Dawn Of The Dead Title Sequence Analysis

Mise en scène

Dawn of the Dead

A very sharp transition leads to this scene. The main colours used in this shot are black and white which resembles old, light and dark. The way it is used in the shot is to create mystery in what that thing is in the shot; you can’t see it in great detail and you don’t know exactly what it is which makes the thin immediately much more frightening. The shot that has been used is a mid/ long shot to show the things body so that they can show off more aspects of it. It also shows a bit of the background to get a vague idea of where this what shot. I personally believe it is a doll that is intended to look like a disfigured body of some kind. There seems to be a large ray of light passing into the room from the right of the shot allowing us to see more of the thing. The sound made just as this shot appears is a sharp and load screaming sound used to shock 
and scare the viewer.

A very sharp transition leads to this scene. The main colour used in this shot is red, which resembles pain, blood and anger. The shot used to capture this moment is a close up that has been tilted to the side attracting the viewer’s attention to the zombie’s mouth so that you can see the expressions in more detail. Fake blood has been used all over the mouth and in the mouth, to give the impression that it has been eating. This also could show that it is in terrible pain. The sounds made in this scene seem to be sharp, high pitch screams followed by a low shout. I believe they used these sounds to surprise the viewers and scare them. The sound also seems to be diegetic. The actor has been portrayed in a very frightening and disturbing manner. The actor has been portrayed this way to scare the viewers. I believe natural light has been used to portray the actor in this scene; it seems to be quite bright and shining at her face to show off the make up in great detail. You don’t see much of the background so you can’t 
really tell where this shot has been taken.

The previous scene is followed by an extremely quick transition in and out of this next scene which could easily be missed. It shows an extreme close up of a zombie’s mouth. The reason they used an extreme close up was so that the viewer could get a quick jump scare. Again, blood has been used inside the mouth and on the teeth to resemble that this zombie may have been eating. A sharp high pitch sound which sounds like someone screaming. The zombies face takes up the entire screen so I can’t say much about the background. Normal bright light has been used to shine on the zombies face to show the blood to the viewers. The main colour used in this shot is red, which resembles pain, blood and anger.

The colours used are bland and washed out in this scene; the main colour which is used in this scene is white. Now white could resemble lots of things but for me personally it resembles hope, freedom and heaven. A long shot has been used in this scene to show off what is in the background and what is going on in the background. The security personnel seem to be wearing protective clothing and sun glasses making them seem powerful and let’s face it quite awesome however there are men and women in that group of people that look valuable because they have no protection other than the guards. The space has been cleverly used to allow space for the things in the background and still have a slot of space in front of that for carnage to ensue. The actors in this scene are made to look rich because of what they are wearing and how much protection and attention is given to them from the security. Natural sun 
light has been used to provide the lighting in this scene.

This scene shows a zombie running strait towards the camera. The shot used is a mid-shot and it is eye-level. This shot is used to focus our attention to the zombie as he is running towards the camera and to make it seem as though he is running right towards the viewer. The make-up used on the zombie is mainly ripped skin and blood which is mainly used to discomfort the viewer and make the zombie seem more threatening. The sounds made seem to the sound of a dog growling these sounds can from the zombie to make him seem more intimidating. A small amount of the background is shown however that is all that is needed to show the havoc that is going on in the room, behind the zombie. This creates tension before the zombie even attacks the cameraman.