Shot Lists

Health and Safety

Choice of Trailer & Synopsis

A teaser/highlights trailer is a lot shorter than a theatrical trailer and is generally 60-90 seconds long. The main purpose of teaser trailers is to create excitement for the film and so they will contain the most exciting parts of a film in order to entice the audience, without giving away any significant plot details. These trailers will start circulation months before the film is released in order to create the initial buzz for the film. For example Evil Dead (2013) Trailer:

A scene trailer is longer than a teaser trailer, and will contain information about the plot details and develop the characters that are in the film, to an extent. The purpose of scene trailers is to keep up the hype before the film’s release and also appeal to a specific demographic. By releasing plot details, the distribution company are attracting an audience who may find the plot intriguing and therefore decide to go and see the film. These trailers are usually released 1-2 months before the actual films release and this ensures that the target demographic is aware of the release date of the film. For example Cloverfield (2008) Trailer:

Our group has decided to create a highlights trailer due to the narrative of our film. We feel that it would be more effective to create excitement by using multiple scenes from the film rather than concentrating on a particular scene because our target demographic would be more attracted to this. Also, we want to incorporate all the best parts of the film in order to intrigue our audience but we are conscious that we don’t want to give away any significant plot details that may ruin the film.

The slow, harmonising music begins on a black screen and the audience hears a voice over of Alex (Maria) which is reminiscent of the iconic parallel music shown in the opening credits of Halloween which can be heard above. of  After a short sentence of dialogue, the shots begin to appear at a slow pace. The slow montage begins with a romantic scene of Lee (Jordan) brushing his wife's hair and putting it in a plait for her before bed. Collision cutting is then used to show the couple arguing with each other before the husband storms out, slamming the door behind him which interconnects with her opening a drawer in her husbands office. She picks up a single photo that she finds of her friend who is also blonde and the shot then fades to when the photo was taken. A series of photos are then taken from the point of view of an unknown person and shots are divided by the click of a camera. Quick flash of a blonde woman (Kelsey) tied to a chair and gagged struggling to break free. Home video of an intimate memory of the couple together having a picnic or something like that. Another flash shows the same women with her throat cut. The home video is now shown again but only lasts half the time as the horror becomes more frequent and the scene is cut off mid sentence to emphasise the broken relationship and black screen is shown. The music picks up as the action builds with a fast montage of captured women with bags over their heads and a close up of a woman running away all with a grimy feel to it. The music then comes to a halt and there is an extreme close up of a womans eyes and a muffled scream is heard as she is being cut with a knife however this is not shown because restricted narration is used for effectiveness. The next shot is of the main woman shaking her head and shouting aggressively and another fast montage begins to build pace and conflict is shown with her fighting for her life which climaxes with a final shot of a bloody knife falling to the floor.

Class Research: Favourite Type of Horror

This was our class' favourite sub-genre of horror. The most popular was Psychological Horrors which had half of the votes at 54% which was dominated by the female gender containing 8 out of the 14 votes. The least popular was females who liked gory horrors which only had two votes coming out a mere 8%. My favourite horror is psychological horrors due to the fact that I think the story lines behold more meaning and depth allowing them to really get into your head, i think they are the most effective.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2013) Trailer Anlaysis

Name of Film: Texas Chain Massacre

Year Released: 2013

Genre of Trailer: Horror/ Thriller

My Mark after viewing: 6/10

A group of friends go to one of their recently passed grandmother's house only to find that the house possesses a pyscho killer, which results in them fighting for their lives. 

There were many aspects of the trailer that I thought were successful. One of those was the clever use of parallel music at the beginning of the trailer, it set a tone for the trailer, it was country and western linking to the context of the location, also the lyrics stated "the beast in me", linking heavily to the villain. The inter titles were also used very well throughout the trailer they created references to the original films, allowing the audience to be able to relate to this trailer, a film that horror fans would of most likely seen. Grimy feel was also very clear throughout the trailer, making the audience feel uncomfortable due to the dirty and dull state that the mise en scene has. The muffled machinery sounds began to build tension almost acting like a heartbeat that is coming closer and closer, until you come to a piece of action, this worked well with the music that complimented it, it added to the editing and cinematography. There was an open ending to the trailer creating intrigue for the audience, making them want to go to see the film.

