Genre Example 1

British Film: 28 Days Later (2002)

From looking at the past conventions of a Horror/Thriller film, I had noticed that every particular convention was the same. Relation the Zombies, they go against the tradition of how Zombies are created. With this, an antigen plants a rage virus into the brain in which causes the person to have mindless, uncontrollable rage and aggression. A slightly tradition theme would be that if you were infected, it was through bodily fluids such as a bite, kiss or an infection. However an untraditional one would be that you can get infected by the host’s blood if it went into your eyes or mouth which in a matter of seconds would completely plant the virus into the brain. In this case, they are still humanly where they have a normal process system so that they can think for themselves but also their movements are normal from fast to slow due to still having a process system. The last tradition would be that to kill this Zombie is either by damaging the brain or in which they suffer from starvation where they end up dying.

From looking at this image, the Long Shot has shown where the scene/film has been set. By this, you can see Big Ben in the background which in fact indicates that the film had been set in London which in addition might be the opening of the film due to the fact that nothing has happened significantly. The character itself indicates who he is or where he has been by. You can see that he is wearing a till coloured overall shirt and trousers with white pumps. This shows that he might have come from the hospital due to either working there or was admitted there because with this type of clothing, nurses mainly wear them. By looking at his body language, you can see that he has a slight hunched back, hung arms and slight drag of his feet which could mean that he is a city person, indication the symbolism of London in the background but also a working class person. The natural lighting of the sky bring a dull, darkened light affect to the image which could interpret the sense that something had happened to the area.

By applying the conventions of ‘Stereotypes’ to this image, I think that this character would more likely be the hero throughout. The main reason for this would be that most of the time at the beginning, the camera work focuses on one particular person in which it portrays them to be the hero. Maybe not at the beginning but some when during the film, you do see aspect of the hero within that person. Also applying the convention of ‘Secluded Areas’, this fits due to the fact that most Horror/Zombie films are based in a well known areas like a city/town, however being inhabited.

By looking at this mage, an Extreme Long Shot has shown the setting is the primary focus as the character is the secondary focus. The reason for this is mainly because the director has wants the audience to understand and notice what has happened in this particular area. Being this, you can see that there are papers scattered all on the road, an inhabited motorbike against the wall and a deserted open car looking like it’s near some sort of construction. This indicates that because of these, this area had once been habited due to the vehicles, however there had most of been some sort of panic that had happened for the paper. This gives a sense that there is loneliness being messaged a cross due to just seeing the character walking around on his own feeling isolated which links with a secluded area due to roads are mainly inhabited with cars and people. Despite this image also looking irrelevant for a horror film, this could be a shot where it is opening up to the audience of what had happened before the apocalypse.

By applying the conventions of ‘Groups’ to this image, we know that there is always one person on their own or near enough at the beginning who are either understanding their surroundings due to having no relocation of what has happened for a particular reason in which they fight for survival in which in the end find a small group or a bigger group for protection or searching for the necessary requirements.

By looking at this image, you can see that the Medium long Shot has shown the character as well as a part of the scene. By this you can see that the character is in some sort of run down house. The lightening reinforces this by being a low key lighting which had gloomed the image which can relate to a Horror/Thriller Film. By also looking at the character itself, you can see that he is wearing Black clothing but also appears to be damp which I interpret that it had been raining outside. From looking at the facial expression of this person, his mouth is wide open with his head slightly tilted which might show that he is either inhaling or is shouting because he cannot find something. It also appears that he has slight mud marks on him which indicates that he has been outside but also appears that his eyes are slightly dilated which indicates the convention of being a Zombie in which contrasts with his clothing facial expression and open but hunched body language.

By applying the ‘Time of day’ to this image, despite the lighting being indoors, this could still fit for the time of day being the sun set or midnight which relates the conventions of a typical Horror/Thriller film. Adding the ‘Stereotypes’ to this image, the character which presumed to be playing a Zombie would fit into being a villain on this films circumstance to this image,  due to that he seems to be looking for people. Lastly, applying the ‘Zombie Appearance’  to this image, he slightly fits to the convention due that the man is dirty/wet, blood shot eyes with a different type of body language however making him look more dangerous than what the typical Zombies are.