This document compares the filmmaker's thriller "Beaten" to other media works that use zombie conventions such as 28 Days Later, The Descent, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video, and the video game Left 4 Dead. It analyzes similarities and differences between the works in terms of plotlines, characters, editing techniques, camerawork, titles, and action sequences. Overall, the document shows how "Beaten" both develops typical zombie genres conventions while also challenging some conventions through its unique story elements and filmmaking choices.

1. EVALUATION
QUESTION 1In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?

2. INTRODUCTION
➤ I am going to be comparing my Thriller to two
films; 28 Days Later and The Descent. I have
chosen these two in particular because The
Descent follows the claustrophobic aspect we
tried to create with our thriller, and 28 Days Later
is a good example of a zombie film with all the
standard conventions.
➤ For my thriller, I have created a sub genre film
(zombie film) called Beaten, which revolves
around an abusive prison guard being abandoned
in a broken down prison, soon to be attacked by
zombie prisoners in search for revenge from his
abuse.
➤ The most typical conventions of zombie films are -
Isolation, apocalyptic world/abandoned location,
contrast between fast and slow editing, kinetic
camera for action shots and the protagonists want
to survive rather than killing the zombies. All of
these conventions are used to create tension as
zombie films can be a sub-genre of thrillers, so
they still need an element of excitement.

3. 28 DAYS LATER
➤ DIRECTOR - Danny Boyle
➤ RELEASE DATE - 1st November 2002
➤ PRODUCTION COMPANY - DNA Films/UK
Film Council
➤ CAST - starring Cillian Murphy and Naomie
Harris,, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, and
Christopher Eccleston

4. THE DESCENT
➤ DIRECTOR - Neil Marshall
➤ RELEASE DATE - 8th July/ 4th August 2006
➤ PRODUCTION COMPANY - Celador Films
➤ CAST - Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza,
Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring,
Nora-Jane Noone

5. OTHER SIMILAR MEDIA
PRODUCTS
I will also be comparing my Thriller to other media products to show that it can also be similar
to other aspects of the Media world, rather than simply just film. First of all, one product I will
be comparing it to is a music video called ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson. I have chosen this
music video because it demonstrates the normal conventions of zombie films and I can show
clear similarities and differences between the two. The second product I will comparing my
thriller to is a video game called Left 4 Dead, I have chosen this game as some of the
locations and gameplay is very similar to how they are in my thriller.

6. PLOT LINES
28 Days Later - In this film, the story line is very similar in the fact that the protagonist wakes up alone in an
area he does not recognise/know. He then begins to explore as he is trying to find his way out but ends up
being chased and followed by zombies. This is the same way we have started our thriller, although our
character is in a more secluded area.
The Descent - In this film, the similarities are mainly revolved around the claustrophobic elements of the
characters being trapped in a small surface area having to clamber and climb through things, also being chased
by un-worldly creatures. As our character wakes up and has to climb through a tunnel, I made this comparison
as a wide amount of the shots in The Descent show characters in thin tunnels of the cave.
Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ - In Michael Jackson’s Thriller, his character ends up being a bad character, which is
similar to ours as we find out the protagonist in ‘Beaton’ is actually an abusive prison guard. The focus on the
main characters being evil and bad rather than innocent in both products is what made me decide to make this
comparison.

7. CHARACTERS/
LOOK/ COSTUMEThe Descent - In The Descent, the costumes and look of
the main characters are all very normal and naturalistic. The
same goes for our characters, both zombies and protagonist.
However the zombies in The Descent are different from
our thrillers zombies as they do not wear clothes whereas
ours do.
Thriller - Michael Jackson - The zombies in Michael Jackson’s
thriller are all very similar to the zombies in my thriller. They
have the same type of disfigurements (blood from the mouth)
and they are all wearing everyday clothes to show they are
fresh zombies.
Left 4 Dead - in the video game Left 4 Dead, the theme of
realistic zombies continues as they wear normal clothes.
However they all seem to be clothes of an occupation which
is similar to the fact that our main character is a stereotypical
prison guard without the costume.
LEFT 4 DEAD

8. THE ACTION…

9. This shot from The Descent is showing one of the
characters crawling through a tunnel in order to move to a
different location. This scene is very conventional of a
zombie film as the small area the woman is having to move
through is very restraining and causing the audience to feel
claustrophobic. In addition to this, the audience expect
zombies to appear sometime soon and for the woman to
have no other way to escape. This concept is very daunting
and terrifying to imagine as there is simply no way to get
out and and live. The fear it creates in the audiences mind
is a very clever convention of a zombie thriller as it fully
immerses the audience into the action. In our thriller, we
wanted to create this same claustrophobic effect by making
our audience feel uncomfortable witnessing the protagonist
clamber his way through a small tunnel space. These shots
are very similar as there is not much light in the tunnel
apart from around the characters faces to emphasise the
emotions of being in a tight space. The moment of crawling
is also at the end of the tunnel in both shots, so we see the
characters having a standard look round the new location
they have entered. Both shots are looking at the characters
rather from their point of view to hide the upcoming
location. This technique of hiding the location and focusing
on the characters reaction to it creates a sense of mystery
for the audience, making them wonder what they
characters are seeing as they cannot see it yet.
…THE ACTION
CONTINUED

