World War Z Hollywood Production Context

In this blog post I will be discussing the production contexts in World War Z. I will also be discussing the genre, stars involved in this film, how the narrative, dialog, characters and locations relate to the production context.

There are two genre categories that World War Z can fit into which is zombie/horror and action, this is called a hybrid because this film links to two genres. This film can fit into the horror genre because of the jumpy scenes, intense music, and the gory scenes. There were many jumpy scenes in this film but the one I noticed was when the zombie appeared in front of the camera when Jerry and his family was running to the top of the roof to get in the helicopter to be saved by the military which was working for his boss. I found this scene quite jumpy because I didn't expect the zombie to appear right in front of the camera. In this film a lot of intense music was used especially in the same scene I have just spoken about. This is because they had a lot of built up tension music as the family was running up the stairs to get to the top of the roof away from the zombies. By using this music it is building up the tension between the film and the audience because the viewers expect something is going to happen such as; Jerry dies and his family survives. There were also many gory scenes in this film such as zombies being shot in the head and the blood goes everywhere.

This film can also fit in the action genre because they have many gunshots and explosions, these are some of the main codes and conventions in action films. There are many gunshots in this film as the characters are trying to get away from the zombies. There are not many gunshots at the beginning of this film because no one knew what was happening. The gun shots start to happen a lot in this film when Jerry goes to Jerusalem, this is because the zombies climb over the walls the people built to stop the zombies getting into their country but they did. Many gunshot were used to kill the zombies from the military. There were also many explosions in this film and this was to kill as many zombies as possible at once. For example; in Philadelphia there were many explosions as the zombie apocalypse first happened. The main scene which has a lot of explosions in is when the zombies climb over the walls in Jerusalem. As you see this scene you can tell that World War Z could be classed as an action film as well as an horror. In this scene there were loads of explosions and military helicopters flying about to try and stop the zombies getting any further. The helicopters also crashed to the ground which made a bigger explosion. In a lot of action films they have a lot of car, train, helicopter and plane crashes.

The production context of World War Z is known as a Hollywood production because they have used many locations around the world, it's a high budgeted film and they have used all 7 spheres of characters. These are the locations they filmed World War Z; Philadelphia, New York, Wales, Israel and South Korea. By shooting in many locations a film can instantly be known as a Hollywood production because Hollywood films are higher budgeted compared to Bollywood and British films. You can tell World War Z is a high budgeted film because they have a huge star 'Brad Pitt, many extras, loads of locations and special effects. By having a higher budgeted film makes the production more successful because the audiences tends to enjoy the film a lot more due to the film looking realistic.

There were many stars included World War Z such as; Brad Pitt and Peter Capaldi. By having well known stars in a production is a very good way to make a lot more money/profit on a film. This is because fans of the stars will automatically go and watch the film as their 'idol' is playing a main character, and this increases publicity, cinema, DVD and box office sales. By having a bigger star in a production instantly tells the audience that the film is a high budgeted production. Brad Pitt had a huge impact over this film as his major roles were; producer, and playing 'Gerry' the main character in this film.

The narrative of World War Z is very in depth and relates to the production context because Gerry's aim is to find a cure for the zombie apocalypse. This film is very in depth because they are following the main character Gerry around to the different countries such as; Philadelphia, New York, Israel, Wales and South Korea to find clues on how they can cure this infection. For example; towards the end of the film, when Gerry's plane crashes in the middle of nowhere in England, Wales. He finally makes it to the WHO doctor in Wales, which leads him to find a vaccination which makes the zombies avoid alive humans which haven't already turned into a zombie. There is no cure to this infection but Gerry has bought alot of time to find an actual cure. By having this vaccination makes you invisible to the zombies. World War Z relates to the production context because most Hollywood action films are based on world disasters and there is always a hero to save everyone from the disaster.

The dialog in World War Z is very formal for an ages rating of 15, as there are no bad language in this film because the age rating 15 normally have very light swear words but not over the top. The dialog fits in with the production context because in alot of Hollywood films they don't use much bad language.

The types of characters also fits within this production context because Hollywood films always uses Vladimir Propps theory of the 7 spheres of characters. These include; hero, villain, helper, false hero, dispatcher, princess and the donor. The hero in World War Z is Gerry Lane because he is sent on a mission to find clues and information on how to cure the infection. Gerry can also be known as a hero as he saves Segen life as she was bitten by a zombie and he amputated her arm quickly to save her life. The dispatcher chose Gerry Lane to go on this mission as he is an ex- UN investigator, because he has previous history and experience investigation. The villain is easily recognisable in this film which is the zombies because they're trying to end the human race and stopping the hero from trying to find a cure. For example; they're putting the hero 'Gerry' in many situations such as; him getting on the last plane out of Jerusalem. The zombies are trying to stop him from getting on that plane as they have got over the wall in Jerusalem and biting the humans which turns them into zombies. You don't find out who the helper is in this film until the hero 'Gerry' travels to Jerusalem. The helper is Segen which is in the military which helps Gerry to get on the last plane out of the country safely. She also protects him from the villains and helps him finds a cure for the infection as she gets on the plane with him. The false hero in this film is Andrew Fassbach because he was a scientist which was trying to find a cure for this infection but once he arrived in South Korea with Gerry, he coward way back to the plane but slipped as he was getting back on the plane and accidently shot himself. He was warned by Gerry to keep his hand off the trigger because accidents happen. The dispatcher is Thierry Umuntoni which is very high up in the UN investigation unit. He is known as the dispatcher because he sent Gerry on a mission to find clues to a cure for this outbreak. He was also Gerry's boss when he was working in the UN investigation unit. The princess is Gerry's wife Karin Lane, because she is very needy towards her husband Gerry and doesn't want him to go on this mission as she wants him to be safe. For example; when Gerry told Karin that he has to go on this mission to help the world she didn't want him to go because she wanted him to be safe and nothing bad happen to him. The donor would be known as the W.H.O doctor in Wales because he provides crucial information on a cure for the infection. You don't see the donor character until Gerry arrives with his helper in Wales. The donor also provides Gerry a vaccination to by time. This vaccination will stop the zombies killing the humans as it makes the humans invisible to the zombies.

The use of technology used in World War Z did relate to the production context as it was noticeable that it was a Hollywood film. This is because they used many up to date technologies such as; split screens which was used in the beginning scene, the use of security camera's which were used in the scene when Gerry is in the W.H.O lap when the doctors are watching what he is doing as he gets the medicine/vaccination as the infection had spread in a specific unit and many aerial shots of the different locations. By having a bigger budget the producers can achieve more in the production stage, this film had a budget of 190 million pounds which gave them the opportunity to use more extras, better media make up and special effects. For example; they used thousands of extras in World War Z to play the zombies especially in the scene in Jerusalem when all the zombies got over the wall. They would also need a lot of media makeup and costumes for the extras to make them look like a zombie visually.