Zombies are now appearing everywhere in main stream media however some of their finer aspects have been forgotten and their use as a political tool to make statements is all but forgotten as Hollywood blockbusters take over the Zombie genre. Despite its money and power Hollywood doesn't control all of the Zombie media, Zombies have always been popular with independent film makers using low budgets to attack a fun and playful genre. It all began with one of my favourite films Night of the Living Dead (1968 George A Romero (1)) which has inspired many films over many years and has birthed the modern zombie movie. However the genre has become stale in the past dying out in the 90's specifically. However the zombie has re emerged in his paper Dead Man Still Walking: A Critical Investigation Into the Rise and Fall...and Rise of Zombie Cinema (2) Kyle Bishop attributes this to survivalist similarities in zombie films being similar to natural disasters and terrorism. Bishop's essay on Zombie's re emergence makes a strong argument for the importance and relevance of zombie films and convinced me that they are still worth making if a fresh angle can be found.
One of the biggest questions I came across whilst researching zombies is "what do zombies represent?" The answer seems to be pretty much anything, and it really varies depending on the film itself. The "Godfather" of the zombie film George Romero has said in interviews "to me, the zombies have always just been zombies" (3) so maybe they are not always encoded representations but the infected, dirty mass is always decoded as the different, the other, whether it be the poor, the black, the Vietnamese or women. There are plenty of interesting representations but to me and it seems Romero, the interesting thing about zombie films is the way the humans act in crisis. However the problem with the survivors in zombie films is that they are the protestation and they are the heroes, the white knights saving the world, to me a more interesting direction for zombie films is to make a Zombie the hero. This relieves the spectator of the need to identify with the survivors and vilify the zombies therefore seeing the humans as evil murderers.
This idea was inspired by two main films and influenced by many, of course the first film maker to view the zombie as a sympathetic character was George A Romero himself in Day of the Dead (1985 Romero (4)). In this film one zombie, Bub, is being taught to remember his humanity, to read and listen to music as he once did. Professor Logan is his teacher and he gives him parts of humans as positive re enforcement however when the antagonist of the film, the totalitarian military dictator Captain Rhodes, finds out he kills Professor Logan. In retaliation when the zombies break out Bub shoots Captain Rhodes and leaves him to be eaten. Romero uses a few techniques to make Bub a sympathetic character, firstly he suggests that he remembers and is diffrent to other zombies, he is unique, apart from the mass. Then he has Bub act out of emotion, this is shown by his use of a gun rather than him eating Rhodes, he does is not for food but for revenge. Finally he has Bub defeat the overall antagonist of the film further pushing him towards being the hero of the film. Romero plays with the idea of sympathetic zombies again in Land of the Dead (2005 Romero (5)) in which the zombies have a leader as do the rebellious humans. In this film the villain is again a dictatorship however it is built on a corrupt capitalism on a protected island, in the end the leader of the rebel and the leader of the zombies share a look and settle differences deciding to coexist rather than fight. Whilst these zombies are not particularly sympathetic they definitely aren't evil, they are just another group of "different" people. In Romero's most recent zombie film Survival of the Dead (2009 Romero (6)) tackles the idea that killing zombies could be wrong as in the future zombieism could be cured, as well as the idea that if forced zombies will eat something other than humans.
The other main inspiration was Colin (Marc Price (7)) which centres around a zombie named Colin. Obviously the film is from his point of view and is therefore a massive inspiration however one of the main techniques it uses to get the audience to sympathise is showing him in his human form and this is something I would rather not do. It does however follow the conventions of Day of the Dead by showing him as different to other zombies, he also doesn't kill humans, he merely eats those that are dying. Finally he remembers his humanity in some subtle ways. From Colin and Day of the Dead some clear conventions are shown and if used and repeated I believe it is possible to make a heroic identifiable zombie. I searched through the internet to find other zombie films that feature zombie heroes and came across the comical parody Fido (2006 Andrew Currie(8)) which also follows many of the conventions set by Day of the Dead as well as comically following conventions of animal films such as Lassie in Lassie Comes Home (1943 Fred M. Wilcox (9)) to make Fido the zombie seem like a loving companion and father figure.
I then began to plan my actual film and which sequence I would show, I wanted to pick a specifically important scene and the one I decided on is an essential turning point of the film and possibly the final scene. I thought an extremely simple but unused idea or a zombie film or a scene within one would be the question "what if a zombie doesn't want to eat a particular person?" Through this question and the conventions I have recognised throughout the other zombie films I have seen that relate to my own I crafted my proposal for my scene along with a rough plot for a full film. After writing this and discussing it, it seemed obvious that my film hinges on identification and it would therefore be a useful exercise to look back at Laura Mulvey seminal text "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (10). I wanted to read Mulvey's essay to both find new themes to write into my film and to find ways of increasing the identification with Andy, my zombie, made by the audience. Although I struggled to find much to help with the identification side of things, as it seems I naturally wrote most of that in, I did find some interesting themes to inlay about the gaze. The most interesting thing I found was Mulvey's statement about Hitchcock whom she said "uses the process of identification normally associated with ideological correctness and the recognition of established morality and shows up its perverted side." What I wish to do fits this in some ways, firstly I am showing the perverted side of those who the audience would normally identify with, the survivors. Secondly I am showing an internal struggle through Andy as he decides whether to eat Sarah or not the audience clearly will him not to as they wish him to be the hero however the struggle mimics that of the audience as he fails to resist this inevitably upsets the audience and shows the darker side of identification. There is also the morale question of whether I should use Sarah or not, she will clearly be an object of "scopophillia" and the metaphor of hunger and sexual lust isn't particularly difficult to make. Despite the fact that some may see the use of her character as a tool to make the audience identify with Andy as ultimately objectifying her I personally see it as a story telling technique not a political statement. I am strongly aware of the possibility to use the zombie film as a feminist statement as Stephen Harper believes Romero does as explained in "They're US": Representations of Women in George Romero's 'Living Dead' Series"(11) and I plan on replicating one of the shots most talked about in this article. The shot in question is the female character of Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1976 Romero (12)) sits on the floor staring at a zombie on the opposite side of the glass to her. This shows many things specifically in Dawn of the Dead it links to the heroines pregnancy as well as consumerism and feminism. In my film it will serve both thematic and narrative purposes by strengthening the relationship between Andy and Sarah and hinting at subtexts about patriarchal male society and zombies possibly being a representation of oppressed women.
