Dawn Of The Dead 2004 - Image 3 Analysis

This particular image expresses a news reporter talking about terrorist attacks; his face is very pixellated to indicate he is using a satellite phone that is common on channels such as CNN and Al Jaziera. In the back of the mise-en-scene we can see minarets, mosques and riots in the background, referring to the terrorism and a Middle East diegesis. This is a visual metaphor suggesting that terrorism spreads like a virus (like the zombies) from the Middle East.

This particular footage would be relevant to American audiences because present to the time this film was released, 2004, the Americans was involved in a land war with Iraq. Subsequently, corresponding to the importance of audiences in a film - wrote about by Janet Staiger: to fully understand a film you need to understand the audience to which this film consider their audience profoundly, this is what makes this film a lot more effective and succesful.

Dawn Of The Dead 2004 - Image 2 Analysis

This particular scene visualises both Kenneth, a police officer and Andre, a supposed ex-criminal who fits the negative black stereotypes – gangster factors of side-on-gun work whilst shooting. Kenneth isn’t particularly keen of Andre, he makes that clear in this scene when Kenneth questions how Andre can’t figure out why he’s in this place because he’s not innocent, but we see a sensitive side to Andre that he expresses to Kenneth. In this scene Andre says how he desperately wants to turn his life around - in an interracial relationship - with Luda and his unborn child. He protects them with all his willpower which made him gets killed by the old; this conveys sheer hope in how he wanted another chance at life, so he could have a happy family life. Converging all of my thoughts to the aspect of an interracial relationship, the original Dawn of the Dead (1979) denotes a supposed interracial relationship between Fran and Peter who were the only survivors, this caused a lot of uproar in the 1970s because it was shocking to see, it was frowned upon a lot. However, context has changed so this isn’t shocking any more. Dawn of the Dead film challenges stereotypes where black people, men in particular, are concerned – Kenneth is a black heroic character who’s a police officer; who’s brilliant with a gun and helps put himself and the rest of the characters to their survival act. Subsequently, Kenneth represents the improvement of representation of black people in films as they’d usually be portrayed as criminals in the vast-majority of films.

This particular scene visualises both Kenneth, a police officer and Andre, a supposed ex-criminal who fits the negative black stereotypes – gangster factors of side-on-gun work whilst shooting. Kenneth isn’t particularly keen of Andre, he makes that clear in this scene when Kenneth questions how Andre can’t figure out why he’s in this place because he’s not innocent, but we see a sensitive side to Andre that he expresses to Kenneth. In this scene Andre says how he desperately wants to turn his life around - in an interracial relationship - with Luda and his unborn child. He protects them with all his willpower which made him gets killed by the old; this conveys sheer hope in how he wanted another chance at life, so he could have a happy family life. Converging all of my thoughts to the aspect of an interracial relationship, the original Dawn of the Dead (1979) denotes a supposed interracial relationship between Fran and Peter who were the only survivors, this caused a lot of uproar in the 1970s because it was shocking to see, it was frowned upon a lot. However, context has changed so this isn’t shocking any more. Dawn of the Dead film challenges stereotypes where black people, men in particular, are concerned – Kenneth is a black heroic character who’s a police officer; who’s brilliant with a gun and helps put himself and the rest of the characters to their survival act. Subsequently, Kenneth represents the improvement of representation of black people in films as they’d usually be portrayed as criminals in the vast-majority of films.

This particular scene visualises both Kenneth, a police officer and Andre, a supposed ex-criminal who fits the negative black stereotypes – gangster factors of side-on-gun work whilst shooting. Kenneth isn’t particularly keen of Andre, he makes that clear in this scene when Kenneth questions how Andre can’t figure out why he’s in this place because he’s not innocent, but we see a sensitive side to Andre that he expresses to Kenneth. In this scene Andre says how he desperately wants to turn his life around - in an interracial relationship - with Luda and his unborn child. He protects them with all his willpower which made him gets killed by the old; this conveys sheer hope in how he wanted another chance at life, so he could have a happy family life.

