2.3 Genre question 1b prep

For my media production I am going to write about the trailer 28 days later. Of course for this trailer I will be writing about the horror genre. By doing horror I will only be able to use certain conventions that fit into that genre. In 1980 theorist Steve Neal said that 'genre are instances or repetition and difference'. He also said 'mere repetition would not attract an audience'. In 28 days later trailer we can see how they repeated the new convention of how the zombie outbreak was caused by a science experiment.  Another generic feature that they did change is having it based in London, a major city, rather than having it in the middle of no where near to a graveyard. By doing this it shows the audience how these things can also happen in major cities and not just in the countryside. One major difference they made is by basing most of the zombie attacks at night. By doing this is gives the audience the impression that the zombies are acting like vampires. By doing this the director was abel to bring in two sub-genres in order to create a hybrid. Of course being within the zombie sub-genere the director went with the generic idea that the virus would be spared by people being bit. Agin this shows how he was able to bring in a convention from the vampire sub-genre to show how they have create a hybrid.
In order for the director to show that the film is in the horror genre he had to use certain editing techniques. One editing technique they used was using close ups on the zombies so that the audience were able to clearly see what they look like, such as there red eyes. By the director get the zombies to have red eyes it shows the audience that as soon as someone becomes a zombie they are almost possessed by the virus by showing how all of there body has been taken over by the virus. This represents Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposites. This is mostly down through showing how humans and zombies and act in different ways. In the trailer we see how the zombies are acting in an animalistic and violent way. We see this when the zombie breaks a window and starts to immediately attack those within the house. This also helps to reinforce Kim Paffenroths theory of how when people become a zombie they lose there personal identity. This is shown in most zombie films such as 28 days later as all of the zombies act in the same was as the virus has taken over there body and by doing so has almost erased that persons characteristics that make them different from everyone else.