AS Media "28 Weeks Later" Opening Scene Deconstruction

"28 Weeks Later" Opening Scene Deconstruction

Brief

Sequel to the 2002 film, "28 Days Later", "28 Weeks Later" is a conventional, post-apocalyptic horror that follows the prequel's plot of a 'zombie' outbreak.

Below are two videos of the film opening. Unfortunately, there seems to be two missing scenes at the start of each video, yet this didn't seem to hinder the viewing completely. On the other hand, the title sequence and credits have not been commented on due to the cut of them. The video of the first part is attached directly below, while the succeeding clip is below the first:

Within this clip is a chase scene. I wanted to research into this feature so I am aware of any conventions that would have improved our chase scene in our preliminary. Also, I wanted to see the difference in genres.

Genre

I selected this film to analyse, as the film opening is incredibly eventful and dramatic. As it is a 'zombie' horror, I expect to see the following conventions. These conventions may be subverted or conformed to:

This genre interests myself as the fictional 'undead' antagonists ironically hold a sense of realism with their fairly human appearance. Consequently, I want to know how to play with the audience's irrational fears of an apocalypse to create an exhilarating and successful piece. Whether this be adhering to the listed conventions or utilizing original techniques to make the scene enticing, I hope deconstructing this iconic and influential film opening of the 'zombie' franchise will allow me to learn and improve new and effective ideas for future work.

Plot

In the above videos, the scene begins with the unknown cries for help from outside a dark, bleak house. Upon somewhat reluctantly and nervously opening the door to a desperate young boy, a great amount of daylight swarms in to the house temporarily blinding the characters, suggesting that they are in hiding. The characters seem to include three couples: the main male protagonist, Don, his wife Alice, a younger woman named Karen, a younger man called Sam, an older man and who we assume to be his wife.

Don, hurriedly pulls in a young, scared boy into the dimness of the house, while Alice immediately hugs the scared child. This cuts to the boy devouring a bowl of pasta, showing his starving, and therefore weak and vulnerable condition.

From left to right: Over the shoulder long shot, over the shoulder mid shot and a close up.

They all question the boy about his past events and he tells his story of running away from his parents who were "trying to kill [him]". The absence of an outraged reaction from the older characters suggest that they are well aware of the current outbreak. Photos of this are documented below.

When the boy mentions there being "others", they are straight forward and ask "how many?" This can be interpreted as further evidence of the characters' nervousness towards the scale of the outbreak. It also shows their isolation from the world as they need any form of news to produce an image of the outside they are trying to hide from.

Above: Two mid shot/reverse shots.

During this dialogue, Karen walks away from the conversation towards a blocked window, which she dislodges a rag from to scope around. I assumed this was also due to her fear of the outside world, particularly when the more muffled diegetic sound of the boy claiming he was chased is still significant in the background. After the boy thinks about his response to "how many?", he gives a vague but powerful "loads", which cuts back to Karen looking out again only to come face to face with a 'zombie'.

The 'zombie' immediately attacks her, shattering the glass and biting her arm. Others begin to hear the commotion and Sam tries to pull her away only to fall backwards on the ground. Due to the bite, Karen has become a 'zombie' too, resembled by her blood red eyes and sudden violence. She pins Sam down trying to bite him and throwing up blood in the mean time.

This very graphic gore (based off cannibalism) is a convention that is the most decisive factor to labelling a 'zombie' horror. In addition, when Don impales the 'zombified' Karen with a crowbar, this not only conforms to the gore convention, but also the convention that the protagonists always have some form of weapon.

From left to right: An extreme close up, a close up shot, an extreme close up and another extreme close up.

The rest of the scene involves all the characters running from the horde of 'zombies' now breaking into the house. The characters seem to split up: the older couple and Sam heading into a barn, the boy and Alice running upstairs to take shelter in a bedroom and Don attempting to kill the 'zombies' before running away to help Alice and the boy.

The older man in the barn sacrifices himself to supposedly keep the 'zombies' out by pressing his body against the door. The older woman who we assume to be his wife shows a lot of concern and refuses to let him take the risk, but she is persuaded to follow Sam who is clambering up and out of the barn. Though, the door bursts open instantaneously killing the older man who then attacks his wife. We are not certain of Sam's fate as the scenes are broken up to cut to the situation with Alice, Don and the boy.

While the boy is hiding in a closet, Don tries forcing Alice to escape with him and abandon the boy. Alice is determined to save the boy and so tears out of her husband's grasp to protect the boy. In the bedroom enters a couple of 'zombies'. This scene is arguably the climax of the scene as everything seems to slow down to show the impact of Don's actions in this scene. Don can either risk his life to potentially help the boy and Alice from the 'zombie' or he can sacrifice them and save himself.

From top to bottom: Shot/reverse shots of a close up and another close up.

