Detailed analysis DOTD

1. Diary of the Dead (2007 – George A Romero) intro Evaluation
First of all there are no opening titles to tell you about, the only text that comes onto the
screen is the production companies Artfire and Romero-Grunwald which gradually
become brighter and fade into the black screen. From there on in the intro is just purely
action which I think increases the tension because if you saw titles then you would
realise that this is a movie but if there are no titles then it would give it a feeling of it
being real like it is really happening. This would make the audience more scared of sorts
as it gives it realism. Diary of the dead starts off with a pitch black scene like the lens cap
of the camera has not been removed as the intro of the film starts off as a news report
style format with the anchor filming trying to get a story. The black screen could
represent that at the beginning no one really knows what is going on but as the scene
progresses they become more aware. As I said the screen is black but in the background
sound you can hear police car sirens then it bridges into the next scene where you can
see the police and ambulances so it becomes diegetic sound as you can now see where
the sound is coming from. The screen then goes into a pull focus shot (close up) of the
news reporter setting up his camera ready to begin filming. There is still the bridging
soundtrack of the sirens coming from the
emergency services. The colour of the whole
scenario is very dark, the setting I would say
is the late evening as the sun is going down
and streetlights are beginning to switch on.
This helps with giving the whole intro
atmosphere because when a scene is darker
it is generally scarier. We then get a long,
establishing shot of a very intimidating, run
down looking apartment building to set the scene and try to project an atmosphere into
the viewer that will In turn put the viewer more on edge.
The camera then does a straight pan to the left where it then focuses into a two long
shot of two police officers talking about the incident. The dialogue of this key scene,
which establishes what has happened at the scene of the crime and gives an
understanding of what may have caused them to become zombies. There is then a voice
over of what the policeman is saying again what happened over the police radio

2. The policeman in the shot above is a medium close up, this suggests to me that he is in a
powerful position and in control of the situation at hand. He is also in full focus, which
tells me that what he is saying is relevant and very important to the overall story
because this is how the zombie apocalypse of Diary of the Dead starts. When speaking
the narrative he delivers it like it was just another regular day and also he almost jeers
about the person who has committed the crime by saying “who cares” this quote again
backs up that it’s just another day of work for this policeman.
At approximately 1:20 the female news reporter reporting on the event that has just
took place of the man shooting his family. The cinematography of this scene is very
simple. The female reporter is in a full focus, medium close up shot. This suggests that
what she has to say is extremely important to the situation to explain to the audience
and give some understanding of the consequences of what is happening. This would give
the audience a sense of actually being in the film because the reporter is directly
addressing the audience so it’s as if she is speaking to the viewer. There is no backing
sound in this scene but the ambulance sounds are still being used as a bridging sound as
they have carried on into the next scene, this is known as non-diegetic sound. The
officer’s voice can also be heard so this is also non-diegetic. The surrounding
background is however not in full focus because as it’s in a news report format it is not
as important and they want the audience’s full focus to be on the reporter. The way they
divert our attention in this scene is very clever as probably the most important part of
this is the mise en scene in the background. As the two ambulance drivers are bringing
the bodies out of the building on the gurneys one of the bodies begins to move and fight.
This part of the scene is key to the whole plot of the film because this is how the
audience begin to understand how it all began.
At 1:30 The camera man
notices that the bodies are
beginning to move and
instantly switches the
camera’s focus onto the
gurney, there is some blur
because he does it extremely
quickly this suggests to me
that he could be in a state of
panic because he hasn’t
quite thought about how he
is going to angle it and
hasn’t got it into full focus
which you wouldn’t care about if you were in a state of panic or shock. This gives the
intro more fear factor and understanding because you now know that this is real and
you begin to get a feel of what they feel through the use of camera angles and focus. This
particular shot is a long shot three shot as you can see their full bodies this could
suggest to me that they are in imminent danger and are weak because generally when
people are larger they have more power. The language used in this frame is explicit as

3. the camera man is not quite sure of what is not going on, the tone of his voice and speed
that he is talking suggests to me that he is definitely now beginning to panic. The
narrative is also non-diegetic because you can’t physically see him in the shot however
in the shot the news reporter is speaking and is unaware of what is going on behind her
and her dialogue is “is there something wrong with the freaking camera” growing ever
more agitated. At this point there is also voiceover from one of the main female
characters again just explaining how the reporter is trying to get his version of events
out there to warn people. The voice over narrative tells me that the perspective that we
are going to be looking at mostly through the full film is hers because generally the main
character and who the audience is going to be looking at the most is usually the person
who begins telling the story.
The next sequence of events are all action based there is no real dialogue only
screaming, we don’t however see where the ambient sound is coming from but it does
sound like it was from a woman coming from behind but its not in sync with events
which means that it is asynchronous sound. The cinematography in this chain also does
not make any real meaning, it is constantly being changed as the camera man panics we
are almost seeing from his point of view because of the way the camera is moving and
constantly being out of focus almost is like in real life vision as if you were looking
through your own eyes as in a state of panic when there is danger coming from all
angles your eyes would be seeing every thing and darting about not having any time to
get precision images. In this sequence of events there are also gunshots and you can also
see that the police are shooting at the zombies so that makes it diegetic sound because
you can physically see it happen. The police are able to deal with the zombie however
one slips away from
them and attacks the
female news reporter
in the shot above. The
zombie that attacks the
news reporter comes
into the physical frame.
This is a close up shot
because you can see
the facial features, she
is not in focus at all as
you can see by the blur of the camera. This again reiterates the feeling of panic as he
does not have time to worry about the way the camera is set up. The camera then falls
and the mise en scene of the next frame which is cut in with an interference effect on the
camera with distortion sound effects added after editing. The next scene is then filmed
from waist height on a cantered angle leaning towards the right, the camera angle
suggests to me that the events right now are all over the place there is no set primary
worry that you would just have to trust you instinct. There is non-diegetic sound that is
in this scene, Firstly, you can hear the camera man behind the camera warn “Bernice”
shouting “watch out” which suggests to me that this man is worried for this woman and
doesn’t want her to get hurt. secondly, the zombie then eating her nose off followed by
blood dropping onto the floor followed by a gunshot and more screaming which would
send the audience into a state of panic due to the graphic image that follows .

4. George Romero has captured our attention in this using realism whereas in other
zombie films you don’t get as scared because you know its not real but in Diary of the
dead it feels like its real because of the way the intro is set out its as if you were there
watching it with your own eyes.