Timeline: Zombieland Opening Sequence

In today's lesson we researched certain films which we felt would give us some inspiration. I decided to research Zombieland. Zombieland is a 2009 American zombie/comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. I chose Zombieland as the film which I would research due to it being in the genre of zombie, striking a similarity to my group's film 'The eZ Life".

Zombieland is about a reserved student attempting to get to his family in Ohio, a tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie in existence, and a duo of sisters trying to reach an theme park. They join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.

Zombieland Opening Sequence:



Timeline:

0:00 - 0:03: There's a blacked-out screen which fades into a waving American flag, the camera slowly zooms out to allow viewers to deduce that the flag is atop an overturned car, with the sky and ground the opposite way round.

0:04 - 0:11: The narrator sets the scene that the country, America, is without people. Offers enigma, as to why?

0:12 - 0:21: The narrator stops speaking and the shot shows an effect of interference, the camera rotates to put perspective upon the car overturned, upside-down. The camera work is from the perspective of someone filming the event. Mass destruction can be seen; smashed, burning vehicles, firearms scattered on the floor.

0:22 - 0:37: The camera pans right and a zombie is introduced, covered in blood and dressed in a suit, jumps off of an overturned car, revealing the White House in the background. The zombie chases the camera man who is screaming. The camera man trips, the camera falls on the floor and the screen cracks and flickers, blood is also splattered onto it. The zombie can be seen eating the camera man, it stops and burps. The narrator addresses the audience as 'friends' and introduces the setting as 'United States of Zombieland'.

0:38 - 0:49: There's a shot which zooms out, showing an accelerated birds-eye view of the Earth in space. The rotating world is fragmented by lava. The narrator is setting the scene using his personal perspective.

0:50 - 2:40: The narrator talks about rules which he has implemented and lives by, these rules are presented and 3D text is shown on-screen. The things which happen interact with the 3D text.

Interactive Rules: An example of how the rules are incorporated into the shots.

2:41 - 4-19: The film credits begin to be incorporated into shot. The actors interact with the 3D text. Various events of death and destruction by zombies can be seen.

Impact: The zombie throws the victim into the 3D text.