Dawn of the Dead (2004) 1st Shot Analysis

 This shot is from the opening credits, where a montage of clips are used representing the disease that is spreading, panic, the epidemic, the media and the breakdown of control in the society. The montage shows news reports and extreme close-ups of blood cells mutating, representing the disease and what it’s doing. This scene is also a strong relation to its historical context, the 9/11 attack which had happened in the United States just 3 years before the film, giving it that realistic feeling and scare. The use of this opening scene also refers to terrorism through the background where we see Mosques which link to the theme of Muslims and representing how the disease has spread from here, referencing how the attack from here diseased the world and specifically the United States.

The song playing is "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash and is about judgement day, linking to the opening credits as the shots show people dying and becoming part of the undead. Referencing to the old Christianity testament, also referring to the quote "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth".

I love this opening scene and specifically this shot because its pixelated, showing that the footage has been captured either on a low-quality device such as a phone to capture this event as quick as possible or the signal isn’t strong enough due to the world wide panic.