience.
The costume and make up in zombie films are essential. From what I have seen, zombies tend to have discoloured skin, open wounds, missing limbs and dull ripped clothes. Many zombies in films have costumes which we recognise as having authority, for instance police uniforms and doctors uniforms, making it feel scarier as it shows the audience that there is no one that can help the main characters. The main characters are usually young adults in their twenties who are just ‘normal’ people so they are usually wearing everyday clothes sop the audience can relate to, which helps the directors to establish a relationship between the characters and zombies much quicker.
Character Roles
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This is a screen shot from The Crazies trailer showing zombie make up |
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This is a screen shot from The Crazies trailer showing the protagonist’s love interest, whom they save, this is a two shot to show intimacy/a relationship |
There are many stereotypical characters that tend to appear in most Zombie films. The main group of survivors usually contains a variety of people so that there is a person who is suitable for each situation, the leader is generally the protagonist, the character which the main story line is based upon, he/she usually forms the group of survivors, who aim to rescue a loved one, who is generally a boyfriend/girlfriend but can also be an innocent child. There is also a character that gets killed of first. This character is generally an innocent and likeable character so the audience establishes a positive relationship with, however, they are normally the odd one out or the character who doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the group so, the audience knows that something is going to happen to them so when they get into potentially dangerous situations, the audience feels tense. There is always another character who is one of the final survivors who sacrifices himself to help the main character reach safety; this character becomes the ‘hero.’
Sound
Many zombie films focus predominately on ambient sounds, for example, the sound of someone walking through a forest with the leaves crunching as the character steps, rather than a lot of non-diagetic music, however, there is often a quiet eerie tome which builds up for a period of time before coming to a climax as a plot twist is revealed, for example the revelation of the first zombie. There are often a lot of non-diegetic sound effects added in after to emphasis footsteps and zombie noises etc. The use of sound is quite important in zombie films as the gradual build up can create tension and the lack of music makes the feel appear scarier as it feel closer to reality. Many zombie films also feature tv or radio broadcasts sending out warnings, this use of sound could assist us in creating fear among the audience. Also, we need to make all of the sound effects, such as the zombie's moan, sound realistic so it doesn't end up sounding comical.
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This is a screen shot from The Crazies trailer showing the POV of the survivors as they are in danger |
Camera Angles and Movements
Many zombie films use multiple camera angles in a short space of time to give the feeling of a chase as well as to grab the audience’s attention. Point of view shots are often used to put the audience in the characters shoes, this is often done on the victim as they hide or run away from danger. Another common shot is the high angle as it makes the victim look small and weak, this also links to low angles of zombies to make them appear more intimidating also, canted angles are used to create the feeling of danger.
Trailers
The trailers listed below give a brief overview of some of the things I mentioned in this post. They show various different location ideas of settings, make up, camera angles, sound and mise en scène in zombie films, which we could incorporate into our opening two minutes. I have given multiple examples of trailers below
Resident Evil-Afterlife trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dc5iiT0f1s
28 Days Later trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE_C5vSv8qg
The Crazies trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7w9uWFIMBs
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