28 Weeks Later Textual Analysis
28 Weeks Later is the sequel to the horror, science fiction film 28 Days Later. It is about a group of people fighting for survival against the deadly and ruthless "rage" virus. They travel to a secure location that later turns out to be not as safe as they thought. Throughout the film the group loses more and more people until eventually there are only a couple left. They are taken a way on a helicopter which gets attacked by the "infected". The last scene is a shot of the Eiffel Tower with the infected running towards it telling us there is likely to be another film in the series.
Use of Camera
Like many films that contain a lot of action scenes 28 Weeks Later uses a lot of quick cuts between scenes. The camera work is quick and jumpy to keep the audience engaged and to keep the scenes quick flowing and smooth. There are many different angles of shots in this film varying from close ups of the faces of people running, showing howling how scared they look) and the "infected" people showing that they look very ruthless and are not going to stop for anybody. There are also a lot of long and establishing shots. This is to show the audience the severity of this crises and shows how far the infection has spread and how much destruction it has caused.
Lighting and Colour
The lighting is this film is very important factor to make up what the viewer see's on the screen. This film is set at the end of civilisation where humans are struggling to keep the species alive. Therefore the lighting they use in this film has to be fairly dark. A lot of low key lighting is used to emphasise that the period of time they are going through is very negative. There are scenes underground where there is barely any light at all and the characters faces appear to be lit up by nothing more than a candle light. This keeps the viewers on the edge of their seat as darkness generally represents the unknown. Anything could jump out of the dark at any time and due to the situation this is very likely going to happen. There are parts of high key lighting used where the whole screen is lit up for a sunny day. These are in various parts of the film where the people manage to escape from the infected. The sun shines and it shows a positive feeling to the audience. The characters are happy as they have escaped with their lives. But this only happens for a short while until they are back in the dark once again.
Mise en Scene
The mise on scene works well with this film to create a feeling for the audience of reality. Generally a film about people turning into zombies is not very convincing and does not make the audience feel any senses of realism when watching. 28 Weeks Later on the other hand does a great job of making the film feel realistic through the use of the miss en scene. The costumes and makeup are good and make the "infected" look like they are ready to attack anybody at any time. Having convincing costumes and props is key for a film with characters that are not something from the real world. But the miss en scene along with the convincing narrative make this film feel realistic to the viewers making them feel they have something to relate to.
Editing
Editing for this film would have taken a lot of time and a lot of perseverance. Being in a setting that doesn't really exist can be very expensive for the film makers. With establishing shots of london in pieces after the virus attack the editors would have had to contribute to making the shots look real. There is also a shot of wembley stadium with its grass taller than the people and a deserted and destroyed look. The editors would have made this using special effect software after taking a shot of three stadium itself. Also the editing throughout the chase scenes is quick making the chase scenes flow and using slow editing throughout some of the establishing shots. Also brightness levels for the dark scenes would have been edited to light up certain parts of the scene and to darken the others.
Sound
Sound helps link the different scenes together and helps influence the mood of a film. Different music can create a different atmosphere. For instance there is track that is taken from the first film that and is repeated in this one. They repeat this song a lot adding to the intensity of some of the close up shots of the "infected" showing that these characters are not very nice. As well as this non-diegetic music the diegetic sound also adds to the atmosphere. Throughout the film you can hear the sound of the "infected" running around and the sound of them eating flesh. There is a familiar non-diegetic sound that plays every time the "infected" are getting close. This lets the audience know that something bad is about to happen and prepares them for scene that is about to come.
28 Weeks Later has used a lot of techniques to make a film that essentially cannot happen in real life, and made it look realistic enough to make the audience want to engage in the film. With a combination of good mise en scene and a good narrative this film had become a success. The lighting and editing make the film dark and mysterious and make the audience wonder what is going to happen next, especially in a film with a lot of action.
