Assignment Task 1

Introduction:

I am analysing three films the first being Shaun of the Dead as the hybrid genre of a Zombie-Romantic-Comedy. Next I Will be analysing a short film called cargo then finally I will go onto dawn of the dead as a classic zombie movie.

Setting - Narrative  
Technical conventions :
Sound:
Editing
Props and costume:

Locations:

Shaun's house 

TV store

Liz's flat

Mums house 

The Winchester 

''Shaun of the dead'' is set in London, England and follows a group of middle class English characters around there late twenties trying to survive a zombie apocalypse although the film starts out as a rom-com but then the zombie genre collides with this turning it into a Hybrid genre or as the film describes itself a ''Rom-Zom Com''.

The story is set out in a linear fashion other than a few repeated clips of Shaun discussing how he going to execute a plan of how he intends to save his mum from his soon to zombie step dad. This keeps the overall plot of the movie straight forward therefore disallowing the audience to become confused and disengaged with the story. The film ends on what I believe to be a closed ending as before the credits begin to roll the zombie crisis has been resolved and we seen Shaun has managed to sort out his relationship issues with Liz. This keeps the audience happy as we must remember that the creators of this movie idea was to mix to genres together and by having a happy ending we maintain the romantic comedy genre persona. 

Characters 

There are many characters in this film such as our hero Shaun the protagonist throughout the film, and  the we have our heroine his girlfriend Liz, then we also have characters such as our false hero who I believe to be the character David who is eventually brutally killed off by foolishly fooling prey to a horde of blood thirsty zombies who where lingering outside the winchester window. I do not believe that there is one single villain in the film as there is more than one zombie that our hero Shaun has to deal with. Shaun of the dead also gives us a side kick character Ed who serves to help our hero Shaun throughout the film but also finds himself getting in the way on multiple occasions. Another way Shaun of the dead contradicts the horror genre and Prop’s character theory is by replacing the lead character of a cool and strong male lead for an average lead who works at an electronic shop with his slacker of a friend which initially adds another element of humour in the film due to not having the characteristics of a typical hero. 

    

Features

Although ''Shaun of the dead'' has created its own genre for itself it still follows a lot of the features when it comes to its zombie characters for example zombies must still be killed by destroying the brain and have a limited intelligence we see these same characteristic in films such as ''Dawn of the Dead'' and ''Night of the Living Dead''.    

For sound I would like to focus on the scene where Shaun and the gang intend to sneak into the Winchester pub by pretending to be zombies.

 Sound in this part of the film is either diegetic which means it can only be heard by the characters inside the film or non diegetic which means it is for us the audience to hear and not by actors. Sound can be used to highlight emotions or communicate a certain message in a scene to the audience.  

In this clip the diegetic sound is minimal in range. It mainly focuses on dialogue and non-diegetic music to create a certain feeling or mood for the audience, such as tension as the sound rises or comedy with the dialogue.  The dialogue is heard alone for the beginning of this scene, and the first non diegetic sound of a springy ''bow'' sound intertwined with the soundtrack is heard as the character David says 'Captain Wow'. This sound starts with distorted musical notes that have no real pattern or structure, which highlight the confused thought process of Shaun as he stares at the zombie.  Distorted sounds are typical of the horror genre as it illustrates something we cannot understand or digest. It communicates a tension to the audience as it has no solid structure and that in turn produces a panic theme to run throughout allowing the audience to step into the shoes of the characters and understand their confusion. This is seen in many horror films, the manipulation of sound to illustrate fear, risk or panic are key to making the audience feel as though they are going through the experience themselves. 

Another aspect of sound worth noting is the diegetic background noise. This background noise is naturalistic and is formed of car alarms and the constant monstrous groan of the zombie in front of them that was previously pinned to a tree by Shaun. The sound creates a solid base for the dialogue to overlay. This ambient sound communicates a bed for the dialogue as well as reminding the audience that they are not in a normal situation, with car alarms and the steady drone of the zombie behind them. This quick switch to naturalism highlights not only the clarity of Shaun's mind as a plan takes form. It also deviates from typical horror films, as they are not naturalistic narratives therefore their soundtrack usually conveys this.

For editing I will be talking about the various effects used in the same scene I used for sound, where Shaun and the gang pretend to be zombies to get sneak past the zombies obstructing them from getting into the Winchester pub.

Even though the majority of the edits in this clip are swipe cuts, which is where the shot swiftly 'swipes' to the next one with a small sound effect to keep pace and maintain a surrealist theme to the film, the editing maintains continuity throughout.