When the zombie starts running towards him, he slams the door shut. Personally, I believe this is the most traumatic scene as Don betrays his wife and an innocent boy for his own safety. The slam of the door emphasises the permanent consequences.

Don escapes out of a window before running across fields chased by a growing number of 'zombies'. He looks back briefly to see his wife who was screaming from the bedroom window suddenly disappear. Don runs until he comes across Sam undocking a boat. Don steals the boat from Sam by pushing him away. There is a brief moment of him trying to redeem himself and haul Sam into the boat, yet he is attacked by the swarming number of 'zombies' and so Don continues to flee. The blood in the water and the chopping of body parts from the boat's blade adds to the grotesque carnage within stereotypical 'zombie' horrors.

From left to right: A long shot, an extreme close up and another extreme close up.

Production

This scene conforms to the convention of a desolate building, as it takes place in a rural family house. The community of characters are withdrawn from one another. However, they have gathered together in what seems to be the dining room, implying that they do not live in this house with the surrounding characters to be at comfort in it. They seem to be rather like neighbours who are now cooperating with one another to survive. This is supported by the idea that the elderly male character knew of the local place "Sandford", which he said is "up river, few miles." This human instinct to team up in catastrophic situations is common in most 'zombie' and post-apocalyptic films. Therefore, this is conforming to the convention of having the company of other protagonists/survivors.

Above: A wide shot of the four secondary characters.

The characters' decisions and actions can also reflect the following conventions and characteristics we expect them to have in post apocalyptic films. As usually there are a group of survivors with an arrogant and heroic leader, a love interest, a couple, someone that sacrifices themselves and another that doesn't understand the outbreak and doesn't want people to die i.e. when they are turning into a 'zombie'.

On the other hand, a prominent theme in this genre of film is also isolation. The character's detachment to the outside world is presented visually by the boarding of windows, removal of light and overall choice of the already remote countryside. All of these features show that they are isolating themselves from the barbarity outside.

This confinement is unsettling for the audience as the world outside must be awful enough for the characters to force themselves into solitude. When Don escapes, the light is a lot more brighter hinting towards his increase in freedom. Yet, the brightness of it also means he can be seen and so, shows he is vulnerable too.

From left to right: An aerial shot and a low angle mid shot.

The dim setting is also used to intrigue the viewer and to get them to really focus in the scene. This helps the jump scare become more effective as the audience is caught off guard, due to giving their undivided attention to listening and trying to understand the despondent state of the survivors.

Furthermore, their anxiety and paranoia to effectively conceal themselves is exaggerated, enforcing the extent of their fears. This is evident by their reluctant action to invite in the unexpected visitor pounding at the door. Don even seems threatening with a crowbar when briskly unlocking the door. Because of this strange behaviour and tense atmosphere we don't expect to see in a family house, we immediately recognize that the setting is actually a safe house.

The wife, Alice, shows concern for the child and even seems maternal. Yet, this could be due to the fact that the boy is deemed to be more innocent due to his age and earlier alone state. This sense of overprotection from a stranger further supports the audience's suspicion that something is not right. The dirty clothes the boy wears and his frantic consumption of food allows us to understand her maternal worry and we feel sympathetic. In other words, the use of props and unkempt appearance toys with the audience's feelings and fears. As we are sympathetic, we listen more carefully to the boy's story reeling us in to the unexpected jump scare.

From left to top right to bottom right: A mid shot, a close up and an another close up.

Heavy make up and fake gore is the most obvious feature and conforms to the convention that 'zombies' are brutal and careless. The red eye contacts are also used to make the audience unsettled. The eyes are so piercing and disturbing, the extreme close up of the 'zombified' Karen is like another jump scare itself. When the prop of the crowbar also swings down to bludgeon the back of her head this increases our discomfort.

Above: Aerial close up.

Post-production

The beginning mainly consists of mid shots and soft, steady movements like pans and tilts. The editing also shows continuity and there even seems to be match on action through the door and shot/reverse shots within the 180-degree rule of the confrontation of the boy. After this appearance of the boy, the editing becomes sharp first shown by the cut to him devouring food. This can represent that him being brought into the safe house is like disrupting the normal routine. We know this as he was being followed by the 'zombies' he was running from, and so he led them to the safe house. Hence, the hectic events follow.

The jump scares and invasion of the 'zombies' suddenly change the steady pace of the cameras to a more frantic movement bombarded with many camera angles and tracking shots. The tracking shot following Karen falling onto Sam includes the audience as it makes it look like we fell with them. This indicates the characters' downfall and literally showing this is very effective.

Above: The tracking shot of Karen falling onto Sam.

There seems to be 'white flashes' but this is where the camera is jolting so violently and causing a blur of 'zombies', as if they are too agile to pin point. This is also supported by the large amount of camera shots ranging from slightly different angles and edited jump cuts, which add distortion.

