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 5th 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 a
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