Converging all of my thoughts to the aspect of an interracial relationship, the original Dawn of the Dead (1979) denotes a supposed interracial relationship between Fran and Peter who were the only survivors, this caused a lot of uproar in the 1970s because it was shocking to see, it was frowned upon a lot. However, context has changed so this isn’t shocking any more.

Dawn of the Dead film challenges stereotypes where black people, men in particular, are concerned – Kenneth is a black heroic character who’s a police officer; who’s brilliant with a gun and helps put himself and the rest of the characters to their survival act. Subsequently, Kenneth represents the improvement of representation of black people in films as they’d usually be portrayed as criminals in the vast-majority of films.

Dawn Of The Dead 2004 - Image 1 Analysis

Horror movies predominantly encapsulate elements that scare us in current time. Dawn of the Dead (1979) was historically contextual that focused primarily on consumerism: the rise of shopping malls – Americans being obsessed with money – which was illustrated when Peter and Roger are taking the money from all the tills. It’s extremely bizarre that they’re still fanatical over money even when the world is overrun by zombies and their lives are at risk. Focusing on Dawn of the Dead (2004), the starting credits include a diverse amount of imagery and video-footage referring to terrorism and Muslims. In terms of the Americans they was still in shock and terror over the 09/11 attack that happened in 2001 – three years prior to the release of this remake, which would have extremely terrify the Americas; leave them paranoid of it happening again – this corresponds to Janet Staiger’s theory regarding audiences: to fully understand a film you need to understand the audience.

The starting credits display terrifying imagery in conjunction with “The Man Comes Around” song which is about ‘Judgement Day’, linking to the Old Testament 'Revelations” section about Biblical Armageddon. Subsequently, this links to the quote “when there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth” so the film plays on religious implications that results in the paranoia that the Islamic terrorists will attack again.

Horror movies predominantly encapsulate elements that scare us in current time. Dawn of the Dead (1979) was historically contextual that focused primarily on consumerism: the rise of shopping malls – Americans being obsessed with money – which was illustrated when Peter and Roger are taking the money from all the tills. It’s extremely bizarre that they’re still fanatical over money even when the world is overrun by zombies and their lives are at risk.

Focusing on Dawn of the Dead (2004), the starting credits include a diverse amount of imagery and video-footage referring to terrorism and Muslims. In terms of the Americans they was still in shock and terror over the 09/11 attack that happened in 2001 – three years prior to the release of this remake, which would have extremely terrify the Americas; leave them paranoid of it happening again – this corresponds to Janet Staiger’s theory regarding audiences: to fully understand a film you need to understand the audience.

Dawn Of The Dead 1979 - Image 3 Analysis

This is the last scene of the movie where we’re left with a blonde final girl and a black male hero, back in the 1970s the majority of American people (especially in the South, where Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) was likely to be shown in drive-ins) was still racist, only a minority of people was coming to terms with black people.

Romero, through bad experiences himself as a half-Cuban man, loathed racism. He found racism horrible and distasteful, which is why his films look at race a lot; he was trying to express how atrocious it was.

In terms of DOTD, he challenged conventions through having a black male hero, Peter, rather than the white Stephen or Roger. Subsequently, at the time of the film release, it caused a lot of uproar; a lot of people didn’t like the fact that the male hero in the film was black but this is what Romero wanted because his films reflect his auteur influence; his own personal creative vision. This is written about by Andrew Sarris’ in his essay “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962” where he argued that by identifying the best directors and decoding their cinematic style would be the best way to analyse films. This works very well in regards to Romero’s films. In addition to this, a blonde haired woman who has sex in a horror movie is usually the female victim. However, Romero has characterised her to be the final girl, again testing horror's conventions.

This scene is also interesting because we have a hint of an interracial relationship. The open ended narrative finishes with Fran and Peter being the only survivors. Subsequently, this further links to the uproar because there was a mass of racism back in the 1970s and interracial relationships were frowned upon so this would have been extremely shocking to see in a film. This reflects Janet Staiger’s Audience Theory (outlined in her 1990 book “Understanding Films”), were she believes that to understand a film, you must understand the context of when the film was made, and this Dawn of the Dead caused stronger reactions  due to the racist era in which it was created. 