Throughout the workshops I have learned a great many things to help me through the process of planning, shooting and post production. One of the most important things that came out of our production lessons and from our overall process was the importance of everyone involved understanding the basic feeling and aims of the film. Although this seems obvious as an amateur film maker it isnt something I had strictly considered before however in the future I will ensure that everyone involved in the process has a good idea of what the finished product should be. I also learned a lot about planning productions, whilst I wan't the production manager on my shoot I saw a lot of ways it could have been improved and will in the future make sure all shoots are carefully planned. Specifically the number of people on set is to be kept a minimum to reduce confusion, to do this I will ensure that all of my shoots there are areas for non essential crew to stay. One of the most surprising things I learned was how easy it is to make a realistic looking set, whilst the majority of my film will be shot outside I will consider any inside shots being done on sets as they are easy to manipulate and light whilst being affordable and dress-able.
Throughout the course I have also learned a lot about visual special effects, both practical effects and computer generated. For the first time ever I used a green screen, Maya, and Adobe After Effects. These tools are extremely useful for creating fantastic elements though a long process rather than an expensive process. In my proposal I have mentioned a few effects firstly zombies feasting, this is something I have plated with before and seems to be fairly easy to do in a practical manner with cooked animal parts and strawberry sauce, I think using computer effects for this would be over complicated. However computer effects will be perfect for my other visual effect, gunshots. I have not experimented with gunshots on Maya or After Effects before but have looked online at some helpful tutorials and am sure that with some practice a believable effect would be achievable. Another visual I am interested in exploring through the use of green screens or green socks is the removal of zombies limbs, I think that with a locked off shot and a considered simple background the effect is easily achievable and worth experimenting with as it has become a zombie convention.
I believe that my proposal is well thought out and placed within the context of my research which shows the gap in the market my film has the potential to fill. I have also shown well that I have considered the deeper meanings within my proposal and have read texts that relate to them. My learning throughout the module has helped both the planning of my proposal and the planning for actually filming. The ideas and concepts for the use of computer generated effects would not have been possible without the sessions which have informed my visual ideas. I hope in the future to be able to produce this sort of film with considered background and planning and carefully informed narratives.
1. Night of the Living Dead, Dir. Romero G., 1968, USA Image Ten, Laurel Group
2. Explaining the Zombie Renaissance: Dead Man Still Walking: A Critical Investigation Into the Rise and Fall...and Rise of Zombie Cinema p17-25, Bishop Kyle, 2009, The University of Arizona
3. Eric Spitznagel. (2010). George A. Romero: "Who Says Zombies Eat Brains?". Available: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/05/george-romero. Last accessed 20/12/12.
4. Day of the Dead, Dir. Romero G., 1985, USA. Laurel Entertainment Inc.
5. Land of the Dead, Dir. Romero G., 2005, USA. Universal Pictures.
6. Survival of the Dead, Dir. Romero G., 2009, USA Blank of the Dead Productions
7. Colin Dir. Price M., 2008, UK. Nowhere Fast Productions
8. Fido Dir. Currie A., 2006, Canada, Lions Gate Films
9. Lassie Comes Home Dir. Wilcox F., 1943, USA, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
10. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) Mulvey L. Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. Available http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf) Last accessed 15.12.12
11. Stephen Harper. (). "They’re Us": Representations of Women in George Romero’s ‘Living Dead’ Series. Available: http://intensities.org/Essays/Harper.pdf. Last accessed 20/12/12.
12. Dawn Of the Dead Dir. Romero G., 1978, USA, Laurel Group
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Hunger. Feature Film Proposal.
This scene comes towards the end of our film which has
centred on Andy, a regular zombie who frequently watches the inhabitants of a
shopping centre through the glass windows.
I have a lot of clear visual inspiration, as far as zombies go there is a massive wealth of material for me to look at, emulate and adapt. The main visual influence is Colin (Marc Price 2008) whilst a lot of the footage is a little overexposed and poorly light balanced the actual visual style, pacing and framing is very similar to my personal vision. Another of the great things about Colin I wish to emulate is the overall look of the zombie outbreak, the desolate streets, the gang violence and the overcast weather are all excellent features, in my film they would fit perfectly and the depressing tone they add to the film is what I am aiming for. One thing not in Colin that will feature heavily in my film will be a shopping centre, much like in Dawn of the Dead (1978 George Romero) however unlike Dawn I want to shoot it from the outside only, I want to show the shopping mall through the eyes of the zombie.
One idea I had for the visuals was to use point of view a lot, this would help achieve the goal of getting my audience to identify with Andy, my protagonist zombie, however when over used point of view can often disorientate and confuse audiences. I also want to show my audience what Andy is doing therefore I will use largely conventional camerawork to show him as a sympathetic character. One important way of doing this that I read from Colin is to show him as alone, in long, wide shots with no other zombies or people, this makes him seem separate to the rest of the zombies making him a lonely hero rather than art of the zombie evil mass.
I noticed a few things whilst compiling my moodboard that made me consider the colour in my film, the most important of which will be the amount of red and the vividness of the colour palette. I noticed a surprising lack of red in the images I gathered for my moodboard, in my film there will be bright blood and other red items bringing life to the shots everywhere, this both makes it visually interesting for the spectator and makes it a little bit different to the norm. Another thing I noticed is the tendency for film makers to think, its bleak and apocalyptic so we should drain all of the life out of the colour pallet and whilst I agree with the affect it gives there is a certain amount of beauty lost when that is done. In my film I will carefully select a few colours and shades to make vivid, red specifically, and then work on tinting the rest of the film much like Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson 2008) to give it a stylised, bright and bleak effect.
Zombies offer perfect possibilities to explore and experiment with visual effects, whilst I have explored some use of Maya and Adobe After Effects I still feel that real visual effects should be used as often as possible. A simple example of the kind of effect I will use is to cover a cooked pigs heart in fake blood and have one of my zombies eat it. I would however also like to attempt removing zombies libs with blue or green socks and keying, I think with the appropriate locked off shot this effect could be a great advantage to the realism of my film.
1. Colin (2008 Marc Price)
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978 George A Romero)
3. Let the Right One In (2008 Tomas Alfredson)
Our unpredictable hero Andy is stumbling along the road in
his zombie like manner, he walks toward a feasting zombie who looks up at him,
mouth covered in blood, and groans violently at him. He is starved but against
his will he moves on from the dead body looking for food. As he walks around
aimlessly he comes to the back of the shopping centre, on a raised loading bay
Sarah, whom he has become attached to, and Mark, the “leader” of the survivors
that the shopping centre protects from the likes of Andy appear.
Mark waves the loaded gun at Sarah shouting, his authority
has been questioned, she is as dangerous to him as the monsters outside the
walls. Tears stream down Sarah’s face as Andy moves closer, quietly and
carefully. Sarah turns side on and stares at Andy “I’m not keeping quiet about
what you did to that girl.” Andy shouts, supporting Sarah, threatening Mark.
