Analysis of Opening Sequence - Shaun of the Dead

Scene summaries – Shaun of the Dead (first two minutes)

The film starts with the credits of the production companies showing. There are about 3 companies altogether and it is important to show them to the audience because it wouldn’t be fair to give them no credit for all of their hard work. The film itself starts with a close up shot of the main character. This is important because it gives the audience a feel of the type of character that they are. It is a mid shot with a shallow focus of the man in a pub. It is a mid shot because he is right in the middle and although the background is blurry, it is clear that it is in a pub. This is important to the opening scenes because it gives the audience an idea of the type of places that this character might like to spend their spare time and also can help to understand what type of person the character is judging by this. It then goes onto some over the shoulder shots of the man having a conversation with a woman who comes across as his partner. Judging by their different facial expressions, the woman doesn’t seem to be too impressed about something and the man has a sheepish type look upon his face. In the next shot there is a group shot of the man, the woman and another rather overweight man playing on a fruit machine. The overweight man is quite important because it makes it very clear that the man is the reason why the couple appear to be having a dispute and the man still has a sheepish expression upon his face.

The next shot in the film shows that the couple are not alone and that they are with other people who are most likely their friends. This is also another group shot because there is more than 3 people in it where they all appear to have awkward facial expressions which is usually the case when a couple are having an argument.  The audience know that they are having a dispute because they are in the pub and the next shot is of the overweight man showing is a close up of his expression while the couple are stating that they are not intentionally trying to offend him. There is a use of mise-en-scene in this part of the scene because the overweight man and the man that is with the woman have completely different costumes on. This shows juxtaposition between the two characters. This also occurs with the couple themselves; the woman is dressed up whereas the man is looking slightly scruffy. He also has a scruffy beard as well which is a use of mise-en-scene because it is part of costume. The lighting in the pub its self is quite dark and comes across rather dingy to perhaps suggest that it is quite a boring placed to be. The next shot is of the other couple which is a two shot and out of politeness, they are apologising to them as well because they don’t want to offend them either.  In the next two shot of the other couple, they come across as slightly confused because of their facial expressions.

Screen shots – Shaun of the Dead

 

The film starts with a close up mid shot of the man. This normally helps to set the scene of the film and get a feel of what is going on. It is also a shallow focus shot which makes the audience focus more on the man’s face.

There is then an over the shoulder shot of the couple having a conversation with each other. The camera is quite close up to the characters faces which also helps to set the scene so the audience can see what is going on.

There is then a group shot of the couple and a man in the background. This is cleverly arranged by the director as it fits in well with what the couple are talking about.

After this group shot there is another group shot that shows that they are with more people and that they have been there for a while because there are quite a few empty glasses on the table.

This is a two shot of a couple. Their facial expressions are quite dignified and emotive because they give the audience a sense of what they are feeling.

Titles and credits – Shaun of the Dead

There are three separate slides that appear before the actual film itself starts. They are the production and distribution companies logos and credits. They don’t just have just black backgrounds but the logos themselves come with background images. They have no affect on the film at all and don’t affect the quality and atmosphere. However, we need them to know the main companies involved.

The use of sound – Shaun of the Dead

There is no sound at the start of the film because it starts with the titles and credits appearing. This is silent because they would have no effect on the film at all and don’t effect the storyline or the editing. After they fade there is some diegetic sound because it starts of in a pub and there is a lot of noise such as hustle and bustle. There is also quite a lot of diegetic speech as well. This is because there are a lot of conversations going on around them and they are having a conversation as well. 

Value of Research

- background / ambient sound affects the atmosphere so we need to pay attention to this
- more credits in the opening of films tha I had realised - why don't we notice them?
- we learn a lot from facial expressions - lots of close ups needed to allow this to happen