Dawn Of The Dead 1979 - Image 2 Analysis

Fran and Stephen’s relationship throughout the film is always shown to be very strained; this image supports my point perfectly. In terms of conventional horror themes, this illustrates sex and the taboo. Their relationship envisions that of a break down, this photo visualises Fran and Stephen naked in bed, looking away from one another. We get the idea that they’ve just had sex as they’re both naked, but this photograph conveys how they’re not expressing compassion towards one another, their static body language suggests negative emotions.

In terms of Fran’s nudity, it visualises that of the “Male Gaze” theory; appeasing the male-dominated Cultural Dominant Ideologies – this is the theory most associated with Laura Mulvey whom, through her own experience of voyeuristic men and her feministic viewpoint, examined how Hollowed cinema represented woman, which was prominently for the pleasure of men.

Dawn Of The Dead 1979 - Image 1 Analysis

We’re introduced to Stephen at the start of the film when the ‘zombie attack’ was first being established. He goes to Fran whilst she's at work and tells her to be ready by 10 as they’re leaving the city by helicopter. This gives us the impression, along with his considered to be good looks during the time this film was set, that Stephen is going to be a ‘male hero’ archetype.

However, his character is far from a heroic, he challenges conventional views because he is inept with a gun – this photograph illustrates Roger stepping in front of Stephen to shoot zombies because Stephen’s aim was so poor. This is one of George A. Romero’s trademarks; he liked to challenge horror conventions; taking characters stereotypes and flipping them around. In comparison to one of Romero’s other successful films that plays well with character roles, Night of the Living Dead showcases a black male hero, that being the brilliant actor Duane Jones, which was very shocking in the 1970s due to the high level of racism. In terms of Dawn of the Dead, Stephen, a supposed male hero turns out to be weaker than less likely characters.

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Total Film Magazine Analysis

Total Film is a UK-based film magazine which was launched in 1997 and is published every four weeks. The magazine entails cinema, Blu-ray, DVD, interview features, and so forth to which help viewers stay up to date with the latest news regarding films. Total film is a printed publication as well as an online edition. In addition to this, the film is also present online: Totalfilm.com website, they’re on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr as well as having their own iPhone app.

Lara Croft takes over the 80^th issue of Total Film magazine back in September 2003. This issue predominantly celebrated Tomb Raider 2’s release - as you can see, Lara’s medium shot image dominates the whole cover. Tomb Raider plays on Cultural Dominant Ideologies because woman are supposedly weak, opposed to men, but Tomb Raider entails Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft, to be a strong woman who is brilliant at martial arts, to defend hidden secrets of the films. She’s brunette and extremely attractive. Subsequently, the male gaze theory - studied by critic Laura Mulvey – is definitely used in this issue, which is where woman are aesthetically styled to please that of a male audience. In this case you can understand because Lara has sexual connotations with her showing her chest and cleavage through being dressed in her bra and a blazer. Not only that, the main selling line states “She’s stronger. She’s sharper. She’s sexier...” which textually supports that of the Male Gaze Theory.

In terms of the textual aspects of the magazine, everything is in lower-case form with a bold typeface, besides the main cover line and two subheadings that are in upper-case form (tomb raider 2, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Star Wars Features) which signify the publications most important and interesting factors.

The colouration of the magazine is prominently orange, blue and white with little hints of yellow. I think the orange refers to the action aspects of the publication; yellow and red amalgamate to make orange which suggests that the main feature, Tomb Raider, will be stimulating and energetic. In addition orange is the colour of adventure which definitely corresponds to the main cover line feature. In regards to blue which is the colour that suggests loyalty and trust, I think this refers to Angelina’s character, Lara Croft, because she defends the truth and secrets in the Tomb Raider films; she is probably the only character who is genuinely loyal and puts matters to justice. Blue is often the colour of peace as well, which is what Lara longs for. In terms of the white and yellow, I think these are to just differentiate against the orange and blue - the colours all go nicely together as well.

Empire Magazine Analysis

Empire is foremost magazine with regards to movie news, film and DVD reviews, interviews, compositions, etc. Hellboy 2 dominates Empire’s March 2008 front cover.

