Shaun of Dead
An In-Depth Code Analysis
With the large variety of interests that flourish within the society, it is no shock that genres exist, especially in film, as the definition of entertainment differs from person to person. A genre is a category of films that are characterised by similarities in the narrative elements and conventions found within the films. Genres are extremely useful to both film producers and audiences as it helps them narrow down the target audience and search for films that are in their range of interests. No one wants to watch a political drama overrun with teenagers or go into a cinema with the intentions of watching a romantic comedy, only to receive blood and gore instead.
However, because of the
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However, the mood of the scene pivots from sad to suspense as his mum rises again as a zombie in between Shaun and Liz, her figure slowly pulling focus. When Shaun is faced with the decision to shoot his mum, the camera slowly zooms in on his face so his grief is accentuated, showing how horrible he feels, having to kill his own mother. When he finally pulls the trigger, the camera shifts to Barbara’s point of view in an over the shoulder shot so that the back of her head could be seen being blown up. This violent and gory display only serves to further strengthen the horror element found in Shaun of the Dead.
Lighting is one of the many elements that combine to create a perfect setting to reflect not only the story, but also the mood in a scene and the main character’s journey. How the character’s face and body is lit can also help define the character’s state of mind, an emotional state to give that character more depth and more of just a physical look to them that represents what they're going through.
In the pub scene, the light is quite muted and dim to emphasise the fear the characters are feeling, as well as the sense of mystery of the scene which gives off a ‘what’s going to happen?’ feel. This is often because it’s hard to see into the darkness; therefore it is more likely for something to launch a surprise attack
In contrast, Return of the Living Dead took artistic license on the zombie model and created the first talking zombie. Director Dan O’Bannon felt that the zombie needed to be updated for the modern times. As a result, even though it has some horrific scenes, the talking zombies added some comic relief to the film. One such comedic scene is the “tar man”. The tar man was the zombie inside the canister of Troxin that was released at the beginning of the film. In the climax of the film when the zombies are coming out of the graves, a group of friends take shelter in the taxidermy factory. When they reach the basement, they run into the tar man who shouts “brains” and then after feeding on one of the characters, it sees the rest of them and yells, “more brains” with a smile on its face. This shows the humor of the film.
A film genre is a motion picture category based on similarities in either the narrative elements or the emotional response to the film. While films have at least one major genre, there are a number of films that are considered crossbreeds or hybrids with three or four coinciding genre or sub-genre types that they can be identified with them and most can be filed into categories that are easily recognizable to audiences (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 1998, p. 4.1). However, ever so seldom a film comes along that breaks free of its invisible bounds of genre and it leaves the audiences confused about the actual existence of genre. One such film is a film that most are familiar with Steven Spielberg’s classic Saving Private Ryan.
Movies are not the only types of entertainment that incorporates genre; stories, music, flyers, tweets on twitter, and much more also do too. When applying a genre to ones form of expression, we can look at all aspects of the piece and analyze, analyzing is crucial in today’s society
There has been a resurgence of zombie films in the last decade, ranging from Danny Boyles 28 Days Later to Paul W.S. Andersons Resident Evil. This renaissance of zombie cinema has resurfaced in response to the cultural, political, and social volatility experienced in today’s society, much like its predecessors. A zombie film, unlike other monster movies, plays more with the real-world fears and anxieties, presenting the audience with inescapable realities. However, to understand why this subgenre has been brought back into the mainstream cinema, a comparison is needed across generations of film. This paper will focus on the comparison between George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Danny Boyles 28 Days Later; in an attempt to show how zombie cinema is a reaction to cultural shocks.
Lighting is used very commonly in horror movies. Lighting is the control of the light. Sometimes it starts flashing and sometimes the light all sudden turns bright or dark. lt is a great way to keep you on your toes. Jaws used the best lighting, for example the dim light in the boat made you really think the shark is coming. The lighting was really well used in most part of the movie. In The Others, they only used a few lighting techniques for one example the dim lighting used in the house. Signs had few lighting techniques used too. One was in the basement when the light suddenly goes out. If you have really good lighting used in your movie, the viewer will feel the something is going to jump out. One more is that light helps you hide something that you don't want the viewer to see what' is happening in the back.
