Analysis of the first 15 minutes of '28 Days Later'

The opening scene of '28 Days Later' consists of several hand-held camera shots of severe chaos which seems to be around the world due to the different cultures shown. The shots cutaway and are extremely shaky, the audience are unable to see clearly what is happening, there is also lots of panic-stricken civilians around. This connotes that the footage was filmed quickly and almost like a global disruption. The editing of the clip is fast paced to suggest the fear people feel and how they are all rushing to a safe place. Also, the diegetic sound used throughout this scene is muffled and fuzzy along with the quality of  the footage. The camera then zooms out to reveal the source of these clips, a dark room is shown with several televisions all playing the chaotic videos.

In the next scene, a pan is used to show a gorilla strapped to a desk, this suggests to the audience that he is there for some type of experiment in a lab. Parallel sound it used within this scene as a mysterious non-diegetic sound effect is used, this parallels with the mystery for the audience so far in the movie and all the unanswered questions they have. In the lab room, a pan from right to left is used to connote that something is not right as the human eye is accustomed to seeing things from left to right. The audience then discover that the lab is being broken into. Following on from this pan, the shot turns into a high angle shot through CCTV footage. Through the security camera screen the audience can see 2 people wearing balaclavas and dark clothing, this gives connotations and implies to the audience that they are going to break into the facility. This intrigues the audience and they want to find out why they are breaking in. Once these unknown characters have broken into the facility, the audience immediately get the impression they are feeling unease; possibly because of the monkey that is strapped to a table with no freedom. The audience get insight into the emotions the characters are feeling towards the monkey due to their facial expressions and body language, it is then clear to the audience they are a group of animal right's activists who are trying to free the monkeys.

There is a scientist in the lab room whom tries to phone help due to the intruders, a high angle shot is used to show his vulnerability. The scientist tries to explain to the intruders that the gorillas have a infection known as ''rage'' that makes them violent, however the animal activists are unfazed by the scientists words and shot reverse shots show the characters in conversation. Once the activists release the monkey, a point of view shot is used showing the gorilla quickly running out of its cage, eventually it attacks the women activist. Close up shots are used of the women's face to show her fear and panic whilst trying to fight the gorilla. Diegetic sound is used of the screams heard by the women. The whole scene has turned to chaos and tension has been created by fast paced editing.

Typography is used of the words '28 Days Later' connoting to the audience that this time has passed since the previous incident. A high angle shot is used establishing a man and his surroundings, he is in a hospital bed, with no clothes on indicating to the audience he has been left there. The man walks out of the hospital room and around the hospital, unknown to why there is such silence. Elliptical editing is used when he is walking around the hospital to show a passage of time. The hospital is empty and extremely messy which implies to the audience there has been chaos. Furthermore, high key lighting is used within this scene to indicate that something has gone wrong in and that possibly the character is not in a right mind state, possibly dreaming.

Treatment

Title: Pandemic

Duration: 120 seconds. 

Audience: 15 years and over. 

Distributor: Hammer Films.

Synopsis: 

Suggested Elements: Things such as the zombie thriller in our film differentiate ours from others and make it stand out due to the fact there is a lack of zombie films at the moment. Also the use of good effects and soundsshould make ours stand out if we can pull them off to the level we expect to.

RESEARCH INTO SAME GENRE

The Walking Dead (TV Series)
Plot: Sherrif's deputy Rick Grimes is shot and wounded in an altercation with criminals. He awakens weeks later from a coma in an abandoned and badly-damaged hospital. Upon leaving, Rick discovers a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies, colloquially called "walkers" and "biters". He also discovers his wife and son are missing, and meets survivors Morgan and his son Duane, who take him in and explain the situation. Rick arms himself and travels to Atlanta, where the CDC is said to have set up a quarantined safe zone in the city. He discovers that the city has been overrun by walkers and soon finds himself surrounded. After being rescued by Glenn, Rick meets part of Glenn's group in a nearby department store where they were taking cover. Walkers attack forcing them to leave behind a member of the group, Merle, who was handcuffed on the roof by Rick due to his unstable and violent behavior.

A few miles outside the city, Rick's wife Lori and son Carl have been hiding with Shane – Rick's partner and best friend – along with the rest of Glenn's group. Reunited at the camp with Lori and Carl, Rick shares command of the group with Shane, who in Rick's absence has fallen in love with Lori. Several go back to town to rescue Merle and collect a cache of guns Rick left behind, but they discover that Merle fled after sawing off his hand. They arrive back at the camp to find that it has been nearly overrun by walkers. In hopes of finding answers and a safer location, the group decides to travel to the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

Similarities: The similarities between our film and The Walking Dead is our main character is injured severely and falls into a coma. When he wakes up it is post-apocolyptic and everything has gone. He finds his family (brother) is missing which sets up his quest to find him. Also, like The Walking Dead, our main character will be a very dominant character and seen is the leader of the group. The last similarity is our characters will not call them zombies but by a nickname. 

