Movie Analysis
The Night of the Living Dead (1968) World War Z (2013)
The two movies I decided to analyze was World War Z (2013) and The Night of the Living Dead (1968). Both of these horror movies are set in a dystopian type world where zombies have inhabited earth and they have to fend themselves against the zombies in order to live. What I decided to focus on was the camera movements and the usage of the music. I wanted to see how movies made in two different time periods differed.
Camera Techniques:
In both of the films I noticed the camera movements were very different. In The Night of The Living Dead (1968), did not have much movement. Usually, in the fight scene, the camera would move around a lot to show movement. Most of the scene consisted of multiple jump cuts followed after each other. Most of the shots were still shots until it would jump cut from one frame to another or from one scene to another. For example, when the main character (Ben) was fighting with one zombie and a zombie was creeping up behind, the camera was still for about 5 minutes of that shot until it jump cut to a different frame where is he fighting the zombie that was creeping up behind him. Then I would be still while he fought that zombie and then it jump cuts to the door opening in another frame.
In the World War Z (2013) there was a lot more camera movement. There were jump cuts, but instead if the camera just being still while the scene was happening, the camera moved along as the characters were moving. When the scene is starting and Brad is looking around the stairway, the camera follows his eye movement. The camera moved as if the audience was looking around the same way Brad Pitt was. Then after that, the camera had some tilting angles, followed by a dolly shot of them running. The as they are running, the camera moves into high angle shot. Through the whole scene the camera(s) were constantly moving and shifting to show constant movement.
Sound:
What I also noticed was the amount of music that was used in both of the films. In The Night of the Living Dead (1968) there was almost always music playing in the background. The music was usually very fast paced and high pitched to make it suspenseful in every moment. For example, when the woman was walking up the stairs, the song would gradually build up until she would reach the top of the stairs. Once she got to the top and saw that a Zombie head was there the music would get very-high pitched to signal something alarming/scary has happened. What I also noticed about the music in The Night of the Living Dead was that there was music playing over the fight scenes. As I watched that scene a couple of times I noticed that the reason why there was music on top of the fight scene was because they were trying to cover up the fact that punching sounds were not realistic. It is an old production, so the graphics are not good. It can be clearly seen that when they punch the punch beside their head or beside their body. So the music covered for the lack of realistic sound effects.
The music in World War Z was different in the way it was placed. There was music playing for some action scenes to signal fast pace movement, but the music that was mostly in the movie was orchestral music. The purpose of that was not to signal suspense or thrill but it was more so added for the dramatic effect. For example, When they are on riding in the helicopter to get away from the apartment complex filled with zombies, soft orchestral music can be heard. That is suppose to make the audience absorb the traumatic events that occurred and it makes for a dramatic exit. What is also different is the music during the fight scene. There may be soft fast pace music playing when a character is running but during the actual fight scene realistic fighting effects are added. For example, when Brad Pitt opens the door to fight the Zombie, the audience can hear all the punching, kicking, pushing, grunting sounds that was happening during the altercation. The squeak and pang of the pipes can even be heard. The different music and sounds were strategically placed throughout the film.
In conclusion, these two movies may have been in the same genre, the time period difference can clearly be seen by the the production of the two films. The Night of the Living Dead did not have as much Cg, camera/ editing techniques and the placement and usage of the music was there to not only add suspense but to also distract the audience from the lack of sound effects in the move. World War Z on the other time utilized Cg to have realistic graphics and utilized the modern camera/editing techniques to make the movie flow while using different techniques. The usage of the music was less about making the movie unnerving, but more about the dramatic effect.