The document provides an analysis of the 2009 comedy horror film Zombieland. It discusses the film's narrative, which follows a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic United States overrun by zombies. It also analyzes the film's genres, including horror and dark comedy. Additionally, it examines elements of the film like mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound, and editing techniques. The document also discusses the film's intended audience, messages around tolerance and perseverance, and its purpose of entertaining viewers of the horror and comedy genres.
2. Film 1- Zombieland
In this PowerPoint I am going to be talking about the movie of Zombieland. Zombieland is a
mainstream movie that was release in 2009 and in the genre of comedy horror. With the running
time of 87 minutes and was directed by Ruben Fleischer. However I am going to present this work
to be about:
• Narrative and narrative theory
• Genre and sub genres
• Micro analyses
• Audience
• Messages and values
• Purpose
3. Zombieland- Narrative
The movie Zombieland is a horror and comedy genre movie but also include science fiction and
adventure. The movie was release on September 25th, 2009 which runs for 87 minutes and was
produce in the United States. The four main character that was set in this movie are Jesse
Eisenberg (Columbus), Woody Harrelson (Tallahassee), Emma Stone (Wichita) and Abigail Breslin
(Little Rock).
This movie was set in a post-apocalyptic version of the real world in United States, and brining up
flashbacks of different character to compare how the world and their happiness has turn into
now.The movie are based on about a boy called Columbus making his way through the zombie
world and meeting new people along in each section/ part of the movie and having an adventure
with them, those people that Columbus meet on the way are called Tallahassee, Wichita and little
Rock.
However, there is a main narrative thread in the movie of Zombieland toward the end, where the
four main character meet again in the pacific play lands theme park on the west coast. Where
they have to finish the last mission in the movie. Also there is a small cast of the main characters
and additional character which was all turn into zombie through out the movie.
4. Zombieland- Narrative theory
Todorov narrative theory suggest all narratives follow a three part structure where it started with
a equilibrium, than everything is balanced, something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium
and finally reach a resolution when the equilibrium is restored. However, this narrative theory fit
quiet well to Zombieland narrative.
Equilibrium- we know that the equilibrium has been lost as we are seeing the world falling apart.-
and from the start if the film you see a few survivors at the terrible risk and we see the new
equilibrium that has been established.
Disruption-happened at the start of the film-the world we know has come to the end.
Recognition-situation had been released by the character showing what has been happening.
Reaction-most film character are use to show the reaction of the situation. Built on Columbus by
introducing the film with his rules.
Re-equilibrium-the group finally come back together from the time being. However, there is no
talk about how the world is going to be.
5. Zombieland- Genre
The main genre of the movie Zombieland are horror. As this movie is about how the world is not
how we actually thought it was, and it shows how the different character is finding their own way
to cope with, while having different tension in the movie by creating different mission for the
character to get through.
More specifically, the sub genre of Zombieland is unnatural horror movie. Where the whole film
are based on people turning into zombie and having the risk of being caught and eaten which
then turned into zombie. Leaving only four survivors which are the main cast. However, the
zombie that was included in this film are a more Morden zombie as they can run around in the
Morden time of united statues. In the Zombieland there are many jump scares that were created
through out , but mainly at the beginning of the movie.
Nevertheless, Zombieland is more of a comedy horror movie, where It is just about a group of
people meeting each other and escaping from the zombies and creating laughter together. So it is
not focus on frightening things, which uses a number of sub genres of comedy.
6. Zombieland- More on genre
The film intro has already shown that it will be a dark comedy, where the main cast Columbus did
a serious expression voicing over the strategically rule that he made up on how to survive in the
Zombieland. another dark comedy scene would be when Bill Murray was trying to scare
Columbus by acting as a zombie and actually ended up getting shot by him. However, with the
clumsy action that Columbus made during the movie has built up a character comedy in the
movie. for example, when Columbus was trying to ride the huge motorcycle and fell down and
where he open the door in the middle of driving to knock off a zombie. Although there are many
different comedy which has made the whole movie become one part of comedy horror film, the
main one would be character comedy, saturation comedy where the character found themselves
stuck in another saturation and trying to find an answer to it and physical comedy, where there
are scene when it meant to present thing horrifying but at the end turn out to be funny.
