Shaun of the dead opening

Shaun of the dead is my personal favourite horror-comedy film. I think what makes this film is the actors in it(Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). Also my opening is quite like this so i thought it would be a good idea to review a similar film.

First there's a mid shot of Shaun with a cigarette and a beer, the mise-en-scene is very effective in this clip because he has a vague expression showing he's been in the pub a lot for a great length of time, also his tie is undone showing his lack of etiquette. Average man.
When Liz talks about Ed, the camera pans to him on a fruit machine and he starts swearing at it. So the film has introduced the first two characters well. Which is good for the audience for them to start liking them. Liz says "I want to spend more time together" this shows they are together which helps the audience understand the characters roles. When Shaun asks what 'exacerbates' means this shows that she is more intellectual than him and she is asking for change, this shows that they have their differences and they aren't very much alike.

This opening is very clever because it shows all the main characters right at the start, this helps the audience again to get a feel for who they will be seeing. Through out their conversation Liz is asking for change and Shaun is agreeing but at the end of the scene when the bell is rang for last orders and he sips his beer, you see a vague look on his face again showing that he isn't concentrating much and admiring his beer. Then it blurs out and some non-diegetic music starts up. The music is a up beat song with sound effects in between showing craziness.

Through out the music there's a series of graphic matches to let the scenes flow easily together, the scenes are of everyday life like people in the super market and at buss stations. But whats odd is that all the people you see at the start turn to zombies later on in the film, so its showing you all zombies that Shaun will see later on. Another interesting scene is when the title appears on the floor and the teenagers are staggering forward like zombies, there's a sort of irony.

Finally the last scene is ironic again because he staggers forward and as the camera tilts up he groans like a zombie and acts like one, looking tired. So at first you think he has turned but then you just see he is hung over.

This opening i think is very good because it sets up the plot, genre and characters up right at the start. So you can work out the disequilibrium, this helps the audience understand everything that goes on well.

Ive learned that a bit of irony in the opening will set up the rest of the film and give hints to the audience about the films plot. Also with good use of dialogue and mise-en-scene the main characters can be set up well in only a couple of minutes.