On the other hand, I thought as a whole that the trailer lacked flow. It took a long time to get started and it didn’t really go anywhere, you were almost waiting for something to happen and when it did it was too much and lasted too long. It was a poor use of collision cutting because it made the slow and quick editing pretty ineffective. There also was not a lot of narrative, throughout it just seemed like a killer hunting the group of friends down, no twists or turns. The trailer also focuses too much on one girl although she may be the protagonist it still does not include the characters around her enough.

I gave this trailer a 6/10 because I thought it was a good trailer, the mise en scene was done very well, the sound FX and context were also done very tastefully but as a whole the editing let it down, there needed to be better montage as it comes across ineffective to the audience.

Scream 4 (2011) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: Scream 4
Year Released: 2011
Genre of Trailer: Horror/ Mystery
My Mark after viewing: 7/10

A psycho killer is on the loose that wears a ghost mask but worse than ever, it's back but killing in different ways, ways that his victims won't expect. A group of teenagers story trying to avoid the killer.

There are lots of aspects throughout this trailer that I think are successful. One of those being, the heightened sounds, they are very loud and hold a lot of emphasis making the trailer a lot jumpier as it is intended to give the audience a jump scare. The colours of the shots also seems that they have a heightened contrast the they seem more vivid and apparent compared to what it would be in real life, this makes the colours more extreme connoting to a more intense atmosphere. Some shots have overlapping dialogue that seems as if they are commentating the narrative, which makes the trailer make sense a follow a rhythm allowing for a better understanding for the audience. There is a clever use of manipulating typography at the end of the trailer where the base tail of the 4 turns harsh and sharp replicating the killer's weapon which is a large knife (phallic symbol). The pacing of the trailer is also very well done, it uses collision cutting to create an emotional effect, making the slow editing more intense and the quick editing more panicked. 

On the other hand, I think that there are a few aspects that could be improved. In some places the dialogue seems a bit amateur, it doesn't add to the suspense, if anything it takes away from the trailer as it is almost comical. The screaming and screeching sounds also begin to lose their effectiveness after a while because they are too frequent, almost after every piece of action their is some sort of loud sound, so in the end you don't really notice them. The case is the same with the amount of shots and action in the trailer, it is too frequent which doesn't allow for enough suspense, which make the trailer as a whole a lot better. The last thing is that we know too much about the killer, it basically explains everything he does, leaving nothing up to the imagination which is a lot of the time more horrifying.

The score I gave this was 7/10, it was good trailer that showed some very good horror conventions with clever editing and cinematography but lacked that suspense and composure with the trailer to truly make it great.

Shutter Island (2009) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: Shutter Island
Year Released: 2009
Genre of Trailer: Mystery/ Thriller
My Mark after viewing: 9/10

A detective and his partner are asked to investigate a missing patient at a mental institution, patients that are said to be the most dangerous in the world.

This trailer is brilliantly done and has a lot of clever and interesting aspects that I would like to take into consideration for my own trailer. The dialogue over the shots is a great way of tying the story together, it makes it easy to follow which is good for a teaser trailer due to the amount of shots. The pacing is very important to this trailer, it has a real good flow to it and this is due to collision cutting. Slow to quick is the general pace which makes the slow editing more tense and the quick editing a lot more panicked. This really allows you to get in to the feel with the trailer making you heart race in time with the shots, this is further helped by the strong music. Every change of shot or important piece of impact the music matches, making these parts intensified to the audience. There is also a subtle yet clever use of gore, throughout the trailer there are facial features of some patients distorted and often flashes of murdered victims, creating a stronger sense of danger and adding to the horror conventions.

