In this clip from Dawn of the Dead, the characters are fighting off some of the zombies with weapons that appeared to be made/stolen from the mall that they were trapped in. This use of mise-en-scene creates a sort of reality due to the fact that it wouldn’t be very believable if they had high-tech equipment. The pace of editing in this clip is fast and there are a lot of cuts including a variety of shots: close-ups, long shots and midshots. These shots combined with the fast pace of editing creates the feeling of battle and survival as the audience wants the protagonists to defeat the zombies, especially with their scavenged weapons (props).
The atmosphere in this clip is very apocalyptic. There is smoke everywhere from fire and there is fire everywhere from the protagonists flame throwers as well as crashed cars where a person would’ve presumably been attacked by a zombie. This mise-en-scene creates the feeling of hell and makes it seem like the end of the world. The character’s costumes are very dirty which reinforces the verisimilitude of the film, the characters having been stuck in a mall for quite a while and also having killed zombies would make them unclean and messy. The lighting within this clip is very dark with the light only coming from certain light sources, such as the torch or the surrounding fire. This lighting again creates the idea of hell and darkness which could represent evil and death. The location of this clip is set in an industrial place as it is surrounded with buildings and cars, all having been wrecked due to the zombie apocalypse. This all creates a sense of panic for the audience as the verisimilitude of that location makes the audience feel like the zombie apocalypse could happen where they are and the audience no longer feels safe within their environment.
The constant off-screen diagetic and sometimes diagetic sounds of zombies screaming and groaning is very effective in creating the panic and apocalyptic world as they are supernatural sounds which you would not here in a safe, tranquil place. This creates the chaos and the danger and once again, the idea of hell. Also, the connotation of the surrounding fire reinforces the idea of hell on earth. Underneath all of the diagetic sounds of screaming, there is also the non-diagetic sound of tense music which creates tension
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