Analysis of the opening scene of World War Z

World War Z directed by Marc Foster is a adventure/horror/action film starring most notably, Brad pitt.

The opening starts with a black background followed by the main names behind the movies in a small credit opening. Suddenly cutting to wide shots of homes, people and other societal activities, using wide shots and extreme close ups of different human creations or day to day life. With a narration of the worlds current issues, such as global warming, the endangerment of natural life in both sea and land. All using clips of different news anchors and famous people qouting and disputing these issues. There is also medium shots of wild life such as wolves, or ants clearly supposed to reference the societal/social beings like humans.

All of these shots are edited in a way that triangular portions are blurred and unfocused, leaving only a partial amount of the shot clear. Sometimes there are certain portions of the shot cut out and replaced by a black background, also in a triangular form allowing for other notable names that helped in the production of the film.

The things that are visible in shots are as stated previously consistent with animals of endangered origins, such as bluebottle dolphins, wolfs, etc. This will link in later, other notable links to mise en scene is the anchor news, with well suited/dressed men and women commentating there thoughts, or other notable celebrities as Mr. Yang. In addition a very ominous classical piano piece is played, adding to the tension of the overall introduction.

In conclusion the opening scene in W.W.Z is clearly trying to express the mundane day to day life of people in society and the negative effects of us on our planet, expressing this through a mixture of visual damage, worrying sound overs from fictional news stations and tense music.