Soundtrack for film:

TREATMENT

Title: Pandemic

Duration: 120 seconds. 

Audience: 15 years and over. 

Distributor: Hammer Films.

Synopsis: A young adult has been attacked while in the woods, and enters a coma. Whilst in the coma a zombie outbreak occurs without the young adult (Rudy) knowing. He awakens from the coma with a letter from his brother (Seth) alerting him of the outbreak. Rudy is left alone and weak within the hospital, without any idea of what could happen next. 

Suggested Elements: Things such as the zombie thriller in our film differentiate ours from others and make it stand out due to the fact there is a lack of zombie films at the moment. Also the use of good effects and sounds should make ours stand out if we can pull them off to the level we expect to. 

PROPS RESEACRH

Props

• We will be using a drip, for when Rudy is in his coma.

• Using a hospital gown also for when Rudy is to wake up from his coma. This will be used and seen quite a lot in one of our scenes.

• A hospital bed for our main character Rudy to lay in as he wakes from his coma.

• Makeup is a prop that we need, so that we can put makeup onto our sub actors that are going to be zombies. 

• Guns are needed for Seth (Rudy's brother) as he is portrayed as a hunting shop owner. 

• Hunting clothes are needed for both Rudy and Seth when they are to go hunting and then evidently how Rudy enters his coma. The hunting clothes are things such as camouflage clothing and boots etc. 

• Paper is needed in order to write the note that is left for Rudy beside his hospital bed.

• Also a necklace is needed for us to leave on the bedside with the paper also, to symbolise the faith in Rudy.

THE FADE SHOT

This is a shot that we will be using to good use in our film, to emphasise on our storyline, which is Rudy being in a coma as the outbreak started. We will use it to show when it goes back to Rudy being in the coma, so we will fade to white and then it will be the images of Rudy's brother visiting him, in a blurred sort of image to again emphasise on the fact Rudy is in a coma. 

'A video fade is when a shot gradually fades to (or from) a colour.' In our case white. The timing of a fade normally indicates the importance in change of time or between scenes. Using a slower fade would normally be used at the end or start of the actual film. 
                                                                                                                                                               
 

This is an example of the fade to white effect that we are going to use, at the fifth second when the whole screen begins to fade to white is what we will use. 

Name: Seth Trueman
Age: 28
Occupation: Legal hunting shop owner

Personality Traits
Seth is very similar to Rudy in aspects such as the way he portrays himself in comparison to how he really is internally, except Seth seems to feel he is more dominant over Rudy as he is older. We see a clip in our film before the outbreak and we see Seth as the most dominant then however, as the film goes on Rudy becomes to show more dominance over him, and Seth becomes his wingman and Rudy takes the dictatorship role. Seth was the owner of a very successful hunting store and was on good income. He lived a good life with his wife and son, who he manages to keep safe throughout the film. As he was a hunter he is extremely skillful practically so he has an advantage however, he has never experienced the outbreak alone like Rudy has, therefore his skill and knowledge lacks in comparison to Rudy.


Function in Narrative
Seth plays a huge role in Rudy managing to survive at the beginning, as he leaves him a note advising of what has happened, and also a gun in order to survive. As the film progresses he plays a huge role as one of the main leaders of the group as he is Rudy's right hand man, and Rudy is the main man. He is the most experienced when it comes to hunting, so he passes on his skills to the others in the group, causing them to become a dominant force against the zombies.

Appearence

Name: Rudy Trueman
Age: 24
Occupation: Mechanic and part-time hunter

Personality Traits
Rudy is a dominant character and comes across as the dictator of the situations him and his group get in. Internally, Rudy is a caring man who cares for everyone as he shows some signs of kind heartedness however, on the outside Rudy portrays himself as careless and extremely stubborn with the decisions he makes and the way he expresses himself. He lives a life with low income and no wife, just a family who he really cares for, however his mother has died. His job is a mechanic, so this expresses the fact Rudy is very skillful practically. He also hunts in his spare time as his brother, Seth, runs a very successful hunting business.


Function in Narrative
We are first introduced to Rudy when he awakens from a coma. During the coma there has been a zombie outbreak, which Rudy wakes up oblivious to. Rudy learns many survival skills from being isolated in the apocalypse, which makes him a very dominant character within his group which he joins later on in our film. He goers from being an ordinary man with a lousy shot, and no major impact in anybody's lives, to being the main person everyone depends on in the group to keep the alive.


Appearance
As we have only filmed the first 2 minutes, we only see the scene where Rudy awakens from his coma. In this scene, Rudy looks exhausted and pale. He will be extremely sweaty and scruffy looking, with cuts and bruises on multiple parts of his body. He wears a hospital gown which is not fastened at the back, so it exposes the bandage he has covering a bullet wound. His appearance suggests he has been in a coma and out of contact with the world for a long time. It also suggests he is extremely weak and low on energy at this point.

                this image is Rick Grimes from 'The Walking Dead'