Mark has two problems, the first he shoots in the chest, Andy recoils and falls
to the ground. The second problem is no different, he puts his gun to the side
of Sarah head. The force of the blast knocks her off the loading bay. Andy
lurches forward to get revenge for Sarah. Mark pistol whips Andy, he isn’t
worth a bullet. Looking down from the loading bay Mark spits on Andy and
retreats into the shopping centre.
Andy attempts to climb up to the loading bay after Mark, a fresh
meal and revenge for the fallen but after just a few seconds he gives up, or
forgets. Starving, Andy looks at the dead body of Sarah laid on the floor next
to him. He looks. He blinks. Blood pools around her head. He groans at her and
moves her hand with his foot. He drops to his knees and groans again. He places
his hands on her shoulder and arm and groans, loudly and for a long time, it is
the zombie equivalent of a heartbreaking cry. He rolls her over and forcefully,
angrily cries again before leaning over her body. Blood from the cut on his
head drips down to his eye and onto Sarah’s lifeless body. He leans all the way
down and takes a bite from Sarah’s side, as he comes up he looks upwards and
cries again, his mouth filled with blood. We see his back as he sits over the
body trying to resist his hunger as the picture fades to black.
I have a lot of clear visual inspiration, as far as zombies go there is a massive wealth of material for me to look at, emulate and adapt. The main visual influence is Colin (Marc Price 2008) whilst a lot of the footage is a little overexposed and poorly light balanced the actual visual style, pacing and framing is very similar to my personal vision. Another of the great things about Colin I wish to emulate is the overall look of the zombie outbreak, the desolate streets, the gang violence and the overcast weather are all excellent features, in my film they would fit perfectly and the depressing tone they add to the film is what I am aiming for. One thing not in Colin that will feature heavily in my film will be a shopping centre, much like in Dawn of the Dead (1978 George Romero) however unlike Dawn I want to shoot it from the outside only, I want to show the shopping mall through the eyes of the zombie.
One idea I had for the visuals was to use point of view a lot, this would help achieve the goal of getting my audience to identify with Andy, my protagonist zombie, however when over used point of view can often disorientate and confuse audiences. I also want to show my audience what Andy is doing therefore I will use largely conventional camerawork to show him as a sympathetic character. One important way of doing this that I read from Colin is to show him as alone, in long, wide shots with no other zombies or people, this makes him seem separate to the rest of the zombies making him a lonely hero rather than art of the zombie evil mass.
I noticed a few things whilst compiling my moodboard that made me consider the colour in my film, the most important of which will be the amount of red and the vividness of the colour palette. I noticed a surprising lack of red in the images I gathered for my moodboard, in my film there will be bright blood and other red items bringing life to the shots everywhere, this both makes it visually interesting for the spectator and makes it a little bit different to the norm. Another thing I noticed is the tendency for film makers to think, its bleak and apocalyptic so we should drain all of the life out of the colour pallet and whilst I agree with the affect it gives there is a certain amount of beauty lost when that is done. In my film I will carefully select a few colours and shades to make vivid, red specifically, and then work on tinting the rest of the film much like Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson 2008) to give it a stylised, bright and bleak effect.
Zombies offer perfect possibilities to explore and experiment with visual effects, whilst I have explored some use of Maya and Adobe After Effects I still feel that real visual effects should be used as often as possible. A simple example of the kind of effect I will use is to cover a cooked pigs heart in fake blood and have one of my zombies eat it. I would however also like to attempt removing zombies libs with blue or green socks and keying, I think with the appropriate locked off shot this effect could be a great advantage to the realism of my film.
1. Colin (2008 Marc Price)
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978 George A Romero)
3. Let the Right One In (2008 Tomas Alfredson)
Monday, 17 December 2012
Hunger Moodboard
1. Colin. 2008. Dir. Price M. UK. Nowhere Fast Productions
2. Dawn Of the Dead 1978. Dir. Romero G., USA, Laurel Group
3. Zombieland 2009. Dir. Fleischer R. USA. Columbia Pictures
4. Night and Fog. 1955. Dir. Resnais A. France, Argos Films
5. The Shining. 1980. Dir Kubrick S. USA. Warner Bros. Pictures
6. Full Metal Jacket 1987. Dir. Kubrick S. USA. Warner Bros. Pictures
7. Battle Royale, 2000, Dir. Fukasaku K. Japan. AM Associates
8. Day of the Dead. 1984, Dir. Romero G. USA. Laurel Entertainment Inc.
9. Land of the Dead 2005, Dir. Romero G. USA. Universal Pictures.
10. Dawn of the Dead 2004, Dir. Snyder Z. USA. Strike Entertainment
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Hunger (Full rough plot synopsis)
Hunger begins with its protagonist, Andy a 20 something year old zombie, stumbling around in the zombie apocalypse. He is a typical zombie, feasting with the rest of them until he encounters a group of survivors, these few remaining humans are travelling through the city on foot and number 16. From a small alleyway Andy sees the approach a main street, the group progress, with the fully armed members blocking off the side streets, including Andy's. The man who blocks his path to the rest of the survivors is a man named Mark, who smiles at the four zombies in the alleyway with Andy. He shoots the first in both knees, the next through the eye, another he breaks the jaw of with his pistol and the fourth he punches square in the face, as it lays on the ground he kick and kicks her face into nothing. As he turns his gun on Andy the group have passed him and just before Mark shoots Sarah, a middle aged woman from the group calls him away.
Andy has seen the group now, and he isn't the only one, hordes of zombies stumble after the survivors who seek refuge in a shopping mall. Andy continues to search around the outside of the shopping mall for a way in, in doing so he has several interactions with the survivors whos numbers keep dropping as they make attempts to escape the shopping centre. Andy keeps seeing Sarah and at one time even sees her along, at a bottom floor window, through the window he stares and watches, face to face with Sarah, he just watches vacantly. In one attempted escape Sarah is separated from the group and trapped, on this occasion Andy lets her pass him without harming her, the two have gained a connection.
Andy has seen the group now, and he isn't the only one, hordes of zombies stumble after the survivors who seek refuge in a shopping mall. Andy continues to search around the outside of the shopping mall for a way in, in doing so he has several interactions with the survivors whos numbers keep dropping as they make attempts to escape the shopping centre. Andy keeps seeing Sarah and at one time even sees her along, at a bottom floor window, through the window he stares and watches, face to face with Sarah, he just watches vacantly. In one attempted escape Sarah is separated from the group and trapped, on this occasion Andy lets her pass him without harming her, the two have gained a connection.