However, although this is a very well done trailer there are some aspects that I think were not successful. As a whole the trailer was a little hard to follow, it was fragmented due to the randomness of the shots, they were going at a very quick rate going from situation to situation, as a member of the audience I thought it was difficult to stay on track of what was going on. Although, I think this may be deliberate due to the genre of the film which is primarily mystery, it is purposely confusing you so it intrigues the audience to go watch the film.

I gave this trailer an 9/10 because I think it has been brilliantly executed. Everything seems to be eloquently placed and timed so you can get a real feel for the film but by not giving too much away and this is done by using collision cutting, pacing and music to it's very best. Very good trailer.

Cloverfield (2008) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: Cloverfield
Year Released: 2008
Genre of Trailer: Action/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller
My Mark after viewing: 8/10

This seems to be a point of view experience of a group of people who lived in Central Park. A creature is destroying the city, creating mass destruction, but no-one seems to know what it is.

There were many good aspects to this trailer that I thought were very successful. The pace of the trailer was very well done, it went from slow to quick often using collision cutting which makes the slow editing build tension and suspense, creating intrigue making the quick editing more effective making the audience feel as heightened sense of panic. This was helped further by the good positioning of the inter-titles again helping the pace and flow of the trailer. Although this trailer was 2 minutes 11 seconds long it didn't seem that long, it draws the audience so well that it doesn't seem long at all, which means that not too much story line was given away just enough to create intrigue but not enough that you wouldn't want to go see it. The hand-held camera effects as well as the sound FX to go with it were very well done, they used to scratchiness of the camera and the loss of quality to their advantage it allowed them to use broken film effects to stitch parts of the trailer together, allowing for you to get really into the characters shoes with the point of view hand-held shots.

On the other hand, there were some points that I thought were unsuccessful. Doing a scene trailer is risky because it has to be a very good scene to allow the audience to keep interested and entice them into go seeing the film. In addition, this doesn't really sell the horror twist that this film has, it does not contain enough horror conventions for you to think that it is a horror other than editing and cinematography techniques. The dual scenes also make it a little difficult to follow, you have to work out what is going on, and the contrast between the two makes this harder.

The average score from the class was 8/10 as the editing was very well done, the collision cutting created a great effect making the audience get sucked into the trailer and the bridges between shots were very well done to tie in with the hand-held effect.

The Toxic Avenger (1986) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: The Toxic Avenger

Year Released: 1986

Genre of Trailer: Action/ Comedy/ Horror

My Mark after viewing: 4/10

This is about a boy who was a nerd, got bullied and had no friends. Until, he fell into a pot of Toxic Waste and he became The Toxic Avenger, a superhero who fought crime.

There were some aspects of this trailer that I thought was done well, for instance the character types were very apparent from the outset, making them easy to follow and the audience could quickly invest in them emotionally. The gore effects were also very clever, the bubbling arm and the arm that is ripped of a villain's body. They were very well done and looked realistic something that I would like to include in my own trailer as it was very effective, this film was low budget too so the gore effects would not be too difficult to achieve. There was a lot of different pieces of action from the film, showing you lots of different aspects meaning that if you went to go watch it in the cinema you wouldn't be surprised, it sells the genre well as all of the conventions are included.

However, there were aspects of the film that I thought were unsuccessful. For a start, the trailer was way too long it lasted 3 minutes 9 seconds were the best timing for a trailer is normally around 1 minute 30 seconds, so over double the time. This meant that the whole story line was given away, I felt that i knew the film and I've never even watched it, it doesn't compel the audience to go see because you already know what happens. Speed of the trailer was also very slow due to the length, it made it easy to become disinterested and bored; this is further backed up by the excessive use of mid-shots, there were so many mid-shots that the trailer didn't grab you with montage, it was ineffective. The title was repeated loads of times throughout the trailer to the point where it started to get annoying, the audience do even need to know the title until the end of the trailer.

The average score from the class was 3.5/10, as a trailer it was ineffective, was too long, the story line was given away making the trailer very ineffective to an audience.

