Textual Analysis of Shaun Of The Dead

As I mentioned in the first Textual Analysis of "World War Z", everything in the filming world happens for a reason. Certain Shots can be used to portray different emotions, emotions that other shots cannot give.

For a contrast to the Textual Analysis of "World War Z", I am going to do an Analysis of "Shaun of the Dead", in specific the "Plan" scene which was made for comedic purposes. I will be doing this so I know what is done to make this scene less serious than the film "World War Z" so I can see how to make a film if I went down a less serious, more comedic take to my Zombie Film.

This is the famous plan scene from "Shaun of the Dead", below I have bullet pointed everything that happens to see if there are any recurring themes between the WWZ and SotD clips.

• Dolly shot of camera moving backwards, bringing Shaun into the scene. Low angle camera used.
• Shaun turns around, Camera moves in front of Ed's perspective, Zooms into Shaun's face.
• Montage of plan starts with plan scenes.
• Whip pan transition to Match On Action of car door closing.
• Match On Action of  other car door closing.
• Match On Action of Shaun slamming his foot onto the accelerator with zoom as he connects with the accelerator.
• Track shot of car driving away from its parked position
• Transitions in a pan to another clip of the car driving down the road.
• Cuts to a shot of  Ed and Shaun running up to Mum's house, Dolly shot moving backwards slowly.
• Match On Action of Shaun ringing the doorbell, zoom after connecting with doorbell.
• Tilt Transition onto Zombie Philip turning around, camera zooms out.
• Cuts to behind Zombie Philip zooming in
• Tilt Transition of Mum, Ed and Shaun running from the house to the car, Camera zooming in.
• Transition onto Match On Action of the sign saying "No Parking" outside Liz's place.
• Transition when car goes past the sign to car breaking.
• Match On Action of Liz at the door beckoning them over.
• Scene cuts to them running to the door, dolly shot moving backwards.
• Pan transition to Match On Action of  a "Cup Of Tea" (lined up exactly as it is said in the plan).
• Scene cuts to them all drinking tea, zooms onto Shaun breaking the forth wall, winking at the camera.
• Pan Transition going back to reality, Ed says why do we have to go to Liz's? (Static Shot)
• Shot Reverse Shot, camera tilts up slowly.
• High angle on Ed, Low angle on Shaun.
• Shot reverse shot, emphasize on Ed's face.
• Shot reverse shot, emphasize on Shaun's face.
• Shot reverse shot three more times.
•  Final SRS, Second montage of plan starts.
• Whip pan transition to Match On Action of car door closing.
• Match On Action of  other car door closing.
• Match On Action of Shaun slamming his foot onto the accelerator with zoom as he connects with the accelerator.
• Track shot of car driving away from its parked position
• Transitions in a pan to another clip of the car driving down the road.
• Cuts to a shot of  Ed and Shaun running up to Mum's house, Dolly shot moving backwards slowly.
• Match On Action of Shaun ringing the doorbell, zoom after connecting with doorbell.
• Tilt Transition onto Zombie Philip turning around, camera zooms out.
• Cuts to behind Zombie Philip zooming in
• Tilt Transition of Mum, Ed and Shaun running from the house to the car, Camera zooming in.
• Transition onto Match On Action of the sign saying "No Parking" outside Liz's place.
• Transition when car goes past the sign to car breaking.
• Cut to Shaun, Mum, Ed and Liz running back to the car (Liz is being carried by Shaun). Camera slowly zooms
• Pan Transition with Match On Action of  "Cup of Tea" (lined up perfectly with the audio queue of cup of tea)
• Transitions to a wide angle shot that zooms in on Shaun winking at the camera.
• Pan Transition to reality. Shot reverse Shot between Shaun and Ed  X9, Sound bridging conversation. (static camera)
• Whip pan transition to Match On Action of car door closing.
• Match On Action of  other car door closing.
• Match On Action of Shaun slamming his foot onto the accelerator with zoom as he connects with the accelerator.
• Track shot of car driving away from its parked position
• Cuts to a shot of  Ed and Shaun running up to Mum's house, Dolly shot moving backwards slowly.
• Match On Action of Shaun ringing the doorbell, zoom after connecting with doorbell.
• Tilt Transition onto Zombie Philip turning around, camera zooms out.
• Cuts to behind Zombie Philip zooming in.
• Cut to Shaun, Mum, Ed and Liz running back to the car (Liz is being carried by Shaun). Camera slowly zooms
• Tilt Transition to Match On Action of "The Winchester" Sign/
• Cut to Car pulling up just outside "The Winchester".
• Pan Transition to Match On Action of a Glass of Beer.
• Cuts to Wide angle shot, zooms in on Shaun as he winks at the camera.
• Pan Transition to low angle of Shaun ending the montage.
• Sound bridge and cut to next scene which is a wide long shot behind Ed.
• Shot Reverse Shot, Ed stands up. Camera tracks him moving.
• Camera cuts to behind the TV, emphasizing the sound of the news on the TV.
• Camera cuts to in between Shaun and Ed, zooming in on the TV. TV gets louder.
• TV contradicts the plan of Shaun and Ed.
• Camera cuts back behind the TV showing Shaun and Ed, Shaun turns the TV off.

That is the end of the clip and looking at this and the World War Z clip, I think bullet pointing everything has really helped me, showing me everything that is put into a scene. This shows me in specific how to do nice transitions and how I would go about making a comedic zombie film (if I wanted to go down that route).

Shaun of the Dead was made with a the small budget of 4 Million Dollars. This budget is small compared to most films in more recent years. As this film is considered a small scale film (even though it is a great one) it received 30 Million Dollars from the Box Office. 

Looking at the clip, I can see there is an overwhelming amount of match on action used in the clip I feel like this adds to the comedic value of this scene but after watching the clip with no sound I can see that it isn't that funny. I think the Match on Action and the use of pan transitions just add to the comedy when intertwined with what is said and the sounds that are heard. I feel like it is the funniest way to portray the plan as it shows it is hectic. It is edited for the voice-over.

Sound is a key feature which really makes this scene funny.  I'm looking at this point purely for its comedic value, not for the zombie aspects. When the clip transitions from reality to the plan, funny music is played in the background to emphasize the humor, we also hear whipping sounds for when Shaun swings his bat and even when he slurps his tea, two more sounds found in comedy films. All the main thing that makes this funny though, is the voice-over. How he goes over the plan,

Now I will go into a Textual Analysis of Shaun of the Dead, looking into the genre, audience and narrative of the film.

I would say that the film "Shaun of the Dead" goes under many types of genres:

• Horror
• Comedy
• Action
• Parody
• Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

I would say that "Shaun of the Dead" falls under these genres because in every sense of the word, it is a comedy film. It is an iconic cult classic, part of the "Three Flavored Cornetto Trilogy". It falls under the category of horror as even though it is a comedy, it is still a zombie movie and there are scenes that include violent scenes and gore, these same scenes also cause the film to be in the Action Genre as they kill many zombies and many characters bite the bullet.

One thing I must point out is that the "Three Flavored Cornetto Trilogy" is a parody, taking the mockery of other films by taking a comedic approach to cliche's used in certain genres. They usually film these types of films in a rather non-conventional way, doing some things that have never been explored in other films of its type.

As I mentioned in my other Textual Analysis, most zombie movies try to "Cure the zombie virus". This is something that is totally different compared to most other films. Shaun of the Dead is based of an Average Joe who just so happens to find himself in a zombie outbreak in his hometown. He is put into a situation he knows nothing about what is really going on. He then decides on a plan of action to survive the apocalypse, knowing that this wont last forever.

The Zombies used in "Shaun of the Dead" contrast greatly with the zombies in World War Z. First of all, The zombies in WWZ are more like living infected which can sprint really fast whereas the zombies in Shaun of the Dead are quite the opposite. People are definitely dead and are "Shamblers". They are very slow moving zombies which get slightly fast once "motivated".

As for the audience, I would say they are going for the same audience of World War Z, going for zombie lovers along with teenage audiences. I would say that this film also goes for another audience set, comedy lovers. This film really puts emphasis on comedy, mocking the original zombie films by using cliche's to portray comedy.

Shaun of the Dead is pure comedy genius. It is one of the single best comedy films (and zombie films as a standalone concept). It is genuinely funny and maintains the comedy of the "Three Flavored Cornetto Trilogy" throughout the film and the others of the trilogy. They are films that link themselves together to give a special theme which is a staple of Simon Pegg's work.