In the final scene our unpredictable hero Andy is stumbling along the road in his zombie like manner, he walks toward a feasting zombie who looks up at him, mouth covered in blood, and groans violently at him. He is starved but against his will he moves on from the dead body looking for food. As he walks around aimlessly he comes to the back of the shopping centre, on a raised loading bay Sarah, whom he has become attached to, and Mark, the now “leader” of the survivors that the shopping centre protects from the likes of Andy appear.
Mark waves the loaded gun at Sarah shouting, his authority has been questioned, she is as dangerous to him as the monsters outside the walls. Tears stream down Sarah’s face as Andy moves closer, quietly and carefully. Sarah turns side on and stares at Andy “ I'm not keeping quiet about what you did to that girl.” Andy shouts, supporting Sarah, threatening Mark. Mark has two problems, the first he shoots in the chest, Andy recoils and falls to the ground. The second problem is no different, he puts his gun to the side of Sarah head. The force of the blast knocks her off the loading bay. Andy lurches forward to get revenge for Sarah. Mark pistol whips Andy, he isn’t worth a bullet. Looking down from the loading bay Mark spits on Andy and retreats into the shopping centre.
Andy attempts to climb up to the loading bay after Mark, a fresh meal and revenge for the fallen but after just a few seconds he gives up, or forgets. Starving, Andy looks at the dead body of Sarah laid on the floor next to him. He looks. He blinks. Blood pools around her head. He groans at her and moves her hand with his foot. He drops to his knees and groans again. He places his hands on her shoulder and arm and groans, loudly, the zombie equivalent of a heartbreaking cry. He rolls her over and forcefully, angrily cries again before leaning over her body. Blood from the cut on his head drips down to his eye and onto Sarah’s lifeless body. He leans all the way down and takes a bite from Sarah’s side, as he comes up he looks upwards and cries again, his mouth filled with blood. We see his back as he sits over the body trying to resist his hunger as the picture fades to black.
Writing theory into Hunger
After reading "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" by Laura Mulvey, again, along with many other theoretical texts in the last few months I really want to make the subtext of Hunger (my zombie film) something important, or at least put something there. So this is me talking about a few of my ideas, trying to solidify them and then write more scenes and structuring the film around the ideas. I have always wanted the film to have a slower kind of pace, similar to Colin (2008 Marc Price) in which Colin, the main character and zombie, bumbles about from place to place. I really like the feeling this gives the film however I think a trick is missed by not using them to imply deeper subjects and subtext.
1. Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis[1933] (Penguin Freud Library 2) p. 105-6 (accessed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego) (date accessed 15.12.12)
So one of the interesting ideas that has come to me is about what zombies represent. Obviously they have represented a lot in the past, ranging from mindless consumers to... well that seems to be the main one but there have always been ideas of race, gender and equality attached to Zombies. I think these are all interesting however I dont want to use Hunger to make a political point exactly I think zombies are a much more simple representation of the id. I was looking for a text specifically on this subject but surprisingly couldn't find any, however there are many small comments in the articles I have read that evidence the idea that Zombies could be the id. One of Freud's simplest descriptions of the Id is "we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations.... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle."(1) Zombies fit in a way to this simple analysis, they have needs ie. their hunger, and they live only to satisfy them, with no regards for anyone or anything else, they work purely on instinct with no thoughts about societal pressures. On the other hand the lack of fulfilment of their needs, the lack of satisfaction separates them from the id, as does their gang mentality. Part of my final scene (as well as the majority of my film) will address the pack mentality idea as my zombies will show themselves to look out for themselves first and foremost. In the final scene I show this with the zombie who denies Andy a meal, this both shows that the group isnt important to the zombie as well as showing that Andy is separate from the other zombies making him a more sympathetic character.
The ego on the other hand "seeks to please the id’s drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bring grief."(2) which doesn't sound much like a zombie however it might be interesting to consider the whole of the film as a struggle for Andy to deny his id. In the start he is as any other zombie is, a creature controlled by his id and by his hunger. And after gaining a connection with Sarah he becomes to realise there is more. Or at least he tries (in the final scene) to deny his Id, deny his hunger, but tragically fails.
Another idea about the final tension in Hunger could relate to Mulvey's comment on Hitchcock style narratives that relate to the gaze. She says that Hitchcock "uses the process of identification normally associated with ideological correctness and the recognition of established morality and shows up its perverted side."(3) This seems like it is doable within a zombie film, especially one featuring a zombie as the main character. The problem with this is that I still want Andy to be the character identified with and the morale hero of the film. I can easily say that my "survivor" group represent the characters usually identified with and that demonising them makes this point but within my own narrative I am not questioning the correctness and morality of my hero and audience. Again an easy solution would be that the simple fact that he is a zombie and that he does eat Sarah. One thing is quite clear, Sarah will be the object of scopophilia mentioned in Mulvey's article, I am not planning on sexualising her but as a main female character it is inevitable. This leads to more possible readings in which the character of Mark can be utilised. If Sarah is the object of Scopophilia and she clearly hints at Mark being a violent or sexual predator in some way ("Im not going to keep quiet about what you did to that girl") he represents the normal audience who takes pleasure in the way they view Sarah. Andy on the other hand watches her in a more abstract and less objective way, without emotion or lust through glass in my only other planned scene. This shows the morality of Andy and when he finally eats Sarah or bites her dead body at least the metaphore for sexual fulfilment is complete however he clearly isnt happy, he is succumbing to needs not wants unlike Mark. The internal struggle of whether to eat Sarah or not is my manifestation of what Mulvey sees in Hitchcock's heroes that "portray the contradictions and tensions experienced by the spectator"(4) the spectator and Andy clearly dont want Sarah to be eaten but social pressures and primal needs take over in both cases and Sarah is eaten and is a subject of scopophilia.
So there are lots of things that my final scene could show in reflection to the articles I have read and I think that is a good thing however it would be nice when writing the rest of the film to try and pin down for sure which of the subtexts I am addressing If not pin down which then give more evidence to support each theme. Another important thing when writing issues into the subtext of films in my mind is to be clear about your aims for the film and whether you are for or against the issues. It is a good thing to raise issues within films but I think if you are unclear about whether you think something is good or bad you leave yourself open to misinterpretation and criticizes for things you did into intend. Obviously that cannot be completely avoided but that is why I am taking as much time to consider possible subtext before my writing as they can be clarified within the rest of my film.
Well I obviously have a lot to think about but in general I like the way my ideas are heading and will continue my research and writing for sure.
2. Noam, Gil G; Hauser, Stuart T.; Santostefano, Sebastiano; Garrison, William; Jacobson, Alan M.; Powers, Sally I.; Mead, Merrill (February 1984). "Ego Development and Psychopathology: A Study of Hospitalized Adolescents". Child Development(Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development) 55 (1): 189–194. (accessed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego) (date accessed 15.12.12)
3."Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) Laura Mulvey Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. Accessed on: http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf) (date accessed 15.12.12)
4.Ibid.
How "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" relates to my project.
My zombie film is to be all about identification and getting the audience on the side of my hero, Andy, a zombie. This may be difficult as zombies are generally not what audiences aspire to be, rather they aspire to be the survivors that fight off zombies in a survivalist fantasy. When looking at identification and differences between audiences and on screen presences it is always helpful to look back at Laura Mulvey's seminal essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. Whilst this strongly relates to Jaques Lacan's theories on the "gaze" and focuses on female audiences being forced to identify with male protagonists the method of which this identification is made is important to me as I can replicate it to make audiences identify with Andy.
One of the first important points and possible stumbling blocks for me is that "the image recognised is conceived as the reflected body of the self, but its misrecognition as superior projects this body outside itself as an ideal ego, the alienated subject. which, re-introjected as an ego ideal, gives rise to the future
generation of identification with others." This very first comment about recognition and identification brings about the point that we, when looking and therefore watching, identify with a character that represents the ego. This presents a problem as many of the things that define the ego are actually the opposite of what defines a zombie, who is more like the id.
The other "aspect of the pleasurable structure of looking" is that of scopophilia and the pleasure gained by "using another person as an object of sexual stimulation through sight" again this will be difficult within a post apocalyptic world. However as this article points out the literal act of sex or even sexualised images isn't necessary often the presence of a woman is enough for spectators to gain gratification as Hollywood conditioning and all sorts of psychoanalytic, Freudian and Lacanian processes take over. I am planning on having a living female protagonist in my film that develops a connection with Andy so perhaps this will help my cause. Also I understand that Mulvey's article is saying that most of these processes are bad and that women shouldn't be used in this way and I do agree but a film is a film and not a political tool after all. I think that the education of people into filmic ideas such as these does more to solve the problem than to stop using them, people recognising the problem is better than film makers not using the techniques because they are just ways of writing media that people enjoy and if it stopped and nobody knew why there would be no progress, no learning and no development for society, within a year or two people would start again and no one would be any wiser. That little detour just justifies in my mind the use of these techniques, I'm not an anti feminist trying to force women and men to see women as sexual objects, thats not my aim but I do understand that my ideas do do this.
Skipping over the arguments of women as passive and icon (not particularly relevant to my study) Mulvey continues to explain how "the active male figure (the ego ideal of the identification process)" need the film to "reproduce as accurately as possible the so-called natural conditions of human perception." These include "Camera technology (as exempified by deep focus in particular) and camera movements (determined by the action of the protagonist), combined with invisible editing (demanded by realism)" which "tend to blur the limits of screen space." All of this is pretty basic, things like invisible editing and conventional cinematography are such staples of cinema they would be difficult to avoid when creating my own film.
Mulvey's final few paragraphs before her conclusion put into evidence her theories and show how Hitchcock has used the gaze and identification in a more intelligent way than most film makers. She that in many of his films he "uses the process of identification normally associated with ideological correctness and the recognition of established morality and shows up its perverted side." She also says that when scopophilia is concerned in his film the "hero portrays the contradictions and tensions experienced by the spectator". These ideas are pretty complex and I am not an expert on Hitchcock. The idea though of identification with a hero portraying contradictions and tensions experienced by the spectator is interesting especially when looked at with a parallel to my narrative, even just my final scene.
Mulvey's analysis is always interesting and helpful however in this case the ground work theory itself is more interesting to me than her conclusion or her actual aims. To me the idea of identification and the encoding of specific characters to identify with is important and whilst gender is always an important topic in cinema I think the identification of females with males isn't a problem, at the end of the day they are characters and in many cases the genders could be swapped without any trouble. The article has given me a lot of ideas for theories to write into my film and questions to address in the subtext. I am not too worried about my audience struggling to identify, as Mulvey points out it has been such a common thing in cinema, and questioned so little that it is almost automatic. Possibly the fun and interest in my film will be in playing with the identification of the audience with Andy and his interanl stuggles in a Hitcock kind of way.
1. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) Laura Mulvey Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. Accessed on: http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf
One of the first important points and possible stumbling blocks for me is that "the image recognised is conceived as the reflected body of the self, but its misrecognition as superior projects this body outside itself as an ideal ego, the alienated subject. which, re-introjected as an ego ideal, gives rise to the future
generation of identification with others." This very first comment about recognition and identification brings about the point that we, when looking and therefore watching, identify with a character that represents the ego. This presents a problem as many of the things that define the ego are actually the opposite of what defines a zombie, who is more like the id.
The other "aspect of the pleasurable structure of looking" is that of scopophilia and the pleasure gained by "using another person as an object of sexual stimulation through sight" again this will be difficult within a post apocalyptic world. However as this article points out the literal act of sex or even sexualised images isn't necessary often the presence of a woman is enough for spectators to gain gratification as Hollywood conditioning and all sorts of psychoanalytic, Freudian and Lacanian processes take over. I am planning on having a living female protagonist in my film that develops a connection with Andy so perhaps this will help my cause. Also I understand that Mulvey's article is saying that most of these processes are bad and that women shouldn't be used in this way and I do agree but a film is a film and not a political tool after all. I think that the education of people into filmic ideas such as these does more to solve the problem than to stop using them, people recognising the problem is better than film makers not using the techniques because they are just ways of writing media that people enjoy and if it stopped and nobody knew why there would be no progress, no learning and no development for society, within a year or two people would start again and no one would be any wiser. That little detour just justifies in my mind the use of these techniques, I'm not an anti feminist trying to force women and men to see women as sexual objects, thats not my aim but I do understand that my ideas do do this.
Skipping over the arguments of women as passive and icon (not particularly relevant to my study) Mulvey continues to explain how "the active male figure (the ego ideal of the identification process)" need the film to "reproduce as accurately as possible the so-called natural conditions of human perception." These include "Camera technology (as exempified by deep focus in particular) and camera movements (determined by the action of the protagonist), combined with invisible editing (demanded by realism)" which "tend to blur the limits of screen space." All of this is pretty basic, things like invisible editing and conventional cinematography are such staples of cinema they would be difficult to avoid when creating my own film.