'FANGORIA' Magazine Analysis

The Masthead for this magazine is in large, bold, uppercase typography. This is due to the fact that the designers of the magazine are trying to capture the attention of their target audience; in this case it would be horror fans. The main title of the magazine is ‘FANGORIA’, this is clever play on words by incorporating ‘FAN’ and ‘GORE’, this is appealing to horror fans due to the fact a lot of horror contains gore and that is a component they are familiar with and love, this is why the cover lines contain gory horror films and characters. The yellow and red colouring of the title is used to create an uncomfortable colour clash, to makes you think of gore straight away with things such as cuts, wounds and infection. This sets the tone for the magazine almost instantly with the play on words and the colour scheme used. 

The primary colour scheme is red, yellow, and white. Red is used to place the most emphasis on important part of the magazine such as the main cover line. This is because of the strength that the colour possesses, it stands out above white and yellow in the places it is used and is a commonly used feature in horror magazines. The yellow is used to create banners for the cover lines to be placed separating it from the main image, linking in with the masthead and some of the text of the main cover line as well as a graphic element at the top left of the cover. It is used to signify the key features of the magazine, the parts that are going to sell their magazine, their USP. The main image is shot of the species of villain that are in the film, they contain the most horror and gore within their characters. However, the image does not show too much gore, it creates intrigue as all you can see is this disgusting creature that features in a film it makes you want to read on a find out what is happening. It is used to sell the story and not give too much away as well as exposing you to this odd creature that gives you a sense of uncomfortableness and sickness as soon as you look at. The creature is looking directly at the lens too meaning that it seems as if it is looking it to your eyes, this makes it very noticeable and eye-catching. The headline for the magazine is ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch These teeth were made for biting’ which refers to the image where the creature is showing off his teeth with an evil grin, this emphasises the main image. However, it does stand out to due to the cleanliness of the white on this grimy yellow although it is not plain white. The strapline is used to again emphasise the main article by stating ‘They’re lovable and lethal’, giving a slight insight into the narrative. 

Cover lines have a slightly cleaner appearance but still keep in the theme with the unsettling colour scheme in order to keep the flow of the magazine; some have graphical elements and sub-images to emphasise certain features ‘The Feebles’ is made eye-catching by the ‘Plus’ graphical element and the image below, enticing the fans to the cover line opposed to the others. The sub images also both contain important characters, all of which seem to be some kind of villain or monster. A theme is set for the cover seeming as if it is a monster or villain issue , backed up by the famous horror films contained in the cover lines. All of these components will grab the audience’s attention due to the fact that monsters are a massive part of horror and often include gore, which is a large part of this magazine and the demographic they are aiming at.

'HORRORHOUND' Magazine Analysis

This is the horror magazine ‘HorrorHound’ featuring ‘Scream 4 on its cover, introducing a feature in the magazine. The masthead of the magazine has an effect that seemingly makes it 3D, it is also a bold uppercase piece of typography that is coloured black with white layering for the 3D effect. This is done to create a bold effect, to make the masthead eye-catching and grab the attention of the audience. However, it is also used to connote the darkness and imperfection of horror, as you can see each letter of the masthead is slightly offset from one another, taking slightly different angles and positions. It creates this feel of anxiousness and grunge due to these deliberate effects. The colour scheme of the magazine mainly consists of black, white and red. These are used in horror as colours that have opposing meanings. Black is used to show the darkness, evil and generally convey the villain, which is proven by the main image. White is used to connote the innocence of heroes or heroines and often hope; however, it can sometimes be simply used to clash with black to create eye-catching colour collaboration. In this instance it is used for the parts to stand out such as certain cover lines, straplines and detailing on the masthead. Showing that white is secondary to black on this cover, setting the tone for the magazine suggesting that this is dominated by dark, evil content. The red is used to suggest danger, blood and lust, as well as being another strong colour that will clash with both black and white and that is exactly what it does. All of these put together create a very eye-catching cover due to the amount of colour clashes that are going on.

