Research for EARNEST - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

 For my third piece of analysis I will be looking at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) which was directed by Burr Steers. Despite not being a success in the Box Office, I really love this movie, I love how it mixes humor with absurdity and even the sheer concept of it. I'm a fan of the original story and I think this comedy adaptation adds a nice twist to the classic love story.

It seemed like a relevant movie to do - a comedy adaptation of a classic story. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies actually features many of the themes in The Importance of Being Earnest: social divisions, romance, comedy, first impressions being very wrong and the prospect of marriage being called into question every five seconds. It may not be the greatest movie ever made, but it really made me laugh, especially the failed purpose scene that ends with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy beating the living daylights out of each other, and it was fun to analyse.

This movie's target audience is young adults mainly, as it's a fun twist on an old story. It's also largely target at people who know the original story, and want to see exactly what it'd be like with, well, zombies. The social groups represented in this movie are upper middle class/upper class English families in the 19th century, though it wouldn't exactly be famed for it's realism. Audiences would watch it expecting a few scares but mainly laughs.

Types of Shots

Close up

- Mr. Darcy is one of the most well known characters in English literature, and the movie subtly covers his face for as long as possible. When we do see him for the first time, a close up is used for emphasis.

Wide Shot

- The first shot of the movie is a wide shot of a large bridge, one which later plays a huge role in the finale of the movie. This opening shot foreshadows the importance of the bridge later, and also establishes the role of Mr. Darcy in the story. 

- To emphasize Darcy's journey, several long shots are used to show off the English countryside. 

Two Shot

- The conversation between Mr. Darcy and the lady of the house is a continuous two shot with no cuts between it. This creates a sense of awkwardness from the lady, and the sense of impatience from Mr. Darcy. The lack of cuts in the conversation makes it hurried and tense. 

Point of View Shot

- Rather then bombard the audience with gory violence in the first five minutes, the shots of Mr. Darcy killing the zombie are shot from the zombie's blurred perspective. We get to see everything that happens without so much blood. 

Camera Angles

High Angle

- The sudden violence is a shock to the audience, as the movie so far has been slow paced and quite calm. The sudden switch of angles coupled by the sound and shot of breaking glass remind the audience of the gory nature of the movie. 

Canted Angle 

- The canted angle mimics the zombie's head rolling off it's neck, and the colour change indicates the blood flowing down it's face. 

Camera Movement 

Pan

- The only room with any people in it is packed to the brim, and this is well shown using a panning camera shot. Given that Mr. Darcy reveals that there is a zombie threat soon, this adds an air of hysteria and danger. 

Zoom

- To make the audience empathetically feel the claustrophobic nature of the doctor's examination, a zoom is used to focus in on the doctor's eye, and to enclose everything else out of shot. 

Framing

Focus Pull 

- It's quite an odd thing to focus on, but Darcy's vial of flies is an important aspect of his work, and the audience's attention is forced to it by using a focus pull. 

Editing 

Shot/Reverse Shot

- The dramatic reveal of the zombie in the room is shown via a shot/reverse shot, with the reaction first, and the zombie second, to heighten tension. 

Sound

Dialogue 

- Darcy intruding himself as 'Colonel Darcy' shows the audience once more that this is a wartime film.

Diegetic Sound

- Stopping all the background music when the lad of the house incredulosuly says, "Darcy?" helps divert attention to a clearly important name. The reactions of all the character's in the room also lend themselves to furthering our impression that Mr. Darcy is a man of war in this retelling of the story. 

Nondiegetic Sound

- The movie opens with fast paced music in the style of that which was typical in 19th century England. This creates a mood of tension and adds to the context of the piece. 

- Narration opens the movie after the initial music, and is a play on the famous opening line from Pride and Prejudice; "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.". Instead of this however, it is "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a zombie in possession of brains, must be in want of more brains." This adds to the humor of the movie right form the start.

Synchronous Sound

- The thundering hooves of Mr. Darcy's horse is perfectly matched with the pace of the actual animal, adding to the realism of the opening shots.

Sound Bridge 

- The sound bridge between Mr. Darcy's conversation with the doctor ties two scenes together nicely without unnecessary shots of walking or talking. 

Mise en Scene 

Set Design

- Despite being a largely light-hearted movie, it is still set in a dystopian past, one which is in the middle of a great war. The scenes often juxtapose grand houses and settings with warlike battlements.

- Inside these grand houses, the war and stress is still evident; whole rooms are left to rot and dust sheets are thrown over most of the furniture. 

Makeup and Costume 

- The costumes largely follow the period the story is set in. In the opening, they match perfectly. Later on, Elizabeth wears trousers to go save her sister, which never would've happened in reality back then, but I feel that if I try to analyse this movie for how it realistically portrays things, I'm not going to be happy by the end of it. 

- Mr. Darcy never takes off his coat when he's 'on business' showing how he is unwilling to get comfortable. 

Props

- A more somber mood is created by giving every character some sort of weapon, the audience then realizes that these people never really feel safe. 

- Despite this war-time mood however, the very rich could afford to carry on their lives relatively comfortably. This is shown by the playing of cards and drinking alcoholic beverages. 

Lighting 

- A lot of this movie is quite dark, either set at night, or inside buildings, and archaic, contextual lighting methods are used to make things more visible, whilst not breaking with the period of the time.

- When it is totally confirmed that there is a zombie in the room, it suddenly feels very stuffy and cramped. The hazy lighting helps achieve this new mood, to play on people's fears.