With regards to the masthead, Empire has uniquely changed the stylistics to correspond to Hellboy through the use of flames emerging from the typeface. This is very diverse for empire usually has a plain typeface which they’ve used for the rest of their issues; this signifies that this particular issue is a special issue which will attract the attention of viewers. I believe that connecting the style of the masthead with the type of film - that is the main feature of the magazine - is very effective because it illustrates what the magazine is predominantly going to focus on as well as it making the whole magazine look creative and professional. The colour red in conjunction with flames connotes the danger aspects of the Hellboy 2 movie, therefore this visual hint entices people to buy and read the magazine, with the incentive to unravel more about the movie.

Conventionally, the date and price of the magazine is located within the M of ‘empire’ which constructs within the shape of the top of the M, this looks a lot more professional and neat because it is concisely embedded within the design of the type. In regards to the website name, it is situated below the last E of ‘empire’ which is another traditional trait of the magazine. This visually connotes that the magazine has a specific style to their magazine, which gives the magazine its own identity; its own trademark.

The cover lines are to be found on the left hand side in its own negative space from the main images black background. The colour of the type for the cover lines is white which differentiates from the background, making it stand out more. These are used to give an indication of what to be found in the magazine; a glimpse of what’s featuring in that issue. With regards to the content within the cover lines, they’ve issued you information concerning what films they’re featuring that month as well as interactivity question with the audience through saying ‘well, who would you choose?’ between Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson, this makes the audience feel engaged with the magazines, which is a great selling point for this issue.

Focusing on the main selling line, it’s located at the bottom of the magazine, central in frame. The text is all in uppercase form and is large in size; it’s the largest typeface on the magazine as opposed to everything else on the cover (besides the masthead of course). With the accompany feature of the ‘first look’ typo, it initiates the thought that the magazine entails exclusive information about the newly released film, Hellboy 2, to which would grab your attention for you’d want to know more about the recent film release, the coloration of this feature – gold - links with the film, making it more coherent and professional.

The selling line is located below the masthead which states that “Guillermo Del Toro goes epic”, Guillermo is the filmmaker/director of Hellboy and the indication of him going ‘epic’ suggests that the second sequel to Hellboy is going to be a lot better than the first movie. This not only ties the director to the film, giving him credit for his new work (the filmmakers aren’t usually credited on front covers, the main characters or actors are usually) but also makes you have interest in what’s new for the film of Hellboy.

Located between the ‘first look’ feature and the main cover line is a tagline stating ‘you and whose golden army?’ which plays on the idiom ‘you and what army’ but makes it more personal to the main feature; it correspond to Hellboy through saying ‘golden army’ – therefore making it more iconic and entertaining to the fans of Hellboy.  

Regarding the barcode it is conventionally situated at the bottom of the magazine in the left hand corner. This feature suggests that the film is of establishment and is available for buying (not a false production that’s been made up); allowing us to know that it’s in the mass market.

Considering elements concerning the main image, we can see that Hellboy dominates the whole frame, which signifies his role in the magazine. In addition to this, the conventional aspect of the image covering parts of the masthead suggests that Hellboy is the most important aspect of the issue, commonly in magazines the model of the front cover overlaps the masthead which is a professional looking feature and suggests that the magazine is of some establishment (which empire is). However, empire doesn’t always do this with their masthead, sometimes the ‘empire’ brand lays on top of the image. Subsequently, this portrays that Hellboy2 dominates the whole magazine; it’s the most significant feature as opposed to the rest of the information contained within the magazine. With regards to the image itself, it’s a medium shot that entails a central alignment in conjunction with the rule of thirds concerning composition, which is very conventional. Hellboy is very engaging, looking directly at the camera and therefore viewers. Focusing on the pose and at which Hellboy is undertaking, he’s leaning on his elbows holding one hand with his other, which almost looks like he’s clicking his knuckles. It’s almost like a threatening stance, as if he means business. This is supported with his angry and menacing facial expression.