The main image of the cover consists of the villain from Scream 4, holding a knife to the audience a very bold statement that be an instant appeal to horror fans due to the fact that it indicates a bold horror straight away. This is further backed up by the intense colours in the background. The cover lines use a lot of popular horrors from around the time that the magazine was made (2011) for instance ‘the Walking Dead’ an American TV Series released in 2010, these are features that will intrigue horror readers as they are tapping into the Cultural Dominant Ideology at the time.

The tagline for the main headline is ‘The return of the ghostface’, which shows that this is a sequel of a previous film. It is part of the Scream collection. This also connotes that the antagonist of the film is back and he is not letting up ion any of the horror , he has not and will not change. The sub images follow the same oiled style that the magazine beholds, creating this uncomfortable greasy and grubby feel to the cover, further indicating gore and grittiness, aimed for the enjoyment of their target demographic. They are used to further emphasise the cover lines too, to give them more power on the cover and easier for the audience to relate to. 

'EMPIRE' Magazine Analysis

The Masthead for this magazine is in large, bold, uppercase typography. This is due to the fact that the designers of the magazine are trying to capture the attention of their target audience; in this case it would be film fans. The main title of the magazine is ‘EMPIRE’, a very powerful word that instantly sets the tone for the magazine; it indicates a dominance and leadership, which is communicated to the audience. This says to the audience that this is going to be a successful magazine that is going to behold all of the best things in film; this is backed up by the number of names that are used on the cover, ones that are instantly recognisable.  To read is to be part of that ‘EMPIRE’, making the audience intrigued to be involved. The font used for the title of the magazine seemingly has an almost Roman quality to it, which links heavily to the context of the Roman ‘EMPIRE’. Further power is emphasised on the title with the red colouring, it indicates and gutsiness, almost that power is gained at all costs connoting to that sense of danger along with blood. 

The same typography is used for the main cover line, putting a strong emphasis on the importance of the story also shown by it coming in front of the main cover image, it shows that this is the main selling point of this magazine and it is what they want their audience to notice. The primary colour scheme of the magazine is red, black and white, all of which are very strong colours with in their own right; they clash against each other, making them very noticeable. The black is used for the cover line text, not as important as other factors on the cover, the background is an establishing shot of a city which creates a complicated colour pattern, as a result black is the one that stands out the least. White is used for the details of the masthead and the main cover line as well as the strapline, it is used for the other extras to the magazine that the audience may be interested in. 

The main cover images show a dominant image of Leonardo Di Caprio, an extremely well-known actor. It ties in very well with the tone of the magazine; it is compelling shows real strength, something that you can’t help but notice and respect, creating appeal to their audience. Serious pose from a famous actor, instantly creates interest due to their credibility in that field, perfect image for the target audience of film fans. The headline then balances the main image out with the rest of the composition as it comes over the top with the headline detailing, to take away the image having overwhelming power, as it already is arranged in front of the masthead. The strapline uses a very clever name dropping technique of other very successful films to describe this one, as it contains ‘The Matrix’ and ‘007’ (also known as James Bond), this used to grab the audience’s attention, this is something that they can relate to and recognise as these are some of the most successful films of all time. A collaboration between the two used as a comparison is a massive statement so it is bound to create attention. The banner at the bottom of the magazine is used to create significance to another feature that will be compelling to the audience as it is another big name in film ‘Hitchcock’, said to be one of the greatest directors of all time, directing hit films such as ‘Psycho’ and ‘the Birds’.

Stereotypical Fan

Name:  

Charley Peters

Student: 

Lowestoft College

Life Story:  

She is an only child who lives with her mum who is a single parent. She is at Lowestoft Sixth Form College studying politics, law and English literature. She has always been interest in what is going on around her and likes to work things out. Very interacted with the community and is a volunteer for local charities. Plans to study politics at university or maybe go into criminology.

