Ashlea Hickin
Media Studies
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall. - IMDB
Colour:
Similarly to The Purge, there is a distinct lack of colour in this shot which makes it more eerie and intriguing. The added CCTV effect also distance the audience from the action to remind them that they are watching it and are not part of it.
Props:
Props such as guns and army helicopters that connote danger are used in this shot. This would have been done to make the audience feel more vulnerable and also to suggest that there is lots of violence in the film. We see the same effect in The Purge when every shot has some form of weapon in it.
Lighting:
The lighting is high key lighting, allowing the audience to see everything that is going on and fully exposing them to the danger. The same high key lighting has been used in some of the other film openings I have looked at for example, I Am Legend and Zombieland.
Setting:
The setting in this shot is a realistic setting and one that lots of people would recognise. This would make the audience feel more anxious and unsafe as it his happening in a place that they know, therefore making them feel closer to it. Realistic settings have been used in lots of the openings I have looked at to give the same effect, for example, the use of an airport in Warm Bodies and a train station in World War Z.
Costume:
The costumes of the characters in this shot have a very combat appearance which tells the audience more about who they are. It also connotes danger as there must be a reason for them to dress in this way. As the colour has been taken out of the shot, the colours of their costumes are unclear, therefore not allowing the audience to make any judgements about their character based on the colours they are wearing. In the background on the floor, there is a woman wearing a suit which allows the audience to see a contrast between the two different types of characters in the opening. We get the sense that the characters in the foreground are protecting the other characters from something. The fact that the lady is not wearing a combat costume suggests that she is more vulnerable and also reinforces stereotypes that men are stronger than women. I have not come across combat style costumes in any of the other openings I have looked at however a similar style costume of the lady in the background was used in the opening of World War Z to show vulnerability.
Camerawork:
A mid shot is used here so that the audience can see the facial expressions of the characters but also the surroundings and any other action taking place. The choice of this instead of a close up also makes it less intimate and means that the audience doesn't make much of a relationship with the characters. Similar shots are used in The Purge to distance the audience from the action.
All of the credits are sans serif and block capitals making it more informal but more impacting In the shot. They are red in colour, connoting danger and death which goes hand in hand with the transition between credits in which the words turn into smears of blood on the screen. This would put the audience on edge as it is quite creepy but would also intrigue them as it is very unusual. The alignment of the credits however is quite unusual as there are irregular indents between each line. This could suggest that there will be unusual events taking place in the film. A very similar technique is used World War Z when the shot zooms out to reveal the title. The credits in this film follow the institutional conventions .
The credits fade into a smear of blood on the screen with sounds effects to make it more intense for the audience.
Sound & Editing:
There are many sound effects used throughout such as screams from people and zombies, crashes and sirens. This makes it more realistic and interesting for the audience as the scene is brought to life. Similar sound effects are used in 28 Days Later when the chimps are in the cages. The background music sounds like a country, folk song that sounds quite happy because of its up tempo, acoustic sound however, the lyric are quite deep and dark. This would have been done because it gives it a creepier feel and contradicts the events happening in the film. A similar effect is given by the orchestral music at the start of The Purge as it has connotations of safety and security but the shots on the screen show otherwise.
The whole of this opening is a montage. This allows the audience to see lots of different things but disorientates them because although they are related, they are not chronologically ordered. There are also lots of quick cuts between the different shots, further disorientating the audience because they are not given the opportunity to have a proper look at what is happening. The added effects such as he black and white shot in the screenshot above would also have been a conscious decision because it means that the audience are not seeing the same as the characters which could leave them feeling confused and also distant from the characters.
Watch the opening here: