28 Days Later is a 2002 zombie horror film directed by Danny Boyle and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The plot depicts a breakdown in society after a highly contagious ‘rage’ virus is accidentally released, causing an epidemic infection. Throughout the film we follow four survivors in their struggle to cope with the destruction of their society.
The teaser trailer for 28 Days Later is a minute and a half long. It starts with a caption reading “On the first day” which flashes in time with what sounds like a warning alarm. This immediately tells the audience that something bad has happened. Another caption then follows, reading “EXPOSURE”. At this point, the sound consists of ape like noises, and then a woman crying “let me out”. This could connote that the virus which will be released in this film makes people react in an animalistic behaviour.
It then cuts to a point of view dolly shot lasting one second, in which the camera tracks towards a woman at a fast pace. This adds to the tension as the speed of the dolly shot and the NVC of the woman allow the audience to believe the point of view shot is from someone who is infected with the virus.
It then cuts to another screen caption which reads “Day 3”, followed by “INFECTION”. Again, audio is included which sounds like an animal of some sort; however, it is not quite definable. This sound adds to the tension of the trailer because it is the unknown. Not knowing what the noise is pacifically would keep the audience on the edge of their seat, wanting to discover more from the trailer.
It then cuts to another shot which lasts less than a second. It is not too clear as to what is happening in this shot due to the speed of it and dark lighting conditions. There are three characters in the shot, two of which are running towards a car whereas the other is stood still. It is unclear as to whether or not the people in this shot are infected or not. There are also, what appears to be rats crawling along the ground in the shot. By adding hundreds of rats in this shot, this could connote that the virus is spreading further as rats are known for carrying diseases. This extremely quick shot adds to the tension from the previous shot in which the audience is left confused, wanting to see more.
It then cuts to another screen caption shot which reads “Day 8”, followed by a quick shot of a woman lying on the floor. Again, the audience is left unaware as to what is going on in the shot. It then cuts back to another screen caption shot reading “EPIDEMIC”. These short screen captions help attract the audience because it doesn’t give away too much about the film. By not explaining in much detail, this makes the audience think about the film more, as they have to figure out what is going on themselves.
It then cuts to a low angle shot of people running and then a flash of light. These extremely quick shots are then followed by another screen caption reading “Day 15”. By now the audience will have come to realise these screen caption shots are stating the increase in time since the virus began spreading. It then cuts back to another shot of people running in which the camera is tracking alongside their legs.
It then cuts to another screen caption reading “EVACUATION” with the sound of sirens playing. A quick shot of a character swinging a sharp weapon towards the camera is then shown, lasting approximately half a second. It then cuts back to another screen caption reading “Day 20”. These quick paced shots between each screen caption continue to build to the tension. By making each shot no longer than a second, the audience is left unsatisfied, wanting to see more from each particular scene.
It then cuts to six shots consisting of different angle shots of a shop blowing up and an extreme close up of a man’s eye opening. These six shots are shown within the space of two seconds. By speeding up the pace of the shots even more, the tension builds even higher than before. It then cuts back to another screen caption shot reading “DEVASTATION” which holds the tension at a standstill for the audience as they wait to witness more. It then cuts to a shot of the man who opened his eyes in a previous shot getting up from a hospital bed. It is shown from a high angle, in which the hospital setting is completely messy. This helps set the scene for the audience and also the character as we are both unsure as to what is happening. However, the audience has already seen half of the trailer before this character appears. This adds dramatic irony to the trailer because the audience is aware of the virus already, whereas the character that now appears in the trailer seems to have no idea as to what is going on.
It then cuts to another screen caption reading “28 days later...” which could connote that this is where the film really begins because ’28 Days Later’ is the name of the film. It then shows a series of shots where the character walks around the messy hospital setting where there appears to be no sign of civilization. It then cuts to a series of shots including high and low angles of London in a complete mess, where again there are no signs of civilization except the character from the hospital who is now calling “hello” repeatedly. The man who appears in the trailer is the only person who appears in the trailer for a consistent amount of time, allowing the audience to identify him as the main character in this film.
This teaser trailer continuously consists of fast shots and screen captions. No shot lasts longer then a second or two, making the trailer extremely tense for the audience and quite literally ‘teasing’ the audience by not giving away too much so that the audience is left wanting to see more.
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