The Walking Dead is a 2010 american television show based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman. The series is produced by Frank Darabont, director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist. The story follows a group of people struggling to survive during a zombie apocalypse. The opening titles were made by Prologue Films who have provided credits for TV shows like Pushing Daisies, the opening for ESPN's World Cup 2010 coverage and many many title sequences for major feature films.
After a decade of zombie comedies such as Shaun Of The Dead, Zombieland and Dance Of The Dead, the zombie has become more of a comical horror icon whilst vampires have risen in popularity. This has oviously upset a lot of classic zombie enthusiasts, Frank Darabont being one of them. With his adaptation of The Walking Dead, Frank Darabont wanted to it to be a show that is taken much more seriously.
The Walking Dead's intro sequence follows a small 'teaser' scene in which the main protagonist, Officer Rick Grimes portrayed by English actor Andrew Lincoln, is confronted by young girl who just so happens to be a zombie. After being unsure of how to react to this initially, the young zombie girl starts charging towards Rick and he has no choice but to shoot her in the head.
Prologue Films' intro sequence then starts, and it soon becomes apparent that this isn't going to be your typical entry into the zombie genre. It begins with a couple of quick shots of a derelict room, followed by deserted locations (all of which are visited throughout the series) which become the running theme throughout the intro. The locations we see are places that have become typical staples of zombie lore, taking cues from the likes of George A. Romero with the abandoned shopping centre to the quiet empty streets from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later.
What is most notable about The Walking Dead's opening titles though is the lack of any zombies, strange for what is supposed to be a zombie based show. This was a deliberate choice by the producers as it indicates to the audience that although this may be classified as a zombie show, it is much more about the characters and how they deal with being thrust into a world that is completely unrecognisable to the one they are used to.
Although there are seven credited main characters on the show, the credits during the sequence place emphasis on three characters in particular. The first credit goes to Andrew Lincoln who plays Officer Rick Grimes. A newspaper with a picture of Officer Grimes appears on the screen with only the word 'SHOT' being completely visible. The newspaper is splattered with blood and dirt, indicating that it may have been there for some time. This becomes relevent to the story later on, as Rick Grimes is critically injured in a shootout shortly after the opening credit sequence and upon awakening after a lengthy period unconcious, discovers the world has been turned upside down and infested with zombies.
The second credit goes to Jon Bernthal. Jon Bernthal plays Officer Shane Walsh, a colleague and good friend to Officer Rick Grimes. A framed picture of his character appears next to the actors name. The glass is shattered, but the picture still hangs on the wall, perhaps to show that whilst everything around him has gone bacon sausage, he still holds a position of authority amongst his fellow survivors.
The third credit goes to Sarah Wayne Callies, who portrays Rick Grimes' wife Lori. As with Jon Bernthal, a framed picture of Lori appears next to the actresses credit. Again the glass is smashed, but this time the picture appears to be on the floor with stones and dirt covering it, perhaps to show that the character of Lori is broken, believing that her husband had died in hospital during the zombie outbreak and that her old life is no longer more than a memory.
The rest of the main cast are credited quickly throughout the rest of the sequence, but not with their pictures like the three mentioned above. This shows the prominance of the three main characters, who will eventually go on to form an awkward love triangle throughout the series.
It isn't exactly the most original title sequence, but it perfectly summarises what the show is about. The bleak visuals accompanied by the dramatic soundtrack also set the tone; very serious, tense and creepy.
Dawn Of The Dead (2004 remake: Film, Zack Snyder, Universal Pictures)
'The Walking Dead' wasn't Prologue Films' first title sequence in the zombie genre, as they also provided the opening credits for Zack Snyder's 2004 'Dawn Of The Dead' remake.
Although it is again based on zombies, it is a polar opposite to the opening credits of The Walking Dead.
Dawn of the Dead opening titles
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Whilst The Walking Dead's intro sequences places emphasis on the character element of the show along with a very serious tone, Kyle Cooper's intro for Dawn Of The Dead does is very different. It makes no secret of the fact that it is a zombie film.
The very first image that appears on the screen after the initial 'Universal Pictures presents...' is that of a huge mass of people praying. Numerous religions believe in the idea of the dead being resurrected when the age of apocalypse is upon us, although they do not nessecarily mean in the form of the modern zombie, this is a theme that is very prevailent in modern zombie lore. The song that accompanies the intro sequence, Johnny Cash's 'The Man Comes Around' makes numurous biblical references, especially to The Book Of Revelation which describes how the worlds of Heaven, Hell and Earth collide in the final confrontation between good and evil.
This is followed by people armed with gasmasks and weapons combined with quick loud noises of screams and war sounds. Throughout the title sequence, real life war footage is mixed with footage shot specifically for the sequence made to look like archive footage. Kyle Cooper: "In Dawn of the Dead the brief was: 'I want to show there's this chaos, a zombie outbreak all over the world". The way the sound cuts out as quickly as it cuts in, as well as the hectic images on the screen that accompanies it, achieves this perfectly.
By featuring the scenes of the initial outbreak, and the mayhem that followed, during the intro sequences allows the film makers to be able to get on with the story they want to tell, rather than having to add an extra 20 or so minutes to the film on explaining what is going on, something most viewers will be able to figure out on their own anyway.
References
http://prologue.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_%28TV_series%29
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/06/30/dawn-of-the-dead/
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.06/cooper.