10. THE ACTION
This part of our thriller shows a zombie about to fall
from the sky and the protagonist having to face not
only them but other zombies as well. This moment
creates tension as it is unknown to whether the
protagonist will be able to escape from all the
zombies approaching. Also, by adding more
predators, it brings the intensity of the chase up
more as there is less chance the protagonist will
survive, very similar to how a video game works.
In this shot from the gameplay of Left 4 Dead we
can see that the main character is being crowded
by zombies and it is becoming increasingly harder
for them to survive as the intensity and tension is
being increased as more zombies are added. The
two shots are very similar as they are both set in
dark, abandoned locations with a zombie falling
from a height and the protagonist trying to escape
from the situation. One difference is that with many
zombie games and films, the protagonist will have
a weapon of some sort to protect themselves. Our
main character in our thriller however, only holds a
torch and defends himself simply with his ability to
escape quickly.

11. THE ACTION
In this shot of our thriller, we see a zombie emerging over
the edge of a prison cell door and vomiting blood. The
scene below from 28 Days Later shows another man who
is becoming a zombie and again vomiting blood. This
seems to be a common convention of the gore element in
most zombie films. The blood vomit acts as a way of
infecting other people so we wanted to keep that concept
in. The shot itself is very gruesome and really appeals to
the common idea of zombie films involving very raw and
disgusting scenes and elements. The characters are also
quite similar as they are both from a society where they
must keep in order and follow strict rules and instructions,
one being from prison, and the other from the army. The
moments are also similar due to the fact that the camera
angle is the same, they are both close ups, focusing on
the intensity of the shot.

12. THE TITLES
For our titles we used mainly white to show the innocence portrayed at the beginning of the
sequence. However when it came to the end of the thriller we put the main title in red as it
has connotations of danger, blood and horror. We also chose a sharp looking font to make it
look more intense and scary to the audience. It also flashed onto the screen as soon as the
action onscreen became intense, cutting off the story to show there is a mystery and more to
follow. In Michael Jackson’s Thriller, they use the same idea of flashing the title onto the
screen in a red, sharp font. Our titles have followed the conventions of most horror-thrillers as
a vast amount of them choose red to show the film is dangerous. Most thrillers tend to show
their title at the beginning of the film to allow the audience to know what they are watching,
however this is not the first thing you see when you watch “Beaten” so it has challenged this
convention.

13. EDITING TECHNIQUES…play videos

14. …EDITING
TECHNIQUES
CONTINUED
The editing techniques in the film The Descent
are very similar to the way in which our group has
decided to edit our thriller together. Particularly
on the scene in the top video in the previous
slide, we see very long shot durations and slow
transitions to new shots in the beginning of the
sequence as they are aiming to build up tension
and hint to the audience that something bad is
about the happen. Towards the end of the clip
when the action and tension has reached its
climax the cuts between each shot are very
frantic and the camera is quite shaky to create
the feeling of being distressed for the audience to
experience in relation to the action on screen.
This is similar to the way in which we have edited
our opening sequence leading up to the first
climax of action.

15. CAMERA TEHNIQUES
The top image is from the film 28 Days Later
focused on the main character using a close up
shot. The effect of a close up shot is to show the
audience that the focused object/person is
important in this particular moment in time. So the
protagonist is in a close up shot to show his
reaction to the now apocalyptic world he has just
stepped into. The same goes for the picture at the
bottom showing our protagonist in our thriller. We
wanted to present his emotions through close up
shots as we believed their importance needed to
be highly focussed on by the audience for them to
understand the plot line and events happening.

16. CAMER
A
TEHNI
QUES
In the film The Descent, the zombies are
portrayed as very animalistic, tending to
squat over their prey and pounce on them
like predator in the wild would. The image
below shows how they have used their
camera angle and frame to capture the
whole posture and action of the creature.
In our thriller we wanted to portray the
same type of animalistic traits to our
zombies through the camera angles. So in
the shot above, we placed the camera
underneath the bed the zombie was
climbing up and faced it upwards so it
seemed as if the zombie was preying on
the camera. As it is looking down on the
camera, this gives it power and intensity,
making the audience feel uncomfortable.