2. Subgenre - Zombie
A zombie is a reanimated corpse, usually in the stages of rot and decay, with
insatiable hunger with a preference for living flesh.
3. What did I learn from
researching this subgenre?
How to create effective zombie make up, sounds
and camera tricks.
How to create our OTS – from the plan.
How to introduce the audience into the subgenre
through OTS – show frightening/ intense scenes of
the zombies attacking people/ show the
development of a zombie apocalypse.
The target audience.
Conventions of the subgenre.
Creating effective narrative enigmas and cliff-
hangers to get the audience on the edge of their
seats.
5. Plot
A protagonist is trying to find a safe place from the
onslaught of the zombies.
A protagonist tries to save the Earth from the
zombies and is trying to restore humanity through
the use of a vaccine (e.g. World War Z).
6. Characters/ representation
The protagonist is usually represented as brave
and heroic – counter-typical to most people in that
situation.
Zombies are represented as disgusting flesh-
eating monstrosities that are ruthless
(stereotypical of a antagonist) to achieve their goal
– to eat their human victims.
7. Setting
Typically set in a dystopian future where once
great or big cities are now in ruins and are
surrounded by giant wastelands, where there is no
life to be seen – apocalyptic zombie horrors.
8. Camerawork - examples
Close ups/ extreme close ups to show the audience full
extents of the violent zombies – e.g. a close up of one biting
a human.
Establishing shots to show the audience of the apocalyptic
landscapes.
Crane shots to show the mass of grouping zombies.
Longshots to show humans running away from zombies –
can also use a POV (handheld) or tracking movement.
9. Editing - examples
Quick cuts from one scene to another to show rising
fear/tension for characters in at a specific point in the film.
Cut to black/ fade to black to show something dramatic has
just happened (maybe wait a few seconds to continue with
the story to show tension within the audience).
10. Sound - examples
Synchronous sound to match the music with the action.
A crescendo to increase the volume of sound/music when
there is increasing peril for the protagonist.
Foley sounds (e.g. bone splitting or explosions) to increase a
protagonist’s peril.
11. Mise-en-scene - examples
The protagonist would wear rough/dirty clothing to show to
the audience the ordeal he/she has gone through. Whereas
the zombies will wear ragged clothing with blood dripping
from its body, with rot and flesh covering it.
The lighting will be low key to show dystopia.
12. Plot/storyline
You see people lurking in dark alleyway’s, groaning with their heads down. You can see
their silhouettes in Windsor. Also shots of people walking around like it’s a normal day.
Local news radio reports 12 people missing in Windsor, questioning this odd thing.
Close zoom in on radio, cuts to black.
Cuts to a headline in a regional newspaper, stating that there have been multiple
reports of a strange bite marks on peoples bodies. Shows a photograph of the bite
mark.
Goes onto national news, this time on TV, with a huge rise in hospital numbers due to
people getting a strange sickness. The reporter states that the bite marks might be
related to this strange sickness.
Goes onto national news with several people violently attacking and killing other people
on city streets. Shows destruction on the streets. Some close ups of these attacks.
Outside reporter (a person who reports in the field or area of which the events are
occurring from) reports near the scene of the attack, telling people to lock their doors
and stay inside because of these violent attacks. No-one is sure why these attacks are
happening.
Cuts to a shot of a newspaper headline that states that bite marks have been reported
worldwide.
Cuts to another news report where there are several violent attacks and murders
happening all across the world. Still got the same outside reporter – shows that the
attacks are worse and that more people are involved.
Cuts to a scene different shot, still at the same scene, where the zombies are now
running towards the anchorman – who doesn’t know they are after him.
Final cut shows the camera braking and the outside reporter screaming/ terrified.
13. Reinforce or challenge
conventions and why?
Reinforce the conventions of the subgenre so that the
audience can clearly relate with this horror OTS so
that it is easier for them to identify with the zombie
horror subgenre; making it easier for them to
understand and follow, plus it will likely attract the
same target audience of those who typical zombie
horrors.
14. We will create enigma by…
Questioning the audience with what will happen
next. What happened to the outside reporter?
Does the world plunge into an apocalypse? How
will the story continue? What happens at the end?
Questioning the audience with what is going on.
What does this bite mark mean? Is it causing
people to violently attack and kill others? Why
would they attack other humans on a mass scale?
How long has this been going on for?
15. Type of OTS
Non-linear throughout to show the time-lapse of how
the zombie apocalypse started, and to show, in time,
how devastating it becomes. Also, non-linear OTS is
less common to use than linear OTS.
16. Character types/ social groups
Outside reporter – serious and professional
throughout most of the OTS. Wearing a long coat.
He is made to look brave for reporting in
dangerous circumstances.
Zombies – vicious and violent monsters that kill
without remorse. They are made to look vile.
Inside reporter – similar to anchorman except he is
wearing a suit.
People – scared and defenseless – in need of
saving.
18. Resident evil afterlife
It was inspirational because it showed me that to
make a very exciting/ intense horror film, you have to
place the characters in a place where they need to
escape from – a prison -, and that place being difficult
to get out of – because of all of the zombies there.
19. Dawn of the Dead
It was an inspirational film because it showed me the
extent of the zombie apocalypse and how it affects
normal, uninfected people – for example, there was a
guy on the roof of a gun store, starving to death,
because he had no food. He couldn’t get down
because of the all the zombies surrounding his store.
20. World War Z
This was an inspirational film because it shows how
one man struggles (played by Brad Pitt) to get around
in life when there are zombies everywhere, and he is
always in life-threatening danger (making the film
very exciting), and, ironically, he stumbles upon a
cure which people have spent ages trying to find.
21. Our USP (unique selling point)
is…
Is that our OTS is going to be non-linear and it will
show effectively how more-or-less normal life turns
into a catastrophic zombie attack, all shown
throughout a time lapse into specific events that
leads up to the final scene.
22. Target audience
Aged between 15 to 25 and mostly men from a working or middle-
working class background (largest audience that watches horror
zombie films).
23. Our film will attract our target
audience by
Adding in lots of close ups in gore and violence.
Adding tense moments that will frighten the
audience.
Adding in fear in people that is easy for the
audience to identify the specific character types –
outside reporter, and villains – the zombies.
Making it easy and quite simple so that the
audience can understand what is going on.
