Media Studies CourseworkResearch Evidence.

History of Zombie Trailers• In 1968 it was the birth of the modern zombie, zombies were portrayed as being lifeless bodies this

was in the film Night of the Living Dead in which all the zombies attire was what they wore when they died or what they wore in their caskets after burial. Injuries such as missing limbs were common and the zombies intelligence was very low and their movements were slow and stiff.

• In 1970 the zombies in horror films around this time were shown to have blue/green faces, black eyes, messy appearance e.g. blood spilt on them, mud smeared all over their clothing and rips and holes in the clothing the zombies were wearing.

• In the film Dawn of the Dead(1978) the film is now in colour , their faces are a blue tint, their movement is still slow and stiff and there are random injuries to the zombies and patches of blood on their “ordinary” clothing.

• In the 1980’s The Evil Dead's version of zombies was due to possession of evil spirits, so their faces became white and flaky and their eyes became pure white and have black outlines around them.

• It became clear that there are certain rules to a zombie film such as:

• If you didn't die first, you aren't a zombie.• Zombies are not cannibals.• They do not feed on each other only living flesh.• The only way to stop a zombie is a well placed head shot. (Hammer, ice-pick, gun, axe, etc.)• Intelligence is not a their strong point.

• Present day: the zombies are now wearing everyday clothes, their faces are a pale white with red around their eyes. Like most of the zombie films injuries are still common to the zombies they are also covered in blood and their movement is still slow such as films like Shaun of the Dead. Although there are some films that don’t fit this “rule” such as Resident Evil and World War Z where the zombies are “fast-moving.”

Research on a Film Director

I have chosen for this section to look at both a British director as well as a American director. I chose a more experienced director and a more recent director to compare.

Sam RaimiSamuel M "Sam" Raimi was born October 23, 1959.He is an American film director, producer, writer and actor, best known for directing Evil Dead series, and the Spider-Man trilogy; his most recent work is 2013's fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful.He has two brother one of which is the oldest out of the three brothers, Ivan Raimi and the youngest brother Ted Raimi (Theodore "Ted" Raimi.) Raimi became fascinated with making films when his father brought a movie camera home one day and he began to make Super 8 movies with childhood friend Bruce Campbell In college, he teamed up with his brother's roommate Robert Tapert and Campbell to shoot Within the Woods (1978), a 32-minute horror film which raised $375,000, as well as the short comedic film It's Murder! Through family, friends, and a network of investors Raimi was able to finance production of the highly successful horror film The Evil Dead(1981) which became a cult hit and effectively launched Raimi's career. He began work on his second film Crimewave (1985), intended as a live-action comic book—the film was not successful, due in part to unwanted studio intervention. Raimi returned to the horror genre with the Evil Dead II.He was influenced by John Woo, Steven Spielberg, The Three Stooges and Wes Craven.

Edgar Wright Edgar Wright is an English film and TV director and writer. Edgar has been a director/writer since 1994 to present. I chose Edgar to research as I know directed Shaun of the Dead which relates to the genre we are focusing on as it is a zombie comedy. Edgar also helped co-write Shaun of the Dead with Simon Pegg who also features in the film as the main character Shaun. Edgar has worked with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on multiple of occasions on films such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and the TV series Spaced. . Simon Pegg is Wright's most frequent collaborator, appearing in six of his films. Edgar Wright’s work is more favoured to directing comedy films such as Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.Edgar Wright has been influenced by the popular well known American film director Sam Raimi who directed the Evil Dead series.

Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Shaun of the Dead

Research into film classification BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification

The U symbol stands for Universal.

A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means the parent will have to supervise the child.

Research into film classification BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied.

The 12 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays.

Research into film classification BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification

No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film.

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD.

Identify film magazine front cover conventions

Masthead behind the main image shows that the image is more important and the focus of theattention .

The back ground fits in with the “Captain America’s” costume and the fact he is called Captain America as the background is the American flag.

Sticks to the conventions of a magazine front cover as it uses specific colour scheme throughout instead of using a wide range of colours it sticks to two main colours for the fonts.

Puff to interest the reader and to grab their attention and also to promote the magazine

Puff is used to attract the attention of the reader and also make them want to know more

The main image looks as if it has been take out of the film itself

Puff due to it offering ‘free’ posters to the readers which persuades the reader to buy the magazine and its also used to promote the magazine

This magazine sticks to the main conventions of a magazine front cover with the use of the same colours white, yellow and red throughout the cover instead of using a wide range of colours

This is the use of anchorage as the colour of the text relates to the meaning of the text as many people relate aliens as being green therefore the text is green to show this

Direct address to the reader which will encourage them to buy the magazine due to them thinking the magazine is directed straight at them

The masthead is in bold with the font being bright red will attract the attention of the reader and is effective as it stands out on the dark background

The masthead is in front of the main image which is usual for a front cover

Audience Research AnalysedWhen I was researching the main target audiences for zombie movies I looked at current zombie films and the certificates that they were given.I discovered that the zombie film 28 Days Later (2002) was given a 18 rating which suggest there is a lot of blood, gore and violence in this film that is not suitable for a younger audience.The Crazies(2010) another film based around zombies was given a 15 rating which is presumable because there is less gory scenes in this film.Dawn of the Dead (2004)was given a 18 rating which again suggest a lot of violence is featured in this film.Dead Snow(2008) was given a 18 rating.The Evil Dead(1981)was given an 18 rating.Night of the Living Dead(1968) was given a 18 rating.Resident Evil(2002) was given a 15 rating.Shaun of the Dead(2004)was given a 15 rating.Warm Bodies(2013) was given a 12 rating due to it being more of a romantic film than a horror film.Zombieland(2009) was given a 15 rating.

From this research I discovered that most of the zombie films that’s main genre is horror has a higher rating such as a 15 or 18. this could be for a multiple of different reasons such as there is a lot of blood and gore that some younger viewers will find disturbing or that there is sexual references throughout the film that will be unsuitable for younger viewer. Also the violence levels in a 18 rated movie will be a lot more graphic than it would in a 15 rated movie.