Genre Essay-World War Z

            

World War Z is a post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi movie starring Brad Pitt. The film was loosely adapted from Max Brooks' 2006 novel of the same name and it is about a former UN officer who gets brought back from retirement to help find a cure after the zombie apocalypse begins. 

First of all the movie is typical of the zombie apocalypse genre because it incorporates a character whom the audience bond with and form a connection towards whilst they are fighting the undead. Therefore the movie provides the audience with the binary oppositions of zombies vs the human race and survival vs death. The film uses typical conventions found in zombie movies, for example it's set in a large city, the main character is male and the feel of the movie is quite dark and ominous. Also the shot types used are typical for this genre. Wide shots are used to show the enormity of the problem and close ups are used to make the character seem more relatable to the audience and to show they're trapped and alone. 

The trailer starts with a typical establishing shot to indicate where the character is and where the movie is set. It then cuts to a shot of a family is a car just talking normally, at this moment in time the audience have no idea what the genre is and they feel safe. Then  a disruption takes place in the form of their car mirror getting smashed off by a passer by on a motorcycle and this awakens the characters to the events unfolding around them. When Gerry (Brad Pitt) gets out of the car a large explosion happens at the end of the road which initiates the being of lots of fast paced and frantic cuts. This implies that the characters are feeling scared and agitated. Music then kicks in to connote the chaos happening around them and a low, deafening screech sounds when they first show the zombies. This adds more fear to the image and makes the audience feel even more scared. After that a series of wide shots shows the zombies attacking and the the scale of the event. Gerry and his family then escape in a camper van which backs up the binary opposition of survival vs death because they choose to survive and not be caught. A few visual signifiers such as a a computer screen tolling the death count and television coverage from all over the world shows us that it's not only happening in America and it's becoming a pandemic. The last shot shows the zombies building a ladder of bodies trying to get over the wall, the shot used is a wide shot which makes the audience feel fearful of the sheer volume of infected.