Zombieland Title Sequence Analysis

The title sequence used at the beginning of Zombieland is used to introduce the audience to the genre and the cast of the film, and shows us what we should be expecting throughout. The first scene in the title sequence consists of a policeman being thrown off of the top of a prison tower by one of the cellmates which has turned in to a zombie, this is used to show the dark comical nature of the film, and straight away shows us that this film will consist of a lot of blood, gore and comedy. The camera is facing directly upwards, as if the policeman is falling directly towards you, this can be used to portray weakness in the human race, and it shows that the zombies are very powerful. It is also in slow motion, this adds to the dramatical nature of the title sequence. Whilst falling, the ‘Colombia Pictures Presents’ sign is destroyed by the falling man, this can symbolise the destruction and chaos that we will see throughout the film, this is a recurring theme throughout the title sequence as all of the signs seen throughout the sequence are destroyed.

The next part of the sequence is very simplistic, but gives the audience a very good idea of what to expect. It shows a zombie spewing blood from his mouth in slow motion, it’s very dramatical and can make the audience feel uneasy, it also connotes that the film will contain lots of blood, correlating with the horror genre.

After this, we see a woman attempting to evade the zombies, this could create an enigma amongst the audience regarding whether the film will be based around escaping the zombies or killing the zombies. During this scene, the woman is holding a milkshake, the pink liquid is sent flying through the air, this could be representative of females being weaker than men as pink connotes femininity.

The next scene further indicates the dark comical nature of this film, we see a man holding a sign which reads ‘THE END IS NEAR’, whilst being attacked by a group of zombies. This is ironic, and also shows us there could be a theme of betrayal throughout the film, as in the background we see a couple fleeing whilst leaving the man to die; this shows the desperate nature that the humans have been condemned to during this film.

After this, we see a man running from a burning car, possibly his, and 2 zombies. The car has been engulfed with flames, and there is a thick black cloud rising from it, black can connote death and loneliness, as if the humans are now alone and have been left to fight for themselves and have been placed in an ‘every man for himself’ situation.

Several more scenes continue to portray the comedy horror genre of this film, with the themes of betrayal and loneliness depicted again. But towards the end of the title sequence, we see two firemen, one being chased by a burning zombie whilst the other puts out the flames on the building. This again creates an enigma amongst the audience as they begin to wonder if these creatures are destructible or whether they are invincible, but once again the theme of betrayal returns as one fireman leaves the other for dead.

Following on from this, we see a man in a suit using a gun to kill zombies, this again comes back to the theme of loneliness as he is all alone, trying to fight off the zombie’s singlehandedly, but we see a zombie approaching him in the background so we can assume he dies too. And finally, the last clip shows a zombie flying towards a window; this could portray the end of the zombies. Overall the title sequence could be an indication of how the whole film pans out, from the zombie’s overtaking, to them being eventually wiped out.