Inspiration From Real Media: Zombieland

James and Harmony

Zombieland 2009

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Writers: Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin

Genre: Comedy/Thriller

'A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie, and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America' IMDB.

The film begins with Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) explaining some rules on how to survive zombieland. While he is explaining the rules through the use of non-diegetic sound in the form of a voiceover, short video clips are shown of people not obeying the rules. The opening sequence takes you straight into the hear of the action and the voiceover helps to explain to the viewer what is happening and it sets the scene.

Opening scene; The first image shown

In the opening the american flag is shown allowing the audience to know where the production is being set. Non-diagetic sound of a voice over paired with high pitched, fast paced, eary music. computer generated sounds are used to create a modern yet thriller type atmosphere.

First sighting of a zombie

A mid shot is used to capture the surrounding set as well as the zombie. A handheld camera is used to create a sense of panic which links the the genre of the film (thriller). Here, diegetic sound is used to make the scene more realistic as you can hear screaming, explosions, burning fires and zombie grunts. You also see the action from the point of view of the person filming the zombie attack on them making the viewer feel like it is them who are being attacked.

 






The Rules

These four shots appear before the opening credits, with a voiceover of Columbus (Jessie Eisenberg) explaining some rules of how to survive Zombieland. Throughout the film he explains some other rules but the ones he mentioned at the beginning are cardio, Double Tap, Beware of Bathrooms and Seatbelts.

These images show the opening credits which appear in slow motion, this allows the audience to see the zombies and the reactions on peoples faces. Some of the images are humorous, for example grown men running from a zombie stripper and a fireman running away from a fire, this links to the genre in which we want to capture (Thriller/Comedy). The accompaniment is very much electric guitar, playing a hard rock style with some percussion to add to the theme of panic, disaster and danger.

Why did we choose this film?

We chose this film for the opening sequence we have to create as we wanted to explore both genres we are using, comedy and thriller. Zombieland uses both of these genres so it fits in perfectly to enhance our initial ideas. When making our sequence we will take into account what cinematography and editing techniques they have used:

• Non-diegetic music (voice over)
• Diegetic sound to add realism (explosions and zombie grunts)
• Slow motion to add tension and suspense 
• Mid shots in the opening credits to show booth the characters and the setting
• Hand held camera at the very beginning to show panic