Stylistic Analysis of Zombieland Essays - 1153 Words

â€Å"Zombieland† is a film where a lot of stylistic choices were made. Especially the opening scene says a lot about the film and the characters. Mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound shape the film’s effect on the viewer. The film begins in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The first shot is unbalanced to prime our expectation that something will change position. The shot is of the American flag, which is focused while the background is unfocused which means it indicates that the flag is of importance. From the close-up of the American flag we get a handheld panning shot of a car crash, this shows us a deeper meaning: America has fallen. While the actor stands up with his body-mounted camera it creates an illusion of a point of†¦show more content†¦For instance Columbus; we see the world mainly through his eyes. Columbus narrates the entire story. Herewith we built up a relationship with this film character. We feel sympathy for him. Big motifs in the film are his rules of survival and a parallelism where Columbus is talking about the death (of a zombie) of the week with Tallahassee. Columbus mentions these things quite a few times in the film. Sound is also a big part of the film. There is a non-diegetic soundtrack used throughout the title sequence, which is rock music and when the American flag appears, the music changes to the American anthem, which is slightly lower pitched and distorted. This adds to the whole imagery of the film. Then you also have Columbus’s observations and comments that run throughout the film as well. Director and editor also used diegetic sound, which is mainly used for the growling of the zombies when they are attacking people. The sound of the zombies growling is low pitched and the amplitude of the vibrations is loud. Another big part of the film is mise-en-scene. For instance the setting; throughout the film the filmmakers made use of a lot of local areas like on location settings. â€Å"Zombieland† was filmed in Atlanta, GA so they used a lot of practical locations like the grocery store and the amusement park in which a big fight between the living and the undead played out. The settings the director and producer have chosen are not typical for a horror film