Lighting as we know, creates the atmosphere for the setting, it establishes the overall tone for what the audience sees. Lighting is key in filming, as it can change tones from scene to scene to create a certain subliminal meaning. For instance the contrasting light from character to character to allow the viewer to understand the differences. Throughout the movie “The Dark Knight” we are able to see how the lighting allows for the directors subliminal meaning to seek through; darkness within. As the name of the movie suggests “Dark Knight” the movies overall tone is set in the darkness. This dark atmosphere allows for an eerie feeling, tension to build up and an anxiety feeling for the viewer. To understand the underlining meaning behind the lighting choices within the film, it 'll be shown by the protagonist, antagonist and the overall atmosphere within the movie.
The author’s lighting adds to the tone by having the lights dim when it is tragic. In the clip of Tim Burton’s, Vincent, there are no colors and it is low key lighting. This makes the scene look like Vincent is a kid with a very dark imagination. In Edward Scissorhands, the lighting at the beginning when Peggy first finds Edward is low key
Three of the most clever, entertaining, and all around well-made films I’ve ever seen are the three that make up what is known as The Cornetto Trilogy: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End. While the first two very clearly take well known genres and play on conventional expectations of them, the last breaks out of the box slightly and thus makes it harder to define. The one unifying factor to be found in all of them, aside from the obvious recasting of main characters and director, is that they can all be considered comedies. However, similar to the way Shaun of the Dead uses the concept of a zombie movie and creates a movie falling into that category that breaks the mold of other previous zombie films, all three take the category
Most of the lighting is focused on the actors and behind them, the lighting is very dark and you can only see a shadow outline of furniture. This achieves a sympathetic tone because most of the lighting focuses on Edward and everything that is going on in the scene is pointed directly towards Edward. Everyone believes that what happened was all his fault which contributes to the overall mood of heartbroken mood. Tim Burton also uses lighting to convey a vindictive tone towards Jim. For example, towards the end of the movie Edward goes back to his original home and Kim follows him. After Kim talks to Edward, all of a sudden Jim comes in with a gun and the lighting of the scene is very dark. When Jim comes in it is greatly dark and you can hardly see a silhouette of a person. This achieves a vindictive tone because it scares you because it’s hard to tell what is going on and even though you already hate Jim while watching the movie, your hatred tends to grow which contributes to the overall mood of
The lighting in the Royal Court Theatre was used to depict suspense. At the beginning when Hero was deciding to go to war or stay home, the lights became brighter and brighter. This resembled the time leading up to the decision he had to make in
Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.
Shaun of the Dead focuses on the main character Shaun who hardly has any goals for himself in life. Throughout the movie Shaun is face with problems. Shaun has relationship problem with his girlfriend Liz and mother. Liz who is fed up and dissatisfied with their relationship, simply because she feels it revolves around going to The Winchester, Shaun 's favorite spot. She feels like Shaun does not put enough effort into their relationship. Shaun is also faced with various issues with his mother. When Liz dumps him, Shaun finally decides to get his life in order. By getting his life together his goals are to win back the heart of his girlfriend, repair his relationship with his mom and face up to the responsibilities of adulthood. Unfortunately, his plans are interrupted by the Zombies disaster.
Genre is a French word meaning ‘type or ‘kind’ (Genre, 2016). The film industry has been around for at least 100 years. The evolution of entertainment is growing rapidly through the use of media. And as these years go on, films have begun to fit into specific genres, and are important to appeal to the different types of audiences. Films can be described to genre in different types of ways, such as stars, director and narrative to help identify what genre the film is (Neale, 1990, pg. 49). Genre in films has become common because it helps give the audience a different expectation. One specific genre of film is a horror. Horror is a genre that tries to create, panic, dread and fear for the audience.
Genre Theory is used in the categorization of films. Genres are dependent on various factors such as story line, whom the director is, and what are the audience expectations In using genre theory we create a short cut in how we describe films. Genres are categorized into and then sub categorized depending on the story and plot. Fantasy is a genre described as, “Any film with obviously unreal, magical, or impossible situations, characters, or settings, often overlapping with various other genres, especially science fiction, but sometimes historical dramas.” (Goodykoontz, 2014) Fantasy is a genre that typically includes a crossover genre, sci-fi,
the films genre. The genre is a way for the audience to distinguish types of