From top to bottom: Close up shot at an angle, examples of the 'white flashes' and another close up shot but behind the 'zombie'.

When Don escapes, the slamming of Alice's door leads to the opening of the window. This transition presents the connection of sacrificing, as by shutting out the wife and killing her off, he can be freed. From then on, the shots become somewhat more stable until the confrontation at the boat.

There is many different angled tracking shots, but they all show this one scene unlike the splitting of scenes in the house. These shots however do also capture the increasing proximity and number of 'zombies' by the extreme long shots which start blurry and then focus. Also the many long shots of Don running displays how alone he now is and more unprotected in the field of growing 'zombies'.

From top to bottom: Extreme long shot and a tracking shot.

Below I have listed significant sounds that added to the overall blood-curdling atmosphere of the film opening:

• At 00:00 of part one - Like the setting and lighting in the beginning, the overall sound is hushed. It does start with a non diegetic sound like a synthetic whirring or ringing that increases in volume and pace to reflect the uncertainty of the boy's cries and pounds on the door.

• At 00:09 of part one - The earlier mentioned sound rings with a lower pitch and pace to differentiate the suspense of not knowing who is behind the door and the realization of it being an alone boy. With the unlocking of the door, the ringing seems to fade slightly as the boy is comforted by Alice. The heavy diegetic bolting sound of the door enforces the compulsion to not be exposed to the outside. While the diegetic pants show the young boy's exhausted state.

• At 00:32 of part one - The ringing sound is silenced by the diegetic slop of pasta the boy carelessly devours. This seems to mimic our expectations of the brutal and inhumane consumption of humans by 'zombies'.

From left to right: A close up and an extreme close up.

• At 00:45 of part one - As Karen wanders off to look out of the window, the ominous non diegetic whirring sound gains in volume once more to build up tension to the jump scare. This sound is parallel to the suspense as Karen is becoming more endangered by distancing herself. The boy's upsetting story is muffled but is still significant. With the desire for the viewer to listen to the boy either to gain some understanding or because of sympathy, we are uncontrollably forced into listening closely. We then become unguarded as the tension builds up around us, (literally due to the non diegetic sound.)

• At 00:55 of part one - When Karen removes the rag from the barricaded windows we can distinctly hear it being pushed aside, there is even a diegetic sound of crows, warning us of how unusually quiet it is. With the boy's story still being heard, this can also be foreshadowing the up coming jump scare.

From left to right: Close up shot and an extreme close up.

• At 01:00 of part one - The boy's story becomes darker confessing that it was his parents who chased him, the ringing sound turns more into an artificial orchestra. There is a high ring which drops to a lower pitch with the accompany of a change in notes similar to a very faint bass-like piano. This can further manipulate our feelings for the boy, as it is parallel to the heart breaking feeling for such a young boy losing his parents. At 01:10 to 01:13 is where it is heard the most prominently. This is during the child's silence in thought to answer with "loads", which as said earlier is unsettling due to the vagueness of it.

Above: Close up shot.

• At 01:16 of part one - From the jump scare onwards, there are multiple non diegetic and diegetic sounds that are all fast paced and abrupt to indicate the sudden change in atmosphere. The most chilling diegetic sounds include the crunching of bones, crashing of glass, unearthly hoarse groans of the 'zombies', screams and running footsteps.

From left to right: Close up and a long shot.

• At 01:33 of part one - The non diegetic soundtrack also becomes more intense and even includes the distortion of guitars to reflect the brash events like the attack of Sam and violent death of Karen.

From left to right: Two shot, a close up shot and a low angled mid shot.

• At 01:52 of part one - After the attack on Sam stops, the non diegetic sound becomes less layered and sounds like a quiet whirring again. This allows us to focus on the diegetic sound of the forced entry of the 'zombies' and the footsteps of the fleeing characters.

From top left to top right to bottom: Long shot slightly over the shoulder, close up and a tracking shot. 

• At 00:17 of part two - The non diegetic sound is incredibly faint now as the scene has reached its climax where Don has to choose whether to save himself or Alice and the boy. The absence of sound and dependence on just the diegetic sound almost slows down the scene and makes us focus on the raw reaction and relationship between the characters. After the entrance of the 'zombies', the famous non diegetic theme tune starts melodic (parallel to the thought provoking scene) and then increases in volume as we near the end of the climax and the conclusion. With the pronounced diegetic slam of the door as a perfect end, it is used as a final release in suspense. This score with the re-established guitars gains volume throughout Don's escape until suddenly stopping.

Above: Match on action of door slamming shown by close up shots at different angles.

• At 2:38 of part two - The diegetic calm hum of the motorboat, represents the end of the scene and the peace for reflection and therefore regret, as shown by the diegetic dialogue of "oh sh*t".