Dawn Of The Dead Pre Title Sequence

1Q) How is the genre of the film (zombie) (horror) constructed?

2Q) What do the opening titles show visually? How is narrative enigma created here?

3Q) Why has Kyle Cooper chosen to use news footage?

4Q) Where do these shots position the viewer?

1A)

·    Short cuts to the ‘zombies’ to shows it’s a horror, also make-up and actors performance help construct genre.

·    Also short cuts to people screaming and running. The army shooting down the zombies suggest there out of control and need to be killed in order to stop them tearing other people apart.

·    The beginning establishes this is a horror from the cuts between the interview and the monsters (zombies).

·    People (soldiers and civilians) are being killed and eaten by these zombies and this indicates to the audience that the genre of this film is horror.

·    Also lyrics from the music communicate to the audience that this is a horror of some kind even though the beat and rhythm of the music is very light, the lyrics such as ‘viper’, ‘people screaming, people crying’ and ‘there’s a man running round asking names, to see who is to blame’ these are all things that contribute to the construction of the genre that is horror.

2A)

• Visuals (typography) – titles seem to trickle away like blood, looks a lot like the blood from the victims killed by the zombies.
• A lot killing of civilians by the zombies are shown visually in the opening titles.
• Flashes of the zombies going crazy have been shown throughout the sequence in the visuals.
• Enigmas – is it a virus? Can it be cured? Biggest enigma – are they alive or dead? These are questions that the audience want to be answered that have been asked within the pre title sequence.

3A) He has chosen to use news footage in order to get us updated with what has happened, he also used it to create a sense of realism that we are a civilian within the film and this is currently going on outside the place that you’re in at that moment in time. It also gives a POV from the camera man to show how scary and frightening it is and to show just how savage the zombies are in reality.

4A) The shots position the viewer as if they were a civilian and they were living close to where this is happening. This frightens the audience as they feel like there going to have to run and hide in order to survive the zombie waves of attacks. The shot position can be seen in two ways from either viewer watching the news at home. Another position can be seen from the camera mans view which makes the audience feel like were the ones being torn apart by the savage zombies.

In-conclusion, the main idea of this pre title sequence is to inflict fear into the audience who are watching it where ever they are and to make them feel like they are watching an ordinary news programme and what is happening within the sequence is happening outside their homes right now and that they could be the victim to one of these zombie attacks in a matter of time. The main reason for trying to do this is to give the audience more fear and to make the film feel more realistic as if it was happening at that moment in time. Also plenty of enigmas have been used in this pre title sequence in order to give the audience something to think about and debate in their heads straight away as soon as the sequence starts and these enigmas will stay with the audience throughout till then end of the film till all enigmas are answered and peace has been settled amongst the minds of the audience watching on in anticipation.