Demographic Profile: 

D, but aspires to have a career in politics working for the Green Party where she can effect social change.

Age: 

18

Race: 

English

Social Class: 

Working Class

Gender: 

Female

Psychographic Profile:

Mainstreamer

Favourite Films:

Evil dead, Saw, Human centipede, Texas chainsaw massacre.

Poster Idea for Trailer

Evil Dead (2013) Trailer Analysis

Name of Film: Evil Dead
Year Released: 2013
Genre of Trailer: Horror
My Mark after viewing: 8/10

A girl seems to be possessed from Evil that has stemmed from a book, an evil that they then can't get rid of.

There are many aspects from this trailer that I thought were very clever and interesting, techniques and aspects that I would like to use in my own trailer. The editing was very quick creating a real sense of panic and then making the slower shots more intense, this is called collision cutting, this is shown by the part in the trailer where the car drives into the river, this is a short 2 second shot that its in the middle of a montage of different shots. There were lots of expressionist angles used that made them especially creepy as shown by the shot on 49 seconds into the trailer. The diegetic Sound FX accompanied the action with each bit of action being created separately allowing them to make them louder and more effective with in the trailer, shown by the the shot of the light bulb. The music fits in with the text very dramatically with the shots creating the imagery for the narrative and the inter titles telling us what is going on while still being dramatic shown by the montage scene from 1:30 to 1:43 in the trailer. Some parts of the trailer pushed many boundaries of horror, being very scary by not using restricted narration making the body horror very apparent and in the audience's face shown by the scene where the girl cuts her own tongue with a knife.

However, there were some aspects that I thought were unsuccessful and that may put off their target audience. The trailer gives away too much plot of the film, you feel like you already know what is going on before you even watch the film, I think this is down to the fact the trailer is too long being 2 minutes 20 seconds, this is best shown by watching the trailer in full. There were a few parts that were overly unrealistic and over the top, for example when the woman vomits. To add to the previous point, there also might be too much gore, you are introduced to a lot before you even watch the film which may take away the power of the horror in the film, for instance the part where the woman vomits black when she is getting tangled in the branches.

The average score for the trailer was 8.6, it had good inter titles, plenty of collision cutting, great use of music and was genuinely scary. Overall, a very good trailer. 

Zombieland (2009) Review

Film Title: Zombieland

Year of Production: 2009

Director: Ruben Fleisdner

Genre/Genres: Comedy/Horror

Looking to survive in a world taken over by zombies a dorky college student teams up with an urban roughneck and a pair of drifter sisters.

The opening scene set the tone for the rest of the film effectively because it placed you right in the deep end with the brutality and comedy that the film had to offer. This bluntly introduced almost all the conventions at once, without giving the whole narrative away. This was done by many points on the genre checklist being introduced at this point. This was mostly done by collision cutting. It allowed lots of different techniques to come in quickly, it would go from slow to quick and quiet to loud very often, for instance the very first part of the scene where the camera is simply wandering around while a man is talking and zombie comes out of nowhere and is very loud and picks up the pace; something that is very useful for the comedy/horror genre. Another scene I was impressed with was where the two sisters (Wichita and Little Rock) are introduced and they are perceived to be innocent and one dying. However, these conventions fooled the audience because it quickly changes into them fooling the main protagonists (Columbus and Tallahassee) and stealing their weapons. Both of which ended up being ‘Final Girls’.

