Dawn of the Dead (2004) Opening - Enigma Codes, Action Codes & Camera

When watching Dawn of the Dead you understand that the equilibrium is the nurse and her boyfriend living a 'normal' and 'average' life. Through a mixture of dialogue and camera the audience interpret that the nurse is a relaxed but hard-working person and lives a generally happy life. The disequilibrium occurs when the girl appears in the room (6:37). And the agent of change is the zombie outbreak. There are plenty of enigma codes throughout this opening. Some of the enigma codes include: News bulletin, What happened to the little girl?, How widespread is the outbreak?, How did the outbreak start?. We are also given some action codes. There is a patient that arrives at the hospital with a “bite”, so through the use of dialogue and mise-en-scene we are given answers like how the outbreak is starting etc.

This opening is filled with a range of camera techniques. One of the techniques is a POV shot. This shot shows a pair of legs hanging out the end of a parked ambulance. This puts you into the characters mind as you and her wonder what is going on in the vehicle. As well as being an interesting shot this also produces an enigma code, is this the first zombie? However this scene is a 'red herring', you're lead to believe that the zombie outbreak has started while in fact it is just an ordinary person. Another shot used was a shot-reverse-shot, this shot was used to create tension. In this opening a 'bird's eye view' has been used for one of the shots, it has been used to show the normality of the world. However later on an aerial shot is used, this happens after the outbreak, it's used to contrast the earlier shot. The track technique is another type of shot used in this opening. This one is used to show the setting, it familiarizes the audience with the surroundings.