Mulvey's final few paragraphs before her conclusion put into evidence her theories and show how Hitchcock has used the gaze and identification in a more intelligent way than most film makers. She that in many of his films he "uses the process of identification normally associated with ideological correctness and the recognition of established morality and shows up its perverted side." She also says that when scopophilia is concerned in his film the "hero portrays the contradictions and tensions experienced by the spectator". These ideas are pretty complex and I am not an expert on Hitchcock. The idea though of identification with a hero portraying contradictions and tensions experienced by the spectator is interesting especially when looked at with a parallel to my narrative, even just my final scene.
Mulvey's analysis is always interesting and helpful however in this case the ground work theory itself is more interesting to me than her conclusion or her actual aims. To me the idea of identification and the encoding of specific characters to identify with is important and whilst gender is always an important topic in cinema I think the identification of females with males isn't a problem, at the end of the day they are characters and in many cases the genders could be swapped without any trouble. The article has given me a lot of ideas for theories to write into my film and questions to address in the subtext. I am not too worried about my audience struggling to identify, as Mulvey points out it has been such a common thing in cinema, and questioned so little that it is almost automatic. Possibly the fun and interest in my film will be in playing with the identification of the audience with Andy and his interanl stuggles in a Hitcock kind of way.
1. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975) Laura Mulvey Originally Published - Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18. Accessed on: http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Colin (2008 Marc Price)
Colin is a low budget indie film by film tutor Marc Price about a zombie called Colin and his stumbling. Reportedly made on only £57 Colin has a few production issues such as the occasional issue with exposure and white balance but in general it is beautifully shot. It is commendable for making the post outbreak world feel so real on such a small budget, you really feel when watching it that the whole of the town and country has been infected and that is a difficult thing to achieve without too many wides. Even more spectacular than the blocking and shots is the story, one that is emotional, well paced and ultimately uplifting?
The film begins with Colin as a human, an important decision as it means the audience can identify with him a little before he becomes a zombie. The opening is a little overexposed as I have previously said but as a camera user I understand why as the shot moves from a dark doorway to a window, I think despite the exposure its the right shot to use, the tracking around as Colin walks past and the close up on the hammer actually brilliantly set the tone for the whole film as far as pacing, shooting and emotion are concerned. Our hero isn't to be a human for long however, Colin has already been bitten giving him a nasty wound on his arm, again this makes you sympathise as an audience member however the slightly cheesey and low quality blood mix virus thing isn't needed. After a brief but amusing battle with his house mate Colin is tired and dying, we see him worsen, get sicker and sicker until his death.
We all know thats not the end though as Colin turns into a Zombie, his rigor mortis breaking fingers crack as he wakes up from death. As an audience we pretty much see him turn, he is under coats I would imagine this little joke was added to lighten Colin's death and in lew of the money needed to do a visual transformation but we basically watch him change and the audience in a way turn with him. We don't get to see his face for a while, an important decision it makes the audience question how disfigured he will be after his transformation. The first time we do see his face is in a reflection, as Colin sees his face, curious, staring, we see that he isn't that different.
Colin spends his first night as a zombie comically trying to escape his front room, fooled by a door (a long running joke through the film) the transition between night and day is wickedly used and Alistair Kirton's performance as an angry Colin is perfect as he steps back, slips and inadvertently falls out of a window thus escaping the room. He clearly has know idea where to go as he pops up into frame and looks around him with a brilliantly confused expression, this again gets us to like Colin, who as he has only just become a zombie, isn't very good at being a zombie, he isn't scary or a murderer he doesn't have a clue what he is doing.
The next collection of shots, whilst setting the desolate scene of the world show again that Colin isn't all that viscous, firstly he ponders over a yellow lego piece. There are two possibly significant things about this, the first being a link to childhood and the idea that zombie-nes is a regression in the mind, and secondly that the piece is yellow, a reoccurring colour of importance to Colin in the film. He is then knocked to the ground by survivors before being denied a meal by an angry looking female zombie. When Colin finally does get to eat he doesn't actually kill the man he eats, no Colin's victim has fallen from a roof and is dying as Colin begins to eat. Despite his meal finding and the horrific nature of eating humans the guy Colin gets is already on his way out so we don't feel bad for the guy, its not like Colin hunted him down, so Colin is furthered into the audiences hearts once again.
The next slightly comical section makes the audience question how much of his past life Colin remembers, as he pulls off a guys (a guy that is being eaten by someone else so Colin still isnt a killer) ear to eat and ends up with his headphones and mp3 player. The Unfilmable Life of Terry Gilliam is playing on the headphones and Colin listens happily and even picks the headphones back up after his next meal. Obviously the Colin liking music makes the audience smile, the idea that he enjoys something that isnt eating people or remembers something from before give the audience some sort of hope and satisfaction. So when the batteries die and Colin gets mad it is almost impossible not to sympathise with poor Colin.
Another important factor in the likeability of Colin is how the remaining survivors act towards him, this is shown in the next scene where two survivors are looking for zombies to loot and spot Colin's nice shoes. The idea that thieves steal from zombies is brilliant and the way they pin down Colin seems cruel and brutal. However Colin's sister is around and saves Colin from getting cold feet but unfortunately gets bitten in the process. This is the first bit of true back story we get for Colin, we now know that he has a sister that survived, through her the audience can empathise and see the tragedy of Colin becoming a zombie, even zombies have families!
The soundtrack to this film is absolute brilliant and highlights the desolation and isolation in the next section in which Colin simply wonders around, past survivors and buildings, chasing pigeons and just being a nice zombie in general. One of my favourite shots is a wide of Colin who bumbles across the shot before someone runs past him causing him to walk all the way across the screen again who finally decides he isnt going to catch up and turns again to go the way he was. The final of the cutaway style shots of Colin wondering is of him looking up at a road sign that points two ways, this could signify loads, but with its recurrence later the it mainly serves as a plot device.
Colin stumbles across a house under siege (a Romero reference for sure as the upstairs room in the house has a sign saying George's room) and with a video camera an inset narrative of "my awesome zombie movie" can be and is shown. This nice little section seems to show some nice special effects whilst parodying classic horror with its token black and final escaping female. A female which is clad in yellow! Colin follows her to the next location, a dark creepy cellar of a sadistic psycho who cuts up zombies and takes photos, where does he keep these experiments? The cellar! I like that this section shows that zombies aren't the worst things in an outbreak of the virus, it also gives some real creeps a chance to do the kind of things they have always wanted to and sometimes those people are the real monsters, not Colin. It is funny however that Colin doesn't actually come to the rescue of the girl as she is strangled to death but just wonders past, out of the cellar and back into the wider world. This scene basically just shows that not only is Colin not evil but the bad things he does aren't as bad as the things humans do in context, well some of them.