This has helped me a lot with understanding the genre because it was bombarded with points from the genre checklist, these included: Close ups as seen on 1minute 7 seconds in, Expressionist Angles as seen on the seatbelt scene, hand-held camera in Columbus’s first chase scene as well as point of view shots and quick editing. There was slow editing when the credits were being shown, collision cutting throughout the opening scene, main theme of threat to yourself and family shown by the girl from next door to Columbus turning into a zombie as well as sex and taboo with the grocery store scene and loneliness and being isolated shown by when Columbus is wondering down the highway alone. There was an open and happy ending with Columbus and Tallahassee going back and pick up Wichita and Little Rock after the pairs went their separate ways, they all go off together into a world taken over by zombies. There was a lot of body horror as well as restricted narration, for example the clown in the final fight scene. Enclosed locations came up often throughout the film but the stand out one was the theme park at the end of the film, low key lighting at the scene of Bill Murray’s death. Parallel music was used in the final zombie fight scene and contrapuntal music was used where Columbus falls off the motorbike. Contrapuntal music was used with the soundtrack ‘For whom the bell tolls’ by Metallica in the opening scene. There was a male hero called Columbus and also Tallahassee could be perceived as a hero too. Slow moving monsters also featured with the zombie for instance the scene where Tallahassee hits one with his door while driving. There are also a few more character types with the Female Victim the woman who dies to a car crash in the opening credits, Female Survivor ‘Little Rock’ and the Final Girl ‘Wichita’, they show this in a scene where they drive off to the faire together, almost riding off into the distance. A strong theme of sadism was portrayed through the film from the zombies. All of these things took place in the film, almost using all of the points of the horror convention checklist. Everything was massively important on the making of the film what it was but I think the most effective factor was the editing. The editing perfectly represented the genre, there was often a lot of collision cutting where there was slow editing to create tension, then it was totally interrupted quick editing creating jump scares. This techniques was also used to emphasise the comedy as in some cases it was deliberately done badly.

For my own trailer, I would like to include a similar use of montage and characters. The editing played with your emotions, at points it sucked you in, then totally reverting the atmosphere of the scene. It allowed the audience to emotionally invest in their interest in the film. Shown by the scene where Columbus and Wichita have a moment where they almost kiss but a break in the romance made it go quite awkward. This is again shown with the characters, they are brilliantly story lined. They have personalities that you can’t help but love; it draws you into their story, allowing you to feel their emotions too. It allows the audience to be more intimate with the characters, making the film seem more personal. My favourite character was Tallahassee, he did whatever he wanted, it was perceived that he only cared about himself but in reality he had the biggest heart out of all of them.

There are not many aspects of the trailer that I could say that I would want to avoid for my own other than the horror was not effective enough. Throughout the film the horror was played down and easy to avoid, so throughout the film you almost forgot it was a horror. For instance in the grocery store scene, when the zombies were coming at the male heroes and they just simply killed them with what seemed like nothing. I believe this was due to the comedy cross-over the film had as they had to make it funny as well as scary, something that I will definitely avoid.

My most enjoyable moment of the film was the part where Todorov’s narrative structure came in to play with the restoration of the equilibrium. This is where the ‘male hero’ Columbus gets the ‘Final Girl’ Wichita, they have defeated the zombies and the love between them has started to flourish. The impact of the characters allowed me to feel involved and happy with this part of the storyline. The happy (open ending) was definitely my favourite part as they drive off seemingly into the sunset like at the end of all romances but they don’t know where they are going and zombies are still out there. I could no doubt recreate this the ‘Hollywood Style Narrative Ending’ providing I didn’t let my characters get lost in the narrative and I engage them with the audience as much as possible.

'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Escape on Boat Analysis

This is the escaping scene of ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004) where they have finally got to Stephen’s boat and are drifting in to the sunset.

This shot is all about how patriotic America is. Here you have the protagonist of the film, who has drove the story forward and been the most influential character to the narrative, standing next to an American Flag as they are drifting into the sunset. This all connotes to freedom in America, it is the director’s way of saying that above all, no matter how hard something hits us, such as terrorism, we are still America and you are still free in the end. It is signifying the amount of power America have and how influential they are, not only to themselves but to the world. This form is of deliberate patriotic signs are also used in The Hills Have Eyes (2006), in this film an American Flag is used to kill one of the enemies. It was also used to create this ultimate power of American protecting them from the rest and all the who endanger them. This was also made post 9/11, linking very much to the context at the time, further proven by this quote by Big Brain “Your people asked our families to leave the towns, and you destroyed our homes. We went into the mines; you set off your bombs, and turned everything into ashes. You made us what we’ve become. Boom! Boom! Boom!”

