Summary of the conventions
Mise en scene
Costume/make-up:
The conventional costumes for a horror apocalyptic are casual clothing such as jeans, T-shirts, jumper/hoodies. These make the film opening relatable to the audience, showing they are regular people. An example is in World War Z (you can see this in the picture below to the left). Costumes also tell us more about characters and their role in the film, for example in The Walking Dead we see two men wearing policemen wear. This showing us their role before the outbreak of the apocalypse (a background story to the characters). For make up, it is conventional for the characters to have simple, natural, looks instead of it being melodramatic. This is because it is once again relatable but also if a film opening was to have heavy make up it would be more comedic.
Setting:
Overall I can see that all settings for our genre are set in realistic modern place, a common setting is the city. However some film opening that had montages had other setting such as woods/forests, high ways and family homes. These all allow the audience to connect with the opening, because know and understand these place from seeing them daily. A good example is World War Z (you can see in the image below to the left). Some also was set in a realistic location but were made to look abandoned and ruined. Great example will be I am Legend. Due to this me and my group will be using realistic locations/setting for our opening.
Lighting/Colour:
For a horror apocalyptic film opening it is conventional to have low key lighting, this is because it creates tension and mystery. Quite a few of the film openings I analysed used low key lighting. However some used high key lighting. When using high key lighting it makes the film openings more creepy, this is because it doesn't fit, leaving the audience with questions. A good example of a film using high key lighting is The Cabin in the Woods (you can see the photo below). For colours, blacks, greys and reds are commonly used; these show danger and death, especially with red we would usually associate blood with the colour red. A good example is Zombieland, when having the slow motion shot of a zombie spiting blood. However some characters wear white and creams. These show how they are innocent but also vulnerable.
Camerawork
From the film openings I have watched and analysed I can see a wide range of camerawork being used in our genre, however there were certain shots that were common. The first one is long shots/establishing shot, these are used in the opening to set the scene. But it is also used to set the moods in the opening. A good example is I am Legend, while setting the scene it also shows the city quite with no one there building suspense. Another camera technique that is conventional is POV shots. These make the audience feel involved and feel connected with the character, a good example is the POV shot from Zombieland, this shot made us feel sorry for the character. Zooming has been a big camera technique for the horror apocalyptic genre, these are usually used to show characters facial expression, but are also used to build tension. The film Dawn of the Dead shows this really well. And last I found panning is commonly used in the genre, these shots are used to show the direction of a characters movement, while doing this it exposes the character danger in the location they are in. A film that uses this really effectively is The Road, this is because it does it at a slow pace, making the tension build more.
Editing
Editing in this genre was used differently through out, some opening chose to use it as much as they can some tried to keep it at a minimum. Scream used little editing, but because of this it made it feel more realistic towards the audience, but it also built tension (better than some other openings who did use editing a lot). Dawn of the Dead used quite a few different editing techniques, such as:
-Montage
-Cut in
-CGI
-Graphic match
All of these editing techniques are effectively especially with the use of the graphic match, this is because it shows us the colour red when a group of zombies are running towards the camera then showing us a red filtered ECG. Connoting that the person who is being supported by the ECG was attacked. Making the audience feel sorry for the un-known character. Using a montage in a horror apocalyptic film is very conventional, this is why we are planning to use one in our opening. World War Z used a different type of montage to Dawn of the Dead, it was more subtle and realistic. Using family homes, train stations and air ports. Due to this our group will be using the World War Z opening as inspiration, however we do plan to us a wide range of editing techniques to grip our audience.
Sound
A score is very conventional for this genre, they have been used in every film opening I have watched and analysed (apart from I am Legend). However they all are very different within pace, tempo, instruments and pitch . For example Zombieland uses a heavy, sort of rock score, using drums, guitar (electric) and bass through out the montage. This causes tension and is also synchronous to the genre. However the opening for The Road and World War Z use soft music, but they are still synchronous because they are in a minor key (giving the opening a more eerie feel to it). The difference between The Roads' core ans World War Zs' is, World War Z uses crescendos towards the middle of the opening. This was to create more suspense in the montage, which is very effective. Personally I preferred the scores from The Road and World War Z, in our opening we will looking in to these. Sound effect are quite common in this genre, effects such as walking, gun shots, opening doors ect. We will be making sure that our sound effects in our opening will be well recorded and planned, this will give a good and realistic effect to the audience.
Credits
The credits for this genre are mostly in sans serif and are bold, a good example is The Walking Dead's credits. These credits make the last names of the actors and people involved, bold, this makes them stand out and more memorable. However for an opening like Dawn of the Dead, they added in a effect that made the credits transition in and out like they are trailing blood. This is effective because we associate that transition with blood, making it creepy and interesting. The positioning of the credits in each opening change, depending on the opening. On the other hand I found that wherever they placed the credits, they were not in the way of the main focus in the shots. This allows the audience to focus on the film and enjoy it while being able to see the credits. The conventional order for this genre was used the same way though out mot of the film openings I have seen:
-Distribution company
-Production company
-Actors
-Costume/make-up, Casting, Music etc
-lastly the Director
This shows us the main focus from the credits are the distribution company, production company and directory; this is because they are the first and last credits we see.