The next scene is one of the biggest plot points as Colin is kidnapped, at first we don't see who by, this bit is very carefully filmed to make us experience the kidnapping in the same way Colin does, with confusion and terror. An absolutely amazing tracking shot takes us into the bathroom Colin is tied up in and through a blood splattered mirror reveals his captor, his sister. Colin is probably his most angriest in this scene, the sheer emotion of the scene between Colin and his sister whilst she tries to make him remember her is brilliant personally it made me feel sorry for Linda as she is going to become a zombie but more so it made me feel sorry for Colin as we can clearly see how much he has lost since becoming a zombie. The photographs he carries with him show how much he did once care and the shots of the empty bathroom, dripping tap, dangling shoelace (that Colin was tied up with) are the most cinematic of the film and have a sorrowful feeling of loss about them. We next follow Colin in a Hessian bag all the way to his old home and to his mother, who Linda is convinced he will remember. The viewpoint of Colin is the viewpoint of the audience for this whole section from the bag to the kitchen which through glass Colin can see his family, separated from him. His bangs on the glass as he tries to get to them are clearly because he wants to eat them... but visually it is heartbreaking to see him banging on the window, trying to get to all that he has lost, his family and his humanity. The shot is beautifully framed as it ends with him slowly tapping away at the window his arm framed to hug his mother who stands at the window. Also evident at this point is the boyfriend of his sister who clearly dislikes him and is violent towards him, fair enough Colin did bite his girlfriend but in general we as an audience also dislike him. Colin spends the night brainlessly staring at a tv, a quick comment on society?
Colin is no longer alone, his sister is also a zombie, thrown into the room with him and they are hidden behind newspaper articles taped to the windows by their mother. A nice way of getting across some exposition in a highly emotional scene. One might think they are trapped in the house, however Colin's sister has the brain and motor control Colin lacks and opens the doors for him, letting him stumble down the step and back out in the open. Upsettingly Zombies recognise each other even less than zombies recognise humans and the two go their separate ways.
Our final group of survivors, an aggressive mob like group burst onto scene with an explosive, knocking Colin and his fellow horde of zombies down, the ensuing carnage is a little confusing but bloody for sure. The leader of the gang is clear, a hard, solemn looking man wielding a catapult with razor blade ammo, as the chaos of the battle continues he descends on Colin, pulling out a hammer not dissimilar to the hammer Colin once used. Colin is seemingly killed and the group is left to deal with the clean up of the battle, when asked what to do about the people that have been bitten, the leader harshly but simply replies "deal with it". This dark and gritty group of survivors are largely emotionless or just scared (depending on which group member) and whilst they are not demonised their brutal gang killing of those that have been bitten again goes to show that zombies aren't the only threat. Not to mention THEY KILLED COLIN!
Actually they didn't, I don't know how but Colin managed to survive with a half blown off face, and he travels though picturesque snow to a house and inside that house to a sign, yes that very same road sign at which point the story jumps back in time to when Colin was still a human. He berates the girl and owner of the house Laura for leaving the door open ironically saying "if you leave it open one of those thnigs can get in here". They fight off a zombie that was in the upstairs bathroom together but Laura gets bitten, you see her collect some photo's some of which Colin has in the future, and her ring tone is the very same song Colin was listening too as a zombie on the headphones. It is a little unclear whether this was Colin's girlfriend or just a survivor he came across but the YELLOW wearing Laura signifies a lot of the things Colin has pondered over as a zombie. He emotionally holds her as she dies, as she wakes up and after getting bitten holds her down and kills her. This sequence is brilliantly shot and acted and brings a tear to the eye. As he covers her face with her hair the times switch between zombie and non zombie Colin and we see zombie Colin knelt beside the body of Laura, perhaps that was where he was trying to get to the whole time, who knows but you definitely feel there is a good reason he has come here and that he does remember something. To me that is an uplifting end to Zombie Colin's story and as for living Colin, we see him walk back home and as the camera pans up we see his house mate in the window and the circular narrative of Colin is nicely wrapped up.
Colin is an absolutely brilliant film, it manages to get the audience to empathise with Colin and really experience a day in the life of a zombie. This could be boring and slow but its not, its paced perfectly and given enough of a plot to make it truly interesting not only that but its so cleverly written there is character development in Colin without making him some kind of super zombie. Colin follows many zombie conventions but looks at them from the other side of the coin, analysing what it is like to be a zombie, it is an intelligent and sympathetic look at the monsters we think we know so well. The only thing I personally would like to do differently with my own film is to cut out any sections in which we see the zombie before they are infected, I think it will be more of a challenge to get the audience to identify with the character without seeing him as a relatable human
We all know thats not the end though as Colin turns into a Zombie, his rigor mortis breaking fingers crack as he wakes up from death. As an audience we pretty much see him turn, he is under coats I would imagine this little joke was added to lighten Colin's death and in lew of the money needed to do a visual transformation but we basically watch him change and the audience in a way turn with him. We don't get to see his face for a while, an important decision it makes the audience question how disfigured he will be after his transformation. The first time we do see his face is in a reflection, as Colin sees his face, curious, staring, we see that he isn't that different.
Colin spends his first night as a zombie comically trying to escape his front room, fooled by a door (a long running joke through the film) the transition between night and day is wickedly used and Alistair Kirton's performance as an angry Colin is perfect as he steps back, slips and inadvertently falls out of a window thus escaping the room. He clearly has know idea where to go as he pops up into frame and looks around him with a brilliantly confused expression, this again gets us to like Colin, who as he has only just become a zombie, isn't very good at being a zombie, he isn't scary or a murderer he doesn't have a clue what he is doing.
The next collection of shots, whilst setting the desolate scene of the world show again that Colin isn't all that viscous, firstly he ponders over a yellow lego piece. There are two possibly significant things about this, the first being a link to childhood and the idea that zombie-nes is a regression in the mind, and secondly that the piece is yellow, a reoccurring colour of importance to Colin in the film. He is then knocked to the ground by survivors before being denied a meal by an angry looking female zombie. When Colin finally does get to eat he doesn't actually kill the man he eats, no Colin's victim has fallen from a roof and is dying as Colin begins to eat. Despite his meal finding and the horrific nature of eating humans the guy Colin gets is already on his way out so we don't feel bad for the guy, its not like Colin hunted him down, so Colin is furthered into the audiences hearts once again.
The next slightly comical section makes the audience question how much of his past life Colin remembers, as he pulls off a guys (a guy that is being eaten by someone else so Colin still isnt a killer) ear to eat and ends up with his headphones and mp3 player. The Unfilmable Life of Terry Gilliam is playing on the headphones and Colin listens happily and even picks the headphones back up after his next meal. Obviously the Colin liking music makes the audience smile, the idea that he enjoys something that isnt eating people or remembers something from before give the audience some sort of hope and satisfaction. So when the batteries die and Colin gets mad it is almost impossible not to sympathise with poor Colin.
