Opening sequence analysis - 'World War Z'

Opening sequence analysis

Opening sequence analysis on 'World War Z'

Camera - Shots and angles:

In the opening sequence of 'World War Z', various camera shots and angles are used such as -

•  Close-ups - In the first five seconds of the opening sequence we get a close up of brad pitt playing his character, the close up is used to show the audience how happy and well brushed up he is. 

• Medium shot/eye level - In the 10th second of the opening sequence the camera zooms out more creating a more open shot/middle shot from the waist up. This shows more detail of what is going on. The same shot also shows eye-level as when sitting and watching the scene, the actors are also sitting down. The characters are therefore represented to the audience as though they are actually with with them.

• Long shot/wide shot/Establishing shot - In this part of the scene there is both a long shot to show fully show the whole city and what is going on and the wide shot as the shot is able to get a good view of a full image and standing bodies. This is so that the audience can see where the scene may be shot.

  

Low angle - The low angle shot shows part of the scene which is rarely viewed most of the time creating a new thing to look at and connotes that something very serious may happen causing the audience to start thinking about what might happen.

High angle - The high angle shot shows a much bigger picture of the scene like where they are as this is very important for a film so that the audience can instantly understand the background details.

Editing: 

• Explosions when brad pitt's character gets out of the car, sounds such as sirens and screaming mostly made by special effects. This is to get the audience thinking about what it could be happening.

• A police man gets hit by a lorry, this is done to surprise the audience and muffled sound when the family have crashed creates a real effect of what it would sound like if the audience crashed with them.

• People are running, jumping and flying around and smashing into glass, this is made by special effects. This draws the audience's attention to many different things to again make out like they are also in the movie.

• Basic editing of scenes being cut into each other creates a fast pace scene which gets the audiences adrenaline going.

Sound:

• Inevitably in Philadelphia, there are sounds of beeping horns, loud traffic and people talking which is very stereotypical of city's, this makes the audience feel like they are also there as the connotations of horns and loud traffic etc make the scene seem very realistic.

• Sounds of helicopters flying over the city and police sirens start going off. These act as sudden alerts towards the audience so that they know something is happening and to get ready for it.

• sounds of wild explosions, people screaming and shouting, engines revving and wheels screeching makes it seem as if the audience is there and creates a fast pace adrenaline rushing scene for the audience.

• When the car is hit there is a slow muffled sound and a low pitched voice for a few seconds. This is to make the audience feel like they have just crashed themselves and they are in the scene, as when you crash or there are explosions your ears will tend to muffle for a bit and thus being able to hear a faint sound of someone's voice. This is  also similar to being underwater. which is shown in the scene.

• very diegetic sounds creating an ambient sound is present as the music grows and grows as everything around it is so loud, this is to create tension among the audience as if it is building up to a surprise.

Mise en scene: 

• The audience will be able to see the Big busy city of Philadelphia in quite a dull and rainy day  which may connote that something big may happen as something that is dull usually connotes that something bad will come along with it.

• Crazy flash mob of infected people running around and attacking people. This acts as a surprise factor to the audience as they don't understand what is happening, and may be thinking why are these people running? why are they so destructive?. The audience is able to see why when people start get bitten by the people running and soon enough turn into one of them.

• Conventional Philadelphia taxi's sitting in the street crowded together, this also helps the audience to be able to establish where the scene is set. unconventional helicopters flying around as only once in a while would a helicopter be present which would be when there is a crime committed.

• Conventional everyday costumes worn by the main actors is to show the audience how the characters were living a comfortable life. police in police uniforms are there to show there authority to the audience making it seem like something must be happening for the police to be there.

• Quite a dull lighting to connote a bad day, possibly denotes that something bad must come along with the bad day. It is conventionally quite dull in Philadelphia in General.

• The daughter's teddy bear gets dropped and the dad picks it up may connote that the brad Pitt who plays the dad is not going to let anything happen to his daughters and wife and the audience could say that he is the protagonist as he leads them to safety and moves to different places to combat the virus that has infected the population.

• Streets full of infected people while fighter jets fly above creates a scary apocalyptic feel to the audience and is quite unconventional as very rarely will fighter jets be seen.

• Smoke and explosions seen from a far connotes how much damage has been done to the city. This is watched by a helicopter above making it seem as though the audience is also in the helicopter.

Ideologies: 

In the opening sequence, the representation of Philadelphia carried with it an ideological perspective that is inherently a very busy city. Philadelphia's representation is constructed to reflect the values, attitudes and beliefs of USA as they know what sort of city Philadelphia really is.

This representation of Philadelphia as a busy city connotes that the institution paramount pictures/sky-dance productions and USA, believes that their target audience to view 'World War Z' will be be ideologically aligned with their own ideology as the audience may want to visit the city one day and so purchase/pay to see the movie as its set in such a big city. 

Genre: 

There are many elements in the opening sequence such as objects, colour and locations. The genre of the film which is horror/thriller, really signifies the different conventions as firstly, objects like the conventional american taxi connotes a busy city along with the location of Philadelphia sets up a great scene for something action packed/thriller. The use of dull colours such as grey show a side of horror, as grey is quite a conventional colour associated with horror.

Audience Reception: 

The uses and gratifications theory. The way in which an audience may react when watching the opening sequence of 'World War Z' are to be entertained and to interact with others. Some may get a thrill out of watching it and find the sequence entertaining, this engages the audience due to the amount of action and narrative enigma's that follow as the audience start to get really into the movie because they are blissfully unaware of what will happen next or what that was. Those who love this type of genre/movie will really engage as they can have the opportunity to interact with each other as they will have a lot to talk about considering there is such a niche sub-genre to discuss. 

Narrative: 

In the opening sequence of World War Z, the audience can see that company has signified possible narratives such as todorov's narrative structure, which can be seen at the start through just and equilibrium and disruption throughout. The company has also signified that there is already a protagonist and antagonists within the first 2 minutes giving reference to propp's character types. Lastly, the company has used many narrative enigma's which are signified towards the audience e.g, what was that explosion?, why are there helicopters?, why are people running?

Here is the opening sequence of World War Z -