This picture is a 9 shot frame of Dawn Of The Dead, I will be analyse each
shot from the nine below and state the meaning behind each shot.
The first shot shows many Muslim people praying, this
does not show a clear significant to the film as it is just people pray for
their religion, but with the colour being black and white it gives the start an
eerie feeling an and sound of just the peoples voices gives a dark feeling.
The second then shows us the main feature of the film,
in this case a zombie. This gives the audience a clear insight into what the
film is about. As the cut is very quick and the noise of the zombie being very sudden
also accompanied by the struggle of the zombie, this could strike fear into the
viewers.
The third shot shows the title of the film. As they
have seen the zombie on the previous shot of the zombies faces, this shot clarifies
to them what exactly the film is about. Adding more affect to the film the
director has decided to use big bold lettering on ‘DAWN’ and ‘DEAD’ this shows
to use that they are the key words of the film and using red over black carries
the effect of the film being eerie and dark, this is conventional to a horror
film so it has been used effectively.
The fourth shot shows little significance to the film
but is still important as it shows the audience the actors within the film. Furthermore
the director has given the writing a blood trail affect which may suggest to
the audience the film contains some of blood and again similarly to the third
shot with the red on black font to fit the genre.
The fifth shot shows soldiers fighting. This could show
that humans will need high protection against the zombies and will need to
fight to survive in times of danger. As we can see from the uniform, it tells the audience that they are specialised in protecting people and also with the gas masks shows that they are trying to use gas as a method to protect.
The sixth shot shows a figure running past a cracked window. This could show struggle to the human race after the zombie infestation. The figure could represent a zombie running past to cause mayhem. This shot could produce fear to the viewers and make them ponder on what the figure could have been.
The seventh shot shows lots of zombies in one area.
This could show that the zombie are beginning to dominate earth and the infestation is beginning to increase around the US. As seen form the clothing the director has ensure that generic conventions of a zombie movie are shown by making the zombie clothing all ripped and dirty with blood stains around the shoulder area. Within the film opening the sighting of this shot is very difficult to notice as the edit is very quick, this is shown in a sequence of shots of different areas showing how the infestation has spread around.
The eighth shot shows three soldiers, am american women who is part pf the government and a helicopter in front of the Capital Building in Washington DC. In the opening sequences the soldiers begin to open fire towards the crowd, this shows that within the crowd there is trouble and in this case it would be zombies. We can also see that they are highly trained soldiers who are part of the american army, this means the person they are protecting is of very high importance and must be bought to safety quickly. This portrays to the audience that people of a high social status are more important than other people and need more protecting.
The ninth shot similarly to the shot, shows little significance to the film but still an important aspect. Keeping in mind that it is a nine shot frame of the opening sequence of a film, the director has stuck to the generic conventions of title sequences by showing the audience the executive producer of the film, this allows the audience to understand who help make the film.
Analysing this nine shot frame will help me to think of ideas for my opening sequences. I noticed that within this opening sequence the director has used lots of quick edits and images in between accompanied by sharp sounds. This would prove effective with the audience as it would make them jump as it would surprise them. I can incorporate within my opening sequence as I aim to strike fear to my viewers.