This shot is an extremely clever way of using the mise-en-scene to create this patriotic feel and to make a very bold point with the sub-narrative of relationship between America and terrorism. Plus, this shows what the country stands for is characters like Ana, strong, caring characters that show true leadership as that is how they want to be perceived as a country to all audiences. On the boat there is also the black male protagonist Kenneth, along with Nicole and Terry. This is used to further back up the more understanding nature of the current CDI, with a range of characters, some of which seem weak or unlikely to live till the end, they do. However, there was one character that was quite clearly the male hero throughout and that was Michael. He sacrificed his life to save the final girl Ana, an action that replicates the conventions of a male hero, outing the woman’s life before his own.



This scene can be located at 1 Hour 42 minutes in to this clip, demonstrating the where the still shot came from.

'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Ana gets Stephen Analysis

This is the scene in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004) where the buses have just crashed after Kenneth losing control. After the crash Stephen recovers, grabs a pistol and exits the bus. In the process rejects Kenneth’s hand out for help, signalling his betrayal of the group. He gets bitten by a zombie and turns into one, Ana goes to save the others and is faced with him. She shoots him in the head resulting in his death.

This is all about the dominant characters and their representations. Ana is the goal-directed protagonist (a key feature in Vladimir Propp's “Morphology of the Folktale”) and she drives the group's survival forward. Ana is extremely feisty in the process, being a lot more influential character than any of the men. Ana often wears white vests, jackets and denim jeans fitting to her tomboy style final girl archetype. This is due to the fact that what she wears doesn’t indicate weakness it conveys strength and lack of fascination on appearance, a trait that is very common for a final girl.

Stephen is a very arrogant, self-involved, insensitive character that does nothing but get in the way and make things more difficult for the rest of the group through his selfishness. For example when he had to hold the door for the characters who went to save Nicole’s life but he didn’t bother, nearly resulting in their death. This shot indicates that good ultimately prevails, people who are all for themselves and are selfish are the ones that become worse off. Plus, Ana is holding a gun directly at his face, which is a phallic symbol, which connotes to the rise of feminism, relating to the current context. She is overpowering an arrogant man with her power.

This shot is all about representation and how characters are perceived and, as with many horror films, this reverses negative sexist stereotypes and presents a pro-feminist ideology through the mise-en-scene.

'Dawn of the Dead' (2004) Opening Credits Mosque Analysis

This is the Opening Title Sequence from ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004). It begins to introduce the different credits such as Directors etc. This is along with all with different shots, ranging from this mosque shots to images of zombies. It is very quick editing to begin the film, changing from one shot to the other very rapidly; this gives you this real sense of panic. There is also some non-diegetic sound of a speech which almost sounds presidential. This implies that the different shots of mosques, American flags and wars are not just a coincidental occurrence with each other.

This opening scene is very much tapping into 2004's Cultural Dominant Ideology of terrorism. It is using the context of events such as 9/11 which was only 3 years prior to this film. This means that this was still very fresh in people’s mind so this is tapping into a lot of the public’s fears. The non-diegetic sound of Jonny Cash’s song called ‘Man Comes Around’, this song addresses a lot of issues, it talks about how humans have made this mess for themselves and how it will result in an Armageddon or a Biblical ‘End of the World’, this links very closely with religion such as Christianity. In the bible it indicates that humans will be the end of the world, his creation will be the devastation, which also links strongly with other religions. This shot further backs up the feeling of terrorism from an America’s point of view because it shows a high angle looking down upon thousands of Muslims praying. It signifies that no matter how many there are that they are inferior to America.

This scene gives you a deep insight into the sub-narrative of the film. The quick editing doesn’t allow you to think too much about it on the first viewing, but all the different components in this scene clearly point to the effect terrorism has affected America’s context. On repeated viewings, the clear suggestion is that the zombie virus has spread from the Middle East.