The continuity edit of this clip is directly linked to the comedy genre films that the director has taken inspiration from. By highlighting realness to the situation through the genre conventions of continuity the audience can relate to the characters far easier and thus find humour in their predicament.

Yet the swipe cuts as mentioned before highlight the surrealism of the horror of zombies and thus once again the hybrid genre of a horror romantic comedy or ‘’Zom-Rom Com’’ is illustrated as it combines two kinds of edits.

As the group try to portray zombies there is shot reverse shot  between the zombies and the main characters, they try desperately to portray the zombies yet when put in comparison they look very unrealistic although luckily for them the not to wise zombies fail to notice the difference. There are also cutaways to each character showing the different struggles each one is going through to become a fake zombie. Each clip is short, hardly lasting longer than five seconds. The length of the shots is a clear reference to the horror genre, in most horror films shots are kept short and snappy to create a pace to the scary drama that is unfolding. A part from the swipe cuts and quick cutaways there are no added on transitions or certain effects given, once again highlighting the realism. 

There are a variety of different props used throughout this film all of which I believe have been put in place for a symbolist reason or that relates to the storyline for example the use of a cricket bat rather than a baseball bat as a conventional weapon I believe truly symbolises the fact that this is a true British movie by being unique in the arsenal of weapons our protagonist chooses to equip himself with throughout the film. Other props used to convey the story is Shaun's shirt and red tie as the movie goes on we begin to see Shaun's work clothes become drenched in blood and his tie at one point even serves as bandage for his head when he is stabbed in the head with a dart. I believe this relates to the ''Zom-Rom Com'' genre as it shows the clash between Shaun's previous problems of having a dead end job and a girlfriend he's beginning to lose collides with a gritty zombie apocalypse.  

Themes 

Emotional themes and social issues raised , dealt with and referred to  in the films.

e.g. family relationships , the breakdown of society, trust, the failure of authority, friendship, the role of women in society, human greed, survival of the fittest , the morality of murder, attitudes to death etc. 

In this film one can notice the clear associations between influences of comedy and horror genre films throughout the mise en scene. Being set and filmed in London, illustrates many things to the audience. In the clip with the natural alley way which the friends stand in at first before meeting there opposites communicates the leafy green gardens in suburban London. Out of focus in the background is a family home, the back garden is littered with children's toys. This set and location paired with the natural day light gives the audience the security of familiarity. However this scene location and set design has been chosen carefully, there is hardly any natural sky whatsoever in the frame apart from a slight hint of a blue sky in the top right corner. The reason for this is that it highlights specifically the entrapment, being completely surrounded and enclosed by nature is a clear reference to the horror genre and insures the audience do not lose focus of what genre they are in. 


On the whole I believe that Shaun of the dead is in fact a postmodern film as it uses traditional characteristics of horror films and challenges them by modernising them by tinting it with humour, such as the fact that many social issues are addressed  in this film like the scene in the beginning where we see a group of people waiting at a bus stop all pull out there phone to begin to text in synchronisation. Or how Shaun and Ed's room mate problems carry on throughout the film even while there trying to deal with an apocalypse.  

Film Analysis

Short film CARGO.

1 setting location and situation 

Narrative and story:

(main story elements, structure..open/closed ending? what happens next? linear/non linear narrative?)

Car, forest/woods, fields

plot is man tries to deliver his child to safety

open with car crash and zombie wife 

closed ending man gets his child to safe haven 

linear storyline as we see no flashbacks 

question: how did he get into the crash and how was his wife bitten?

2 Characters: human (hero, villain, heroine, false hero etc.) non-human (undead/infected)

Themes ( social/emotional e.g social breakdown, survival, greed, trust, family, loyalty)

Father, baby and three survivors are all our human characters

Hero-father (mission to save the baby)

              Mum (Zombie)

Villain- 

              Dad (Zombie)

Heroine-Woman survivor 

Themes - family breakdown, survival, love loyalty and unity

3 Props, Costume and all objects visible on screen. (mise-en-scene)

Colour

Car -----> Modern era

Clothes

Torn clothing

use of blood

The map showing safe points

Wooden Sticks 

Wooden sticks - Bloody Bag 

Balloon - Innocent

Wedding Ring 

4 Editing (cuts and fades) 

Use of camera ( shot types, camera movement) 

Blur effect at beginning - coming from unconsciousness

Shaking camera (Hand Held)  

Close ups of faces throughout 

Longshots numerus occasions

cuts no fades 

5 use of music and sound effects, lighting and colour

Baby crying - lets survivor know she's there

mother zombie at beginning

sun light

dark and gloomy when he is on the field

music - complements mood and situation 

Dawn of the dead:

Setting:

In this movie they were in typical areas where a lot of people would be e.g. a neighbourhood, a shopping centre and near the main shops and this was made to emphasise on the amount of people that could get infected by the zombie virus and if you’re around places where people are more people are likely to get infected. This is common in a zombie movie because more and more people would become a zombie and it’ll harder for ‘normal’ humans to not get infected and that helps with the storyline of the movie. This is conventional because it is a typical setting for a zombie movie as I said because it is in popular locations where humans are likely to be which would mean more and more people can get infected. This is successful because it keeps the movie going, it builds up the storyline for the movie and makes the movie more interesting.

