Viewing Log: 28 Days Later

Director: Danny Boyle
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research lab. When London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma a month after, he finds his city all but deserted. On the run from the zombie-like victims of the Rage, Jim stumbles upon a group of survivors, including Selena (Naomie Harris) and cab driver Frank (Brendan Gleeson), and joins them on a perilous journey to what he hopes will be safety.

Story

• The film follows the trope of the post-apocalypse genre by featuring an isolated (male) character. He is initially shown scourraging for food.
• He continues to wander through the streets of London; conveniently on Westminster Bridge, thus setting the scene for the audience. 
• After some time passes he finds other humans, Mark and Selena, who explain the situation
• Jim is in disbelief when he's told that most people are dead

• Selena is represented as being a heroine, arguably much stronger than her male counterpart. She is seen brutally defending herself against someone infected with the virus. She does whatever it takes to survive.

• The storyline gives the audience hope as they move to a new city in the aims of starting over 
• The most climatic scene occurs when Jim kills all the soldiers. The film gets quite graphic including an intense eye gauging scene. 
• At least it has a seemingly happy ending - a helicopter comes to save them, foreshadowing a new life of happiness

Mise-en-scene

• The colour grading in the film tends to favour red, especially in shots where there is a lot of blood
• Tends to heavily use shadows, wavering between lightness and darkness. When shown at the beginning of the film it creates a sense of mystery as the characters appear to be living in secret.

Camera

• obscure angle, close up
• long take, slow pan and emotional story explaining disaster
• lots of canted angle shots

Editing

• begins with news footage and zooms out to reality - glitchy aesthetic - sound and visual editing 
• editing fast paced

Sound

• In the beginning of the film it is almost silent
• Later on in the film elements of horror are introduced with sudden noise and action
• When the characters drive out countryside peaceful non-diegetic music is heard, suggesting that the equilibrium is restored

Overall, I can already notice a lot of similar tropes in the post-apocalypse genre that are present in both 28 Days Later and I Am Legend. For instance the use of an isolated character who finds allies, yet somehow manages to fight off zombies all by himself. The sound tends to be very minimal except for in moments that are intended to shock the audience.