Zombie land opening scene analysis

1. Zombieland Opening Scene
by Greg Welbourne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTR346k-fG0

2. Camera work
The camera work is quite simple in the opening scene. It’s mainly filming to give the film
setting and context.There are lots of different short scenes within the opening scene and
the camera sometimes follows characters, usually a zombie, to its next stop.
The camera shoots quite realistic shots, for example in the bathroom scene the camera
goes over the opaque object rather than going through it.
It also usually shows a close up of the victims face when a zombie attacks someone.

3. Sound
There is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in this scene. There are a
few sound effects for example in in the first part where ‘rule#1,cardio’ comes
up, there is a heart beat sound. This is because the text on screen is beating
and also to imitate the beating heart of the man running.
There is a continual, non-diegetic, voice over from the narrator in the opening
scene, this gives humour and also sets the tone for the rest of the film.

4. Editing
There is a lot of continuity editing in this opening scene. The editor has also put
edits of the ‘rules’ in some of the scenes. These are made to look like they’re in
the scene, for example they have shadows and they also get blood splattered
on them.

5. Mise en scene
High key lighting is used throughout the opening scene which is common for a
comedy-horror. Make up has been used in a creative way to make the zombie’s
faces look realistic. There’s a mixture of long, mid and close up shots used in
the opening scene but no extreme close ups. An everyday/realistic setting has
been used so the audience can relate to it.

6. Titles
There are no titles in the opening scene which is very rare in film however there
are the ‘rules’ which appear in the same sort of intervals that the titles would.