Narrative:

Ana, a young beautiful nurse finishes her day shift at the hospital to return home to her beloved husband, they make love and sleep together. The next day, after her neighbour next door kills her husband, he suddenly comes back to life. She discovers the chaos happening in her neighbourhood and escapes from her home. Soon after coming to her senses in the woods, she encounters a cop and other survivors; they decide to find safety in a mall. Soon more survivors come, and they learn that if they want to stay alive, they should stick together as an army of undead overruns the world. Can they survive the horror in this horrific global chaos? When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth. This is common in a zombie movie because when your loved ones zombies you are in a hard predicament because it is your loved ones you may not know whether to kill them or not. Also because they’re in an environment where there are a lot of infected people it is more likely for more and more people to get infected and that would be the main part of the story line which is to save as much people are possible. The story was a linear which means all the events that happened were in order, they was no flashbacks or scenes from the future in the movie. The movie was also a closed ending meaning that at the end they’re wasn’t going to be a continuation it just ended. This is conventional because these types of storylines are typical in a zombie movie it’s also about world apocalypse type of situation which is usually what zombie movies are about. This is successful because it makes the storyline more interesting and engaging to the audience and keeps them interested all the way through.

Characters:

In dawn of the dead Kenneth and Michael were both the Protagonists; they were the leaders of the batch, they told people what to do and they came up with all the decision makings when it came to keeping people safe. André and Nicole were the two people that tried to risk their lives to save their loved ones, Andre with his pregnant wife and not killing her even though she was a zombie and Nicole risking her life to save her dog when he ran into the crowd of all zombies. Steve was kind of the Villain because even though he was with the people that were trying to get everyone to safety and helping them when he was in need, he only cared about himself and getting himself to safety, he tried to betray the rest of the group and get in the car and drive off and leave them but he got caught and then got eaten by the zombies because they left him to fend for himself. Finally the zombies were the main antagonist because they were trying to kill the humans and they were very vicious and have no remorse when killing the humans. These kinds of characters are very common in zombie movies the protagonists that are the leaders and trying to get everyone to safety are always in zombie movies because without them the people wouldn’t really know what to do and properly would die so they’re very common. Also the character ‘Steve’ is also very common in zombie movies, there is normally one person who only cared about themselves and betrays the rest of the group just to get to safety, but it normally doesn’t go to plan and they normally die or get found out. This is very conventional all these types of characters are common in zombie movies including Steve, the person who wanted to betray the group to ensure he was safe, and the protagonist is also very common in zombie movies usually 1 or 2 leaders of the group and make all the decisions with where they’re going to go next or what they do. This is successful in the sense that it is keeping the conventions of zombie movies and they have typical conventions in movie and still engages the audience because they again they will still wait for the suspense to build up on the characters.

Technical Elements:

In this scene this is a special camera angle that the camera man decided to film was called ‘Panning’ and the pan when camera from right to left or left to right trying to show one big scene in one shot and this is showed for us as the audience to try and see all the chaos that is happening in her neighbourhood and to add to the effect of the disaster. So we can see as much disaster as possible and to maybe exaggerate how much chaos is happening. This is conventional because the cameraman want to emphasiseas much as possible the disaster that is occurring as much as possible- so they did this so that the audience could see what was going on and show as much on the screen as possible. This is effective because then maybe the audience may have a reaction from it and didn’t know this possible apocalypse was as bad as it was.

Themes:

The main theme that is shown in this movie is ‘human vs. zombie’ and this is shown when the ‘normal’ people are trying to get to a safe place without the zombie being there, or making sure that no one gets infected with the zombie. This is conventional  in a zombie movie because more common zombie movies is a human vs. zombies type of situation and the fighting between the humans and zombies are just trying to get away from the zombies. This is effective because at the end of the movie the audience would want to know who won out of the humans or the zombies so it is a build up for the end to see who was actually successful, and this helps engage the audience with the movie because they’ll have that particular question in their head throughout the movie.