Summer Contempory Film Analysis

 

Shaun of the Dead a British zombie horror comedy, Directed by Edgar White and written by the stars in the film, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg,  released  in 2004 in the first instalment of the three flavours cornetto trilogy with films hot fuzz (2007) and the worlds end, this film was going to have a sequel but decided to stay stand alone because so many characters where killed off. About a 30 year old man who is having a midlife crisis with what he’s doing/not doing with his life, but that is soon forgotten when a zombie apocalypse invades a little rural village in northern England

Jump cuts linier editing – hand held cameras – long or wide shots- leading to close up/extreme close up shows what is happening without the character knowing then showing his reaction, the audience already know about the zombies but the character is oblivious this is making a joke at horror- zombie films – point of view – tracking shows what the character’s doing but concentrating on what happening in the background as well giving watchers a incite to what happening creating suspense and a sense of laughing at the character because they don’t know.

This film is a parody of many other similar zombie films it references many of George A. Romeo’s ‘dead’ films with even the films name parodying the films “Shaun” of the dead’ and “Dawn” of the dead’ the same music from the original films are used in this one for comedic reasons people who are fans of the genre will recognise this. In addition famous actors in A. Romemos films are featured as zombies in this film, i think that this would have helped other countries to get the jokes for example, Americans might not understand the British comedy but everyone can recognise the references to other films .

This film starts off with heavy use of representing stereotypes to make the characters recognisable and the audience can relate to the characters personality because they have used figures like: Careless, untrustworthy, motherly, housewife, etc. But as the film goes on and as the equilibrium is broken these characters get mixed up, the chance to change their way of life through a disaster, the tag line of the film is ‘a romantic comedy with zombies’ this reflects the idea of bettering yourself, making the film more uplifting and interesting to watch because you want to see the character grow, i like how this mixed with comedy breaks up the gore and violence almost to the point it isn’t scary but just adds to the amazing effects, CGI and make up effects.

The film uses point of view with wide tracking shots to show what the character in shot isn’t seeing, this gives the audience information on what’s happening but shows that the main character doesn’t know, i think that this gives you a chance to laugh at the character and how stupid he is, this is used like a inside joke, the transitions fade to black are used a lot in this film to show the big the contrast is between the real life world and the apocalypse, i think that this shows that the film has been made to show how fantasy the storyline is.

I think that the target audience for this film is leaning more towards a older male audience, as many of the references i don’t think that i got, until i done some more research into the film, there are many representations of the pub and working class Brittan in flats, and going to the pub to listen to music and socialise, working class stereotypes are used like betting, council flats and off licence shops, this combined with a iconic British soundtrack with songs from like of Queen, creates a town atmosphere that everyone can relate to.