Our Chosen Film Genre Zombie Films

Researching our chosen genre – 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.
 

Shaun of the Dead

Classic narratives

“Shaun of the Dead”

One night Shaun and his friend, Ed, go out to pub (‘Winchester’) to drown the sorrows of Shaun being dumped by his girlfriend, Liz. Next morning they Shaun wakes up, unfortunately he is too hung-over to notice the whole town is full of zombies. They see on the news that their town has been taken over by zombies, coincidentally; their house is attack imminently after the news report has ended. The two friends fight off the zombies bombarding their house using tools that were located in the Shaun’s shed. They recover other survivors and base themselves in the pub that they were at the night before. The zombies, retreat for several hours as they are unaware of the location of the survivors.

Ed, finally gives away the location however, Shaun has found a rifle in the pub. He uses this to fight of the zombies. As he is doing this, his mother reveals she has been bit by a zombie in the prior scene. Unfortunately she becomes a zombie and Shaun is forced to kill her. A few of the survivors are killed and Shaun and his ex-girlfriend Liz flee to the cellar of the pub. They find an escape route and end up on the street. This happens just as the British army arrive.

There is an ellipsis to six months after the outbreak. Life is back to normal and the remaining zombies are used a cheap labour. Shaun and Liz are also back together.

http://youtu.be/8LUzJAsa-gg - Dawn of the Dead trailer (The film depicts a handful of human survivors living in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin shopping mall surrounded by swarms of zombies)

http://youtu.be/eunaclr-WgU - 28 Days Later trailer (The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental release of a highly contagious virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors to cope with the destruction of the life they once knew)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDUv3ZjH2k - Shaun of the Dead Trailer (Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather. At the same time, he has to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of zombies). 

Plots/Narrative

The film normally starts with  an outbreak scene and then progresses with a storyline in which the main protagonist has an objective e.g. save his girlfriend/wife/love ones. Unessential characters then follow the protagonist and are picked off in the process so that when the end of the film comes the protagonist and his love interest are the ones left alive. The end of zombie films is typically left open with either a solid ending e.g. infections is cured or they both die or a cliffhanger e.g. they survive but the infection lives on leading a opening for a sequel.

Characters

The typical characters you see within a zombie film are normally:

• Male Hero/Leader

• Female love interest

• Useless almost comic character

• Character with fighting/weapon experience

• Occasionally an Antagonist
 

Shaun of the Dead

 

Iconography

Typical iconographies of a zombie film would be:

• A location like a shopping mall, empty streets and warehouses

• Shotgun

• Lots of zombies and guts and gore

Setting

Often at night or misty (early morning). Normally includes 3 or 4 different main locations for example shopping mall, train station, home, abandoned warehouse.

Camera

Normal camera angles and shots used in quieter scenes but during zombie chase scenes camera changes angles and length of shot a lot and rapidly. Also, during suspense-building scenes, close-ups, POV shots and over-the-shoulder shots are used more frequently to build tension.

Actors

Mixed group of people ranging from 5 – 8 of different ethnicities and genders but more men than women. This group of people all have distinct and different roles. There is usually a leader (popular), one who is disliked as s/he is selfish, an intelligent person, a weak person and a good fighter.

Lighting

Dim lighting most of the time to create a spooky atmosphere with occasional moments of almost pitch black and darkness to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Sometimes perfectly normal lighting is used, with everything lit as it would be, to create a higher level of verisimilitude and make the horror moments more jumpy.

Props

Weapons of all sorts are heavily seen in zombie films with mainly domestic mundane items being turned into weapons for example baseball bats, brooms and kitchen knives. However guns are also seen in most zombie films and seem to have a clichéd large amount of ammo.