8. Zombieland- Mise en scene
The mise en scene include element of setting and props, costume, hair and makeup, facial
expressions and body language, lighting and colour. The use of setting and props in the movie of
zombie land are very important as the choice of setting can manipulate the audience by building
certain expectation and making the movie in a different turn. The use of mise en scene of costume,
hair and makeup in the movie of zombie land can be effective on the user as it create a horror and
comedy feel. Also the use of fake blood on the character and zombie has create a look and feel of
real setting and making the scene more realistic and give out a better performing. As costume, hair
and makeup can play an important part of the a successful movie as it can tell us as the audience of
the character’s personality, status and jobs, however in the movie of zombie it can help us to
identify the zombie and human. Nevertheless, the costume, hair and makeup can imply to us
immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society or culture it will be around, as
the movie of zombie it is set in the modern time in the USA by showing us the flag at the beginning
of the movie. The use of facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how something is feeling and
in the movie of zombie land when someone is smiling and having scary background music at the
back can create a horror and scary feel for the audience and by looking at the zombie facial
expressions the audience can clearly identify that they are not human but zombie as it give out a
creepy and horror expression on their face and also the movement of their body. As well as, the
body language that is use in each character might indicate how they fell towards another character
or may reflect the state of their relationship and by looking at their body language or movement it
can show the audience how the character are feeling and that they are nervous and scary or happy
and exiting. In addition, the use of lighting and colour in zombie land are when it suddenly turns
pitch black and the colour black can be a reputation of death, evil and horror, which matches the
movie genre. However, to make character look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body
in the zombie and adding red on their face and body which represent the blood and death.
Nevertheless, creating a shadow in the dark and produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas
can be the key of having a successful horror movie in the zombie land, as this allow audience to feel
the same way as the character, also the use of lighting and colour can be reflect to a characters
mental state and their hidden emotions for example having bright lighting show that the character
are happy and having dark lighting it show that they are disturbed and sad.
10. Shot 1-
This is the first stage establishing shot of the world in space gone terribly wrong by showing the
audience of a dark and fire colour of the world that represent something must have gone wrong
and becoming evil and terrifying. However, this short uses a famous image of the world seen
from space to show how much thing it has change and gone to horribly wrong and devil.
11. Shot 2-
This is the second stage establishing short of a continuation of the first short when the
camera is zooming into the inside of the earth to show more clearly. This shot of the zoom in
earth cover in dark colour and fire suggest that the control of the city has been lost.
However, this is a fairly quick zoom to create the effect on how we would be falling into the
stadium.
12. Shot 3- medium shoot (foot level angle)
Audience could recognise that this is film in the stadium as of the green grass and field marking,
this is a zoom in shot where it show clearly each step the person is running.
13. Shot 4- medium two-shot
This is a shot where it is tracking back from the pervious action as it runs into this shot. The
chasing scene established how we are the person who are being chased by the zombie because
of the opening sequence. However, this is a angle that show the audience of their upper body
movement clearly and a angle of how close the zombie is getting into the man.
14. Shot 5- long high angle shot (bird eye angle)
This is the same chasing scene but just in a different angle and how the zombie are catching up
with the man. As well as, this shot is framed to allow text to have space to put in and it is design
to allow them to run into allowing to more professional.
15. Shot 6- similar to shot four but in a more close up angle
The depth and the zombie behind in the background become more blurry and shallow, which will
allow the audience to focus more into the man facial expression, showing the fear in his face.
16. Shot 7- medium two-shot
This shot shows how close the zombie is getting to him and there is the symmetry either side of
the centre line where man and zombie are in their each individual side.
17. Shot 8- medium two-shot
A shot where the zombie finally catches the man and the background are out of focus which is
making the attention is onto the moment of the capture.
18. Shot 9- high angle long shot
No movement of the camera showing that the chase has been over and the man has lose. The
high angle shot can give of a safety sensation to the audience that we are far away from the
death scene.
19. Shot 10- close up still camera
This close up shot relate back to the genre of Zombieland, as you can see a zoom in version of a
man getting bite and turning into a zombie. Also brining the audience into a not safe distance as
you might be the next one getting chase afterward.
20. Zombieland- Sound
The use of sound in a movie is referring to everything that we could hear in a movie and the
different word, sound effect and music can be related to the mood, emotional and state that the
character are into, It can also provide audience information about the character feeling. In a
movie the two different categories of sound are Diegetic and Non-Diegetic. The diegetic sound
are sounds that are visible on the screen or action by the scene, such as voice of the character,
sound made by an object and music represent the coming instruments in the movie. However,
non-diegetic sound are sounds that is neither visible or been implied to present in the action,
such as narrator commentary, sound effect for a dramatic effect and mood music.
Additionally, in the movie of Zombieland they have used a sound effect frighten the audience
and adding loud, sharp sounds that are use commonly in a horror genre movie, for example in
the scene of the bathroom when there was a zombie jump out which created a short shock to
the audience. Moreover, the use of low pitch tone and high pitch tone in the different scene
create a discomfort tension to the audience which high pitch tone are used to add a surprise
tension to the audience. The sound effect and music that was used are to add a atmosphere to
the movie and creating another layer of meaning of the images or scene in the screen. While
when the sound are getting louder it draw more attention to the movie and thinking something
horror is going to happen soon.
21. Zombieland- Editing
The editing in a movie is to create a perfect flow which are commonly done by cutting or
replacing the right shot into the right section. However, adding colour or any filter effect can also
be a way of editing, as what is shot on camera may not be in the right colour that balanced to
match another camera shot on a previous day. As well as, sound and music is very important to
add in when editing. This is because it draw attention to a turning point in a movie and having
background noise or music will not bored out the audience. as audience hate silence.
The editing in the intro of Zombieland uses a quick and short cut which are to emphasizing the
action. However, there is a use of range of editing in the intro as this could create a more tension
and giving interest to the audience before it really started. For example, when the two car
crashes there is a constant cuts and ellipses which are to show the passing time and different
point of view in the crash. Moreover, there is slow motion that was edited in the movie when the
man was being chased by the zombie. The reason for using slow motion is that it could create a
sense of humour which related back to the genre of comedy horror.
22. Zombieland- Audience
The target audience for this movie would be 15- late 30s as the rating for this movie is 15, which
suggest that the producer are aiming at teenagers or above. However, the character that are used
in the movie of Zombieland are around the age from 20s to mid 30s, this imply that the target
audience would mainly be at those age, as the audience would easily be related to the character.
The Zombieland are aimed at any genders as the main character have either female and male,
implying that both genders of the character personality could relate to any gender audience.
However, this movie would be aim at middle class people as the character in the movie are also in
middle class which could refer back to the saturation of middle class people. Also the character in
this movie uses many slang and some swear word, which upper class people are less likely to use
those word in real life, meaning upper class people would not be as interested as other class. As
well as, the audience that would watches Zombieland could also be the people who are
interested in comedy horror movie, and maybe science friction and adventure related movie.
23. Zombieland- Messages and Values
The message that the movie of Zombieland is trying to get across is that how the world is now a
days and how it could turn into worst. Where everyone is living in their own way and doing
things that could hurt others in order to get their way through the world which is like the zombie.
However, it also tell the audience that sometime enable to get to place, things or objective you
want to achieve it could be as hard as you will not imagine and having difficult time in the way
through could be hard but if you try you will achieve what you wanted and prove to the world
that you could do it. On the other hand, it is trying to tell the audience that being brave
sometime could be one and the only way to achieve what in the end. Also it is suggesting that
sometime being with your family could be good and safe but meeting new people could be one
of the way for you to grow up and becoming more stronger and brave. The moral values of this
movie is the toleration with each others. This is because when we get stuck into a problem we
must tolerate with others to be able to solve it quickly, if we don’t have this moral and values in
our real life we could not get through our life easily and smoothly. It also suggest that we should
never give out on our life even though it is as bad as it might be, as giving up could only give a
result of a bad effect.
24. Zombieland- Purpose
The primary purpose behind most film and for Zombieland is of course to make profit by making
film that attract and keep an audience entertaining. However, the film Zombieland can have many
different purpose depending on what we determine the film as. Such as, convey emotions to the
viewers, raise awareness about the issue, and entertain. The main purpose of making the horror
movie Zombieland is that to make audience that who like to watch this genre jump and afraid, as
this is one of the reason to make horror film. The Zombieland is also a comedy genre which is
wanted to make the audience laugh and happy as well. On the other hand, making the movie can
be like all other project that is about developing the careers of the cast and crew.
25. Zombieland- Does it achieve its purpose?
Budget estimated at $23.6m, however the box office estimated at over $100m which it was a
financial success.
As a audience of the Zombieland I think the movie Zombieland did achieve it purpose which is to
make the audience laugh and scared. Which was in the different part of each situation, which
most of the tension part was built in.