Another important factor in the likeability of Colin is how the remaining survivors act towards him, this is shown in the next scene where two survivors are looking for zombies to loot and spot Colin's nice shoes. The idea that thieves steal from zombies is brilliant and the way they pin down Colin seems cruel and brutal. However Colin's sister is around and saves Colin from getting cold feet but unfortunately gets bitten in the process. This is the first bit of true back story we get for Colin, we now know that he has a sister that survived, through her the audience can empathise and see the tragedy of Colin becoming a zombie, even zombies have families!
The soundtrack to this film is absolute brilliant and highlights the desolation and isolation in the next section in which Colin simply wonders around, past survivors and buildings, chasing pigeons and just being a nice zombie in general. One of my favourite shots is a wide of Colin who bumbles across the shot before someone runs past him causing him to walk all the way across the screen again who finally decides he isnt going to catch up and turns again to go the way he was. The final of the cutaway style shots of Colin wondering is of him looking up at a road sign that points two ways, this could signify loads, but with its recurrence later the it mainly serves as a plot device.
Colin stumbles across a house under siege (a Romero reference for sure as the upstairs room in the house has a sign saying George's room) and with a video camera an inset narrative of "my awesome zombie movie" can be and is shown. This nice little section seems to show some nice special effects whilst parodying classic horror with its token black and final escaping female. A female which is clad in yellow! Colin follows her to the next location, a dark creepy cellar of a sadistic psycho who cuts up zombies and takes photos, where does he keep these experiments? The cellar! I like that this section shows that zombies aren't the worst things in an outbreak of the virus, it also gives some real creeps a chance to do the kind of things they have always wanted to and sometimes those people are the real monsters, not Colin. It is funny however that Colin doesn't actually come to the rescue of the girl as she is strangled to death but just wonders past, out of the cellar and back into the wider world. This scene basically just shows that not only is Colin not evil but the bad things he does aren't as bad as the things humans do in context, well some of them.
The next scene is one of the biggest plot points as Colin is kidnapped, at first we don't see who by, this bit is very carefully filmed to make us experience the kidnapping in the same way Colin does, with confusion and terror. An absolutely amazing tracking shot takes us into the bathroom Colin is tied up in and through a blood splattered mirror reveals his captor, his sister. Colin is probably his most angriest in this scene, the sheer emotion of the scene between Colin and his sister whilst she tries to make him remember her is brilliant personally it made me feel sorry for Linda as she is going to become a zombie but more so it made me feel sorry for Colin as we can clearly see how much he has lost since becoming a zombie. The photographs he carries with him show how much he did once care and the shots of the empty bathroom, dripping tap, dangling shoelace (that Colin was tied up with) are the most cinematic of the film and have a sorrowful feeling of loss about them. We next follow Colin in a Hessian bag all the way to his old home and to his mother, who Linda is convinced he will remember. The viewpoint of Colin is the viewpoint of the audience for this whole section from the bag to the kitchen which through glass Colin can see his family, separated from him. His bangs on the glass as he tries to get to them are clearly because he wants to eat them... but visually it is heartbreaking to see him banging on the window, trying to get to all that he has lost, his family and his humanity. The shot is beautifully framed as it ends with him slowly tapping away at the window his arm framed to hug his mother who stands at the window. Also evident at this point is the boyfriend of his sister who clearly dislikes him and is violent towards him, fair enough Colin did bite his girlfriend but in general we as an audience also dislike him. Colin spends the night brainlessly staring at a tv, a quick comment on society?
Colin is no longer alone, his sister is also a zombie, thrown into the room with him and they are hidden behind newspaper articles taped to the windows by their mother. A nice way of getting across some exposition in a highly emotional scene. One might think they are trapped in the house, however Colin's sister has the brain and motor control Colin lacks and opens the doors for him, letting him stumble down the step and back out in the open. Upsettingly Zombies recognise each other even less than zombies recognise humans and the two go their separate ways.
Our final group of survivors, an aggressive mob like group burst onto scene with an explosive, knocking Colin and his fellow horde of zombies down, the ensuing carnage is a little confusing but bloody for sure. The leader of the gang is clear, a hard, solemn looking man wielding a catapult with razor blade ammo, as the chaos of the battle continues he descends on Colin, pulling out a hammer not dissimilar to the hammer Colin once used. Colin is seemingly killed and the group is left to deal with the clean up of the battle, when asked what to do about the people that have been bitten, the leader harshly but simply replies "deal with it". This dark and gritty group of survivors are largely emotionless or just scared (depending on which group member) and whilst they are not demonised their brutal gang killing of those that have been bitten again goes to show that zombies aren't the only threat. Not to mention THEY KILLED COLIN!
Actually they didn't, I don't know how but Colin managed to survive with a half blown off face, and he travels though picturesque snow to a house and inside that house to a sign, yes that very same road sign at which point the story jumps back in time to when Colin was still a human. He berates the girl and owner of the house Laura for leaving the door open ironically saying "if you leave it open one of those thnigs can get in here". They fight off a zombie that was in the upstairs bathroom together but Laura gets bitten, you see her collect some photo's some of which Colin has in the future, and her ring tone is the very same song Colin was listening too as a zombie on the headphones. It is a little unclear whether this was Colin's girlfriend or just a survivor he came across but the YELLOW wearing Laura signifies a lot of the things Colin has pondered over as a zombie. He emotionally holds her as she dies, as she wakes up and after getting bitten holds her down and kills her. This sequence is brilliantly shot and acted and brings a tear to the eye. As he covers her face with her hair the times switch between zombie and non zombie Colin and we see zombie Colin knelt beside the body of Laura, perhaps that was where he was trying to get to the whole time, who knows but you definitely feel there is a good reason he has come here and that he does remember something. To me that is an uplifting end to Zombie Colin's story and as for living Colin, we see him walk back home and as the camera pans up we see his house mate in the window and the circular narrative of Colin is nicely wrapped up.
Colin is an absolutely brilliant film, it manages to get the audience to empathise with Colin and really experience a day in the life of a zombie. This could be boring and slow but its not, its paced perfectly and given enough of a plot to make it truly interesting not only that but its so cleverly written there is character development in Colin without making him some kind of super zombie. Colin follows many zombie conventions but looks at them from the other side of the coin, analysing what it is like to be a zombie, it is an intelligent and sympathetic look at the monsters we think we know so well. The only thing I personally would like to do differently with my own film is to cut out any sections in which we see the zombie before they are infected, I think it will be more of a challenge to get the audience to identify with the character without seeing him as a relatable human
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