Highly Effective Film Making By Phoebe Coleman

Zombieland Released in 2009 Comedy film Directed by Ruben Fleischer Starring Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Abigail Breslin ‘A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, and 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.’

The Story The first five minutes serve to tell us how America became ‘Zombieland’ and how the world has fallen to chaos It explains that the weak were picked off first and zombies adapted to kill people The main character, Columbus, explains how he has learnt to survive, bringing up some of his critical “Rules of Survival” which are a recurring theme throughout the film While Columbus explains his rules, such as Cardio and the Double Tap, people are shown neglecting those rules and falling victim to the zombies e.g. an obese man unable to outrun them and a woman doesn’t want to waste her bullets and a not-quite-dead zombie bites her. This is highly effective film making because even though it’s only a couple of minutes into the film, it shows that whoever is speaking knows what he is talking about and should be listened to which sets up elements of his character even though we’ve not met him yet. We have already learnt that he is careful and responsible enough to have made rules and the viewers can already start to trust this character we’ve not even seen.

The Opening Shot (pt 1) The very first thing we see is a closeup of an American flag waving, which then zooms out and turns around to show an upside down car on fire. This couple of seconds shows us that a) the film is in America and b) something terrible has happened which instantly throws us into the very core of what the film is about, that America has been turned upside down into a state of chaos. This is highly effective because we already get a sense of what the film is about from just 2 seconds of footage. Then, as the camera starts to move around, it is clear that it is from a first person view, and is made to look like it is filmed from a mobile phone, as it is as if a person is looking around at the chaos they’ve been thrown into. This makes it feel more immersive as it is like we, the viewers, are in the mess, and also feels more personal as we can also hear the person filming’s bewilderment. This instantly grabs the viewers interest and attention due to the chaotic nature of the shaky camera and personal touch of the first person view. Then as the camera starts to regain stability and looks back at the car on fire a person, quickly distinguishable as a zombie, jumps over and runs towards the camera. The person filming starts running, creating frantic movement which spikes a feeling of panic as you realise the person filming is not going to make it. It is made to feel a lot more personal because of the first person view and this is effective because it helps the viewer to see almost first hand what the world has turned into.

The Opening Shot (pt 2) Finally, we see from the lowering of the camera and from the screaming of the person, who’s face we never see, that the person has fallen over and is about to be eaten. This is effective because we only ever see the person’s legs which makes the viewer feel like they are the one watching themselves be eaten which creates a sense of fear and it makes you realise the severity of the situation the characters are in. Right before the shot changes to something else, to add the comedic touch that is constant throughout the film, there is a loud burp heard while the zombie is staring into the camera. The feelings instantly go from a feeling of dread to laughter, as if a man hasn’t just been eaten in front of us. It is effective because just the use of the sound effect changes everything and it sets up how the film can go from something deadly one second to immature jokes the next which gives the strange feel that only a zombie comedy film can give, something terrifying in a regular horror film is a punchline in this film which is common throughout. Overall this portion is about 30 seconds long and does a good job of setting up the severity of situation through the personal first person view and panicky movements which shows the viewer how much the world has fallen and creates fear that is always in the background of the entire film even though it is dealt with in a comedic way later on.

‘Rules of Survival’ - Cardio The first rule the voice over from the main character tells us about is Cardio. It zooms in from an extreme long shot on a football stadium (which shows the whole world falling apart) to a mid shot (which takes the situation to a much more personal level) where an obese man is running towards the camera from a zombie. This is used as a cheap joke to set up the mostly immature comedy used throughout the film where we laugh at a fat person running in a football stadium. However immature and childish it may seem, this shot is effective because it enforces our assumptions that certain people don’t survive the apocalypse. As soon as we see an overweight man running from a zombie we think “he won’t make it” and the inclusion of this scene from the filmmakers tells us that a lot of tropes from other zombie films are definitely applicable here.

‘Rules of Survival’ – The Double Tap “In those moments where you’re not sure the undead are really dead dead, don’t get all stingy with your bullets.” The voice over now explains that you need to get a gun and learn how to use it while footage of a city street overrun by chaos and zombies is shown. As it goes through the crowd it focuses on a woman who shoots a zombie. The camera is continually shaky to add to the chaos where you can’t really focus on anything and the camera follows the woman’s gaze to look down at the zombie. This is effective because although what you see looks like she has just saved herself, you know from the voice over that death is imminent because she has not shot the zombie through the head. This is effective film making because every element (the shaky camera, the matter-of-fact voice over, the screaming from the actors) adds to the sense of imminent death that you can tell is about to happen. However the comedy element is still brought to the film through the dry jokes the main character makes about the situation where he mentions she became a ‘human happy meal’ so although it’s a dreadful situation, the comedy is not lost. What makes this scene really effective is that is draws on tropes from other zombie films (e.g shooting in the head) and brings them into a new element by making them funny which is something the audience rarely sees so it’s new and exciting. Phoebe Coleman

Editing Every time one of the main character’s rules is brought up, used or ignored it shows up on the screen, when the obese man was running the words ‘Rule #1 Cardio’ came up in 3d. This shows that the film acts as a survival guide. It is a running gag throughout the film. It’s highly effective because this gag keeps interest, as the viewers are always looking forward to finding out the next rule and seeing them in action. The opening is meant to be very fast paced. It introduces the premise of the film without being boring and slow so you are instantly hooked not only by the premise but by the constant reminder of the need to survive and the humorous jokes. The pacing is highly effective because it adds to the tone of needing to keep moving, to get away, and it also works well with the type of comedy being used. If it was a slower pace, the comedy would not be as effective so everything works well together and has clearly been though about in detail.

Sound and Music The music in the background is quite steady and upbeat in some places. This distances the film from horror films. Where they would be using music to create suspense and fear, the music in this never gets too intense so that distances it from other zombie films. It has obviously been thought about because at it’s core, this is a comedy film, so they needed to make sure that, despite the gore and zombies, it never turned into a fully fledged horror film. Sound, in horror films, creates suspense in the same way the music in this needed to help make it seem more light hearted than other films with similar horror aspects. The sounds effects do two things. On one side you have the burp-type-effects which create the silly humour and light heartedness of the film, making you laugh at what really are atrocities. On the other side you have the sudden gunshots and explosions which remind you that this is an apocalypse, that terrible things are happening. The mix of the two brings together two genres that sometimes don’t mix. The sound has been thought about heavily as it is a lot of what makes the comedy-horror combination so effective.