Opening Sequence Analysis 2 (Zombieland)

Zombieland uses a very effective opening scene which straight away sets the narrative and genre of the film. We can tell this by the instant gore we are shown as a helpless man holding a camera in first person view is attacked and eaten alive by a zombie. In the distance during this we can also see the capital building of Washington up in smoke meaning the audience instantly recognises a disaster is afoot. We are then shown an extreme close up shot of the zombie giving us a chance to take in the great make up effects applied. Because of this we can can tell straight away by the first few seconds that this is going to be a gorey horror film. We also know from this first scene that this film is also going to be a comedy after the zombie looks in the camera, picks at he's teeth in the reflection and burps. These two genre's contrast each other extremely, however in this opening they are conveyed together perfectly keeping a great ballance between gore and comic effect. We can also tell from the narration that this is going to be a comedy when the soft voice of Jesse Isenberg narrates over scenes of people getting eaten alive by zombies. Lines like "It's amazing how things can go from bad, to total shit storm" create comic effect as in a situation like this we would expect a survivor to sound panicked or scared. Alternativley the narrators voice is calm and soothing as if he has been doing this for years. The narrator does not decide to hide anything or hold back on information for us to find out later as horror films ussually do to build suspense. Instead the audience is straight up told everything that has happened to the world and how the zombie infection has spread world wide. The narrator then tells us he's rules to survive in zombieland in which for each rule we are shown an example of someone being horrifically killed by not following he's rules. This again is very horrific but funny at the same time. For example, Jesse Isenberg tells us the first rule is cardio. He tells us that consequently the first to be killed were "The fatties". Dialogue like this is humerous and creates a ballance even when we are shown an overwieght man struggling to escape a zombie until he is tragically killed. We are then shown a montage of different situations in which people are attacked by zombies. The lighting used here is quiet bright and colourful which shows convensions of a comedy rather than the traditional darkness of a horror. While this montage is happening Metallica plays in the background with "For whom the bell tolls". This song is a good match for the film as lyrics such as "take a look to the sky just before you die, its the last time you will" go well with the theme of death and destruction. The song also goes well with the slow motion pace of the montage as we see people running and trying to escape the undead in slow motion allowing the audience to pay more attention to detail and so the costumes are trully payed attention too. Clever effects are used on the credits as they appear and dissapear evertime someone runs into them making it look as if the words are being pushed away. The title 'zombieland' appears in a glass window and splits in two after a man escaping zombies smashes through the window with a crow bar.
The opening is very effective and in my opinion deffiantly makes the audience want to carry on watching to see what else will happen.