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.