Analysis No.02 Response to Adam Comisky

Response to Video 01

Continuing with the discussion on atmosphere in the first film we all realise the motivation for the screen being unclear / harder to see is to allow the audience to contentrate harder. When something shocking happens the impact is twice as strong. We noticed this technique in lots of films, mainly recent ones such as '28 Days Later' where the camera shows glimpses of movement drawing the auidence's attention to try find the source.
The same can be found in Planet Terror where a scene with very little light, set in the dark on the side of a road, the audience pays closer attention to try and see what's going on so when a car light glares and a zombie jumps in and snatches a victim the shock is greater.

Taking into consideration of the 3 minute time restriction the film could of started by showing the zombies rising, then cut to the band members. The reason could simply be the band member's music waking them up? or just one up which in turn infects the other crew members (sailors). This could be shown in 10-20 seconds?
In other zombie films, majority of the time it starts with a small number of infected that bite, spreading the zombie plague e.g. Dawn of the Dead, Return of the living dead, Shaun of the dead, Planet Terror etc.
We've found there is often no explanaition as to why the original carriers have the zombie plague, it merely spreads from them by contamtination of some kind, be it bite, fumes, mixing of bodily fluids etc. So it may not be necassary to establish the initial cause of outbreak on the ship.

As for mentioning the 2nd video i did'nt state it clearly hence the confusion. Mearly linking the change of character/action through the videos.

Breakdown Video 02 - 80s/90s Era

Its really apparent that a comdey / over the top element influenced this video. For example with the character that gushes projectile blood from his mouth, mimicking the movement of a harmonica player which alludes to 80's "Splatter Horror". Another is the chasing montage where the band are constantly running in different directions in a way that's reminiscent of Scooby Doo. There is also a bit more of action film genre elements in this video, such as the end seen with the harpoon. We believe the video drew influences from films like "Evil Dead" where gore and ridiculous situations occur frequently throughout. We need only mention the chainsaw arm replacement.
We feel the video just consists of chasing scenes where the band members are all eventually infected. So plot wise not much happens? This could be a reflection of the period, zombie films were attempted by all, plots were minimal and gore was the monumental factor. This era defined zombie films as 'Custard Pie slap-stick gore'.

Breakdown Video 03 - 00s Era

Low camera angles and awkward cuts alluding to more recent films. Movement is more jerky and sharp and the action is a lot faster paced. Zombies sprint just as fast or in some cases faster than the poor victims they're after. This refelects most of the modern zombie films e.g. 28 weeks later. Obligatory sexploitation, the victim of the last film is a woman. However, despite serving this role she is less exposed than those that served this purpose in zombie films passed. She is the modern version much like female characters in films such as Shaun of the Dead.
In the end everyone is infected and the plague of zombies moves on towards "Town", a more populated area where it is implied more will join the legions of the undead. This is the typical apocolyptic end which features in most zombie films, the growing infection which has no silver lining, no way out and could therefore be coming to a town near you. This type of ending makes the audience more involved in the film and leaves the next possible events in the story to the audiences imagination. We believe the ending for this video fufills the zombie genre's criteria.

- Carrie, Dan and Nina