Dawn of the Dead Opening Title Sequence

The Dawn of Dead opening title sequence is very disturbing and grabs the attention of the audience very quickly. It also doesn't give away any of the story. All it tells us is that something bad has gone wrong and it is affecting a huge part of the world.

The editing was very effective in this piece, especially the length of time each shot had because it made me feel panicky and uneasy. It started off with a disequilibrium and from that moment on, all of the shots that involved the zombies were very choppy and all we kept on seeing was a hint of blood and someone up close to the camera. They way in which the audience was left with a few split seconds of scary moments made the audience think about what they just saw. The other choppy moments involved DNA and bacteria as if they were mutating into something horrible. The credits themselves even added on to the effect because they were the colour of blood and the way the credits entered and left the shot was slow and creepy, which is seen a lot in Cooper's work as the images never stops moving.

The camera mainly stayed in one position which was a close-up, which achieved a lot because it forced the audience to look at the screen because it was hard to see what was going on as the atmosphere was chaotic. There were also a lot of wide shots which established the setting and portrayed the hectic behaviour to the audience as it showed crowds of people running around and there were a lot of news reports which reiterated that the issue is severe.

The sound was very scary because the sounds were all diegetic and the news reporters kept asking questions as they didn't know what was going on. The idea of being unclear of the situation was passed on to the audience from the quick camera shots and the sound of the zombies. We heard occasional screeches from the zombies which were very random and caught me by surprise each time which heightened the tension. The constant screaming from the crowds of people also got me worried and so I knew that the film was going to be crazy.

Everything in the shots were red and flashed on off the screen which gave the impression that there was going to be a lot of blood and violence. This made me feel disoriented and gave me the feeling that I was watching a real news report and the whole world was panicking.

Cooper's use of non-stop motion and quick chaotic action shots set the tone for the film and trapped the attention of the audience without giving anything away.