Converging all of my thoughts to the colour scheme, the background of the magazine is black which connotes a dark series of films that will be contained in the March issue. The rest of the magazine is white, red and gold. The white is used to differ from the dark colour of the magazine, this is the colour used for the vast-majority of the type, predominantly the cover lines, including the main. Red connotes that of danger which refers to the horror aspect of the main cover line, Hellboy. And the gold is used to coherently represent the film; it also corresponds nicely within the whole colour scheme.

There’s irony within this magazine, the image in specific, because for people who has never seen or heard of Hellboy before, the magazine conventions they’ve applied to advertise this movie release, such as the colour scheme and the aesthetics of the masthead, connotes that of horror and danger, and the pose at which Hellboy is doing suggests that he’s dangerous and not someone to mess with. However, around his wrist hangs a religious statement, the Jesus Christ cross, which hangs down covering a slight segment of the ‘Hellboy 2’ typeface. Subsequently, this may become confusing for viewers who, like I previously stated, haven’t watched Hellboy before. On the other hand, it suggests that Hellboy is of innocence who’s only trying to bring justice to the world.

Rue Morgue Magazine Analysis

The world’s leading horror & entertainment magazine, Rue Morgue, has expanded over the years to not only just a publication but also an expo, successful film production, broadcast, radio show, film series and so forth. Editor, publisher and film-maker Rodrigo Gudino, was who launched Rue Morgue in 1997.

This was the October 2010 issue of Rue Morgue; celebrating Psycho’s 50^th anniversary – it was released in 1960 - and first appearance on Blu-ray.

The image is of Norman which is a section towards the end of Psycho where he is caught by the police and put in a sell. When we reach this part in the film, we fully understand that Norman is half possessed by his mother - this screenshot shows him as well as half of his mother’s appearance; this is where we see his weakness and despair. This image dominates the whole cover, there’s no other use of imagery on the cover, which corresponds to how Norman is being controlled by his mom. The image is in black and white which relates back to the time it was released, 1960 – no colour image productions.

The textual styling of everything but the subheadings located on either side of Norman’s head, is fairly distressed; the lettering is bold yet shattered, as well as being in uppercase form which automatically grabs your attention. In terms of the styling, the shattered typeface connotes the life of Norman, his life has been shattered into a million pieces which he tries to amend – by still working and trying to act like a normal guy - but due to his mother governing his mind; possessing him, it makes it all the more difficult which results in him getting caught by the police. The subheadings are in a bold and simple typeface, kind of looks like an impact text, which is to showcase what’s inside the magazine but it also helps signify the main aspects of the magazine which is the masthead and main cover line – these are also in different colours, prominently the only colours in orange which highlights their importance. The selling line is located next to the main cover line which is the most important aspect of Psycho’s feature because Rue Morgue incorporated this film into their magazine since the film celebrates the 50^th anniversary.

The coloration is blue, orange, white and black.

In terms of blue, this portrays the aspects of Norman, blue connotes the hatred towards confrontation and fuss; doesn’t like attention. This refers to how shy he is as well as how he hates to cross his mother in bad terms. Blue often refers to the full control of your life, which isn’t supported in this case; in fact it’s the total opposite in regards to Norman. It’s also said that blue is the colour which refers to a spiritual perspective which is 100% the case, he tries to take control of his life but he is mentally haunted by his mom. Not only that, Norman tends to constantly refer everything in his life back to his past, he can’t overcome his horrid past of killing his mom which is why he relates past experiences to the past – he’s predominantly against woman.

In regards to orange, this is usually the colour that refers to optimism and assertive. It corresponds to that of lonesome if you’re not around people. Subsequently, I think this refers to Norman as well as his mom. His mom is very forceful; pushy in regards to her son’s life. And Norman often feels lonely due to having an unsuccessful motel business as well as the fact that he has no one around him apart from his mom’s spirit.

Converging all of my thoughts to the colours black and white, the black signifies the horror aspects as well as outlining the main features in the magazine. The white highlights the people in the publication as well as outlining the photo of Norman which I feel connotes the innocence of his personality, granted he killed his mother but afterwards his life was ruled by his mom to which resulted in more murders. Predominantly though, I think these colours were used for decorative purposes. They sit nicely against the blue and orange.

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