analysis on zombieland

ANALYSIS OF THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF ZOMBIELAND

The beginning was a church bell and that could indicate the end of time because at the church bell rang the next scene was chaos, it could also foreshadow the end of hope and normality, as the sequence continues the audience now sees that it is a zombie apocalypse.

The first scene is in slow motion and it shows the name of the company that produces the film and it is Columbia pictures.  The music is fast pace and drum sound in the music adds effect to the scene and it brings the keeps the audience in an active mood. The first scene is of a man being thrown of a balcony by a zombie, it is a low angle shot and the man falling shows that this time is up and that he is no longer looked up to and now can easily be destroyed. This foreshadows how humans will be easily killed throughout the movie,  it immediately cuts (dissolves) into a disgusting close up scene where the zombie is throwing up blood and this gives a disgusting feel in the audience, this scene is also in slow motion and this kind of puts the audience in slow motion. It also shows an overview of the city and it corresponds to the music and the slow motion visuals because the cars are still and it shows how the city is no longer normal due to the zombies. It also shows as the zombie is like over the city and it foreshadows that the city is now overrun by zombie. In these first two scenes the genre which is horror has already been established.

This scene is of a woman being chased by a zombie and has a milk shake in her hand, the milk shake could be a representation of what is normal and it being poured out reflects on the fact that nothing is normal again, not even a cup of milk shake. This is a long short and also a low angle and the audience can see the surrounding is empty.

In this scene all the zombies are attacking a man while the other people are running for their lives, the poster the man has says “the end is near” so this reflects on the fact that the human race is being attacked by these zombies.

The background scene looks like an action film and this foreshadows that there will be some action in this film; the number 4 could go against the scene considering it is the 5^th clip in this sequence. The man throws a case filled with money away and this show that that is not essential anymore and that is no longer important. The scene of the wedding is bitter sweet because a wedding is supposed to be happy and this one is unusual because the bride is trying to eat her husband and everyone is staring is surprise and no one is helping him, this shows that it is a “everyman for himself” world now.

The scene of the two men and the stripper, the emotions of the men are shown on their faces and the audiences can plainly see it. In the back is a zombie stripper and she is running after then. This also reflects on how the world has changed because in the normal world, it is the men who chase the strippers not the other way round. In the scene of the “father and son” only the non zombie father and son were chased but the others were not chased, they were chased by other zombie father and sons.

The lighting so far in this sequence is high key and there has not been a lot of close up shots which helps the audience see how surviving humans are running for their lives. This long shot helps the audience understand the gravity of the situation and how chaotic it is for the surviving humans.

The scene where a zombie is chasing a black man shows blaxploitation because it should be the white ma running from the black man and not the other way round.  The use of the prop (gun) in the shooting scene also foreshadows action and the zombie running to the man in the background creates tension because only the audiences know what is happening but the character doesn’t and the audiences know that the character may die.

The ending scene is scene from the eye of the character that is in the car and it brings the audience closer to how the human characters feel, how sacred they are and how destructive the zombies are.

22nd October 2012

BS321 FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO

 The purpose of a title sequence is to introduce you to the genre of film you’re watching.

·         A title sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing concepts visuals and sound.

·         It gives credit to people

·         Tells you who the casts are

PURPOSE OF A TITLE SEQUENCE        

The opening title sequence of a film is that film’s opportunity to make a good first impression on you, the viewer. A well-crafted title sequence introduces the audience to the tone and the theme of the film as well as the cast and crew. It could also create ENIGMA (unanswered questions in the audience’s mind).

Codes and connections

An opening sequence will contain:

Þ     Detail of the cast and crew

Þ     The film title

Þ     An introduction to characters of  character types

Þ     Indication of place

Þ     Indication of historical period

Þ     Information regarding mood and tone

Þ     Information about genre

Þ     Questions that the viewers finds intriguing (set up enigmas)

Þ     Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film

Þ     Mise-en-scene and cinematography that will be echoed or elaborated upon later in the film.

KYLE COOPER-created a title sequence for a director named David Finacher’s 1995 film, SEVEN.

This title sequence rejuvenated title design in the film industry.

1st October 2012

 THE TARGET AUDIENCE

Target audience: the people a certain media text is aimed at.

EARLY DEVELOPEMTENT IN AUDIENCE THEORY

Effective analysis-------hypodermic needle theory

·         Developed in 1920’s

·         The first theory to explain how mass audience might react to mass media.

·         The audience is passive: they have no say in the process and accept everything at the fact value.

CULTIVATION THEORY

·         While anyone media text does not have too much effect, years and years of working more violence will make you less sensitive to violence or years and years of watching women being mistreated  in soaps will make you less bothered about it in real life.

·         This theory is very difficult to people

·         There’s no measure on exactly how much of an effect the media has on human behavior

TWO-STEP FLOW MODEL

·         Whatever our experience of the media we will be likely to discuss it with others and if we respect their opinion, the chances are that we will be more likely to be affected by it. 9 the theory calls these people opinion leaders)

·         Considers the audience as “mass”

 ACTIVE AUDIENCE

Different audiences can understand a media message but can have a different response to it. Some people believe and accept the message; others reject it using knowledge from their own experience or can use processes of logic or other rationales to criticize what is being said.

Blumler and Katz 1974 believe that an ACTIVE AUDINCE could CONSUME a media product for reasons below:

Audience theory

Reception analysis:

·         Concentrates on how an audience arrives at the media text

·         Based on the idea that no text has one simple meaning. Suggests that the audience themselves help to create the meaning of the text

·         We decode: this is texts that we encounter in individual ways which may be as a result of our upbringing, the mood we are in, the place we are and all kinds of other factors.

·         Encoding: this is when the texts is produced by an institution and is embedded with that institution’s own values and ideologies (their ideas).

ENCODING AND DECODING:

Þ     Dominant (hegemonic) reading: this reading media producer’s hope will take from the text.

Þ     Negotiated reading: the readers understand the dominant reading but modify it to suit their own values and opinions.

Þ     Oppositional reading: the target audience may understand the dominant reading but chose to reject it.

AN INSTITUTION: this is anybody/organization operating within the media eg Hollywood, BBC, etc.

Ideology is tied to audience, institutions needs to know who their audience is because they will likely have the same values.

IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE: HEGEMONIC RULE

·         Education

·         Employment

·         Gender

·         Sexuality

·         Racism

·         Feminism

·         Nationalism/ national identity

·         Youth/age

·         Left wing/ right wing politics

·         Environmentalism

·         Public/personal reality

·         Crime and punishment

17th September 2012

MEDIA STUDIES

Key concept:   audience

·         What pleasures the audiences get from different media and texts.

·         How audiences are targeted

·         Difference between primary and secondary audience.

·         How and why different audiences read texts differently (preferred negotiated, oppositional readings.  The idea of an active audience- uses and gratification)

·         How and why an audience might be positioned.

·         How and why institutions construct an audience.

·         What audience profiling is (demographics and psychographics)

AUDIENCE: is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, i.e. a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience “meets” a media text.

DOES IT HAVE AND AUDIENCE?

Media producers have spent a great deal of time and money finding out who might be interested in their idea.

·         Income bracket/status

·         Gender

·         Location

·         Age

·         Race

THIS IS CALLED DEMOGRAPHICS

Audiences are divided into:

·         Less than 15

·         15-25

·         25-35

·         35-55

·         55 and above

PSYCHOGRAPHICS

This is a way of describing an audience by looking at their behavior and personality traits. Psychographics labels a particular type of person and makes an assessment about thierviewing and spending habits.