Walking dead opening analaysis

Walking dead opening

 

 

 The walking dead is a zombie based TV series ,although this is not a horror film it was a well invested TV series which had the same qualities as a film. This is an analysis of the opening before the title sequence which introduces us to the series.

 

Before any dialogue , the first clip shown is a Sherriff walking through an overturned city. Without knowing the storyline to the film , it is apparent the city has been destroyed. Without any introduction the overturned city shows that cars have been flipped over and long lines of cars stuck in traffic have been abandoned with the doors flung open . This again gives the audience clues , such as how the town has been left seems as if people ran from the cars from something.

 This is an effective use of scenery and settings as it completely emphasises and portrays the horror and the effect of what has happened.

 

Again , these first few minutes tell us a lot about the character. The sheriff walks through the streets confidently holding an empty gasoline tank . This obviously shows he is well aware of what's going on and has dealt with it for some time. The empty gas tank reveals that he is looking for a gas station for fuel. Already we know he has some form of transport still in use .

 

His uniform again reveals his occupation and also explains why he has access to a bag full of weapons . The weapons show that the city may be under attack or that he will have to be violent.

 

When walking past the abandoned cars the camera turns to the driver seats to view the dead and rotting civilians . This concentration again reveals that people have died whilst in their everyday lifestyle , however their sign of living people anywhere , isolating the character. Their are close ups of children's toys which have been left behind , this portrays the innocence of a child and that there is a much sadder tone to the TV show.

After reaching the gas station , there is a close up on the sheriffs face as he hears a noise. When a little girl walks past in a dressing gown they do not reveal her face , By doing this it is unclear to the audience what or who this girls in , The sheriff calls out to her but as soon n as she turns around the theme of the story is revealed as she appears to be a zombie.

The girls costume is effective as she wears typical girl pyjamas , including patterned pyjamas and a pinks dressing gown and slippers, This shows that even the most innocent of people were affected by the change.

Again , as an audience we know the infection has been going on for a long time as the sheriff hesitated for a second before shooting the child.  Thus seems horrific which links to the genre of horror . This is directly followed by the opening credits and title sequence.

 

 

 

 

The title sequence is clever. It fills in the unexplained happening of the infection and opens up the plot a bit more. The key credits are shown over short clips of parts of the city used in the TV series. Every single clip has a dim effect on the camera making it seem depressing and eerie. The theme tune over the music is slightly disturbing and has an effect added to it to reform the classic piano theme.

 

 

Camera angles/photoshoot

Camera angles

The zombie hunter photo-shoot.

I took these photos of my brother to experiment with different camera angles. My brother was more than happy to pose as long as he could dress up as a Zombie hunter and as long as he looked "cool".



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Long shot - Shows whole body and  emphasises the costume used and establishes the scenery.This can be used to isolate as he is alone in a large area shown by the scenery This shot can also be used to show a larger number of characters and their full bodies. 

Medium shot- shows a  person from waist up giving a feeling of closeness to the character. This shot can normally fit up to 1-3 people in it. This shot is usually used in scenes of exchanging dialogue and is used to focus on on what the character is holding.

 

Close up- shows characters face and reveals their facial expressions to describe the characters emotions in the film,. This shot concentrates on the whole of the persons head.

  Extreme close up- focuses on a small part of a person or object. For this shot the camera focuses on the upper part of the face (eyes and nose) to look beyond the characters physical appearance to show they are really feeling which can be shown in the eyes (watery eyes =crying).

                                                   
  Low angle shot- taken from a lower angle then the object/character ,This is used to make the camera look inferior to the character showing his importance as he is looking down on the camera. This can be used to make a character look intimidating.

Upper angle shot -Taken above  character looking down .Looks down on character making him look inferior to the viewer and his current status in the film. This shot can be used to show a character in distress.

                                                    

Birds eye  view - Looking down from very high up ( like a bird looking down).

Used  to show scenery from above and main settings. Can isolate a character or used to study whats happening from above. Often used when in characters are in a maze to show their current position.

Worms eye view - Camera looking up .Usually used to show higher characters

, buildings or the sky. Used to show a disturbance in the sky . Establishes weather (rainy , sunny , day , night)



Key horror Conventions

  Conventions

 

 

Settings-

Setting is where the film is going to be set. The settings need to fit in with the films storyline. The settings are very important as they create scary surroundings and sets up the story. Films such as Halloween and paranormal activity have picked surroundings that we see everyday (homes /streets) ,This is frightening to the audience as they live in similar surroundings. Whereas other films such as Evil dead use an abandoned/old wooden holiday cabin in the woods , which many of the audience will not stay in ,but fits the storyline perfectly. Classic horror movie settings were foggy graveyards and haunted houses.

 

Music-

 

Music is a very important convention in horror films as it creates tension and fear . Music can shock and disturb the audience as well as  emphasises the character's feelings of fear . Many films use piano and violins to create high and low tones of music . A well known use of this is the Halloween films which plays the theme song whenever Michael Myers (Murderer) is near or left shocking clues behind. The music used is face paced on the piano , however the film Dead silence also has a theme song played on the piano but is played very slowly creating a more eerie effect.

 

Characters-

 

 

 One of horror films main conventions is their main characters . Many films have one villain and many victims. Such as sinister has Mr Boogie who operates through children and kills their families whereas other horror films such as 28 days later have multiple killers (zombies). Their is usually an equal focus on the baddies as the main goodies, Insidious has a team of heroes to help stop the possessions and kidnapping of the families inner souls, it focuses not only on the family but the bad spirits just as much.

 

In most horror film there are steriotypical characters:

The Damsel-a helplesss girl who is a targeted victim . She will often have a slim body and be dressed in a feminine clothes to show off her legs and emphasis her innocense.

 

The Jock- A big muscley teenager , dressed in a school sports jacket . He will act tough to protect the girl but fails and becomes an even bigger target.

 

The Physcho - (Male)A masked threat to others who mentally harasses them until they are worried and hysterical. He will be cloaked and masked to hide his identity.

 

 

Costumes-


 Costumes can reveal the time and generation in which the film is set , for example Sweeney Todd wear an old waistcoat and suit which suggest it was set in the 1800''s. Costume is mainly used in films to create a sinister looking character/characters . Many horror films are remembered by the villains costume , Films such as nightmare on elm street , Texas chainsaw massacre , Halloween and Friday 13th all have one psycho wearing a mask, This covers their facial features , only revealing their eyes giving their faces a neutral look which viewers find terrifying.


However their are many different parts of a horror costume to consider as their face may not the be their main characteristics. Freddy Krueger not only has a boiled up face but mainly has a glove with knife like point that extend off the end of his fingers which he uses to stab and slice his victims. Films with more than on killer such as zombies will have ripped /rotten and bloody clothes they were wearing the day of the infection. This is used to create  the sense that the people were infected unexpectedly and could happen to anyone creating fear for the viewers. 

 

 

Props-

Many props are used in horror films , in fact they would not function without them . Props are everywhere in filming from the scary ticking grandfather clock to the knife used to kill people. The key thing about props is that they must have a theme which  relates to the film. In dead silence other than the hundreds of self moving ventriloquist dummies , the old theatre is full of cobwebbed covered dated furniture and boxes of old papers and posters giving the impression that it had not been touched for years and was abandoned for a reason. Props that are continuously used in horror films are weapons, These weapons can be immediately linked to the film , such as an old rusty chainsaw can automatically mimic the one used by the killer in Texas chainsaw massacre. Similarly a machete can be linked to Jason Voorhees favourite weapon of choice in Friday 13th.

 

 

Lighting-

Lighting is used throughout horror films to set the mood of the film and create shadows. This can be used indoors and out . Most commonly lighting is changed by using spotlights and lamps . In insidious 2 (recent release) when filming the further Josh who is trapped their has to wonder through darkness, he uses a freaky glowing lamp and that is it , whereas in Frankenstein spotlights are pointed under or over the faces of people to make  shadows appear  are on their faces creating a disturbing appearance.



Frankenstein analysis

Frankenstein analaysis

Frankenstein  contains many of the classic horror conventions which makes it a good start for analysis. This will introduce many of the key concepts that I will need to start planning for my film.

These conventions include:

-Setting- dark , gloomy day/ cloudy sky ( This sets the scene , the bad weather suggests the genre of the film)                            
-Props-coffin , grim reeper statue (Implies death)
-Main characters- Doctor Frankenstein and Egor (Creepy appearance of both characters implies they aren't you average men)
-Key credits-presents at the start (Reveals vital actors)
-Introduction-Man giving a warning (Sets the scene and reveals the genre)
-location-spooky graveyard (Shows the theme of the film , death)
-Music - woman crying and bells ringing ( Depressive and sinister combination emphasises genre)

               

Introduction-giving off a warning and revealing the horror genre. This adds a dark  tone to the opening scene of the film and makes it look sinister.The speaker is set to frighten the audience . The man is dressed up on a stage to show he is speaking to an audience , which are the viewers watching the movie . The man speaks in a deep non-emotional voice that also brings the tone down and sounds serious. The mid shot reveals his posture as he is speaking to an audience , his costume and his facial expression.

The  funeral attenders crying makes it apparent that they had a connection with the dead man . Instead of music creating suspense the woman cry and the bell do the same job. This sounds disturbing and eerie . \The mid shot shows their black costumes (funeral wear) and their emotional facial expressions.

Bell ringer at the funeral creates a scary tone. The bell 

echoing sounds spooky again enphasising the genre of the film.The bell ringing sybolises the death of the man and that he is passing on. The tracking shot makes it seem as if someone is watching the bell ringer leave.

Main characters introduced at the start of the film.They appear to be hiding and observing the grave.
 This shows they are up to no good. There seems to be a master and a servant as doctor Frankenstein controls the freaky looking hunch baked man.The fact they are spying at a funeral seems strange in itself. The close up shows a very concentrated expression on doctor Frankenstein's face shows he is determine to know what is happening.







When everyone has left , the dynamic duo begin to dig up the recently buried coffin for unknown reasons.This shot also shows the skeleton statues symbolizing death and horror. The wide shot reveals both the doctor and the skeleton adding a sense of evil to what he is doing.









             The coffin is then risen from the ground . The mid shot shows their actions as well as them although they are half way in a hole. This shot shows the spooky settings. This makes the audience wonder what they want with the body.The overall image look disturbing.

After grave robbing the two men then see a hanging man which is considered to be disturbing. It show how the doctor is in charge ans he makes the smaller hunched back man do the dirty work of  cutting down the body. This gives the two a villainous look and shows they are up to no good.The lower angle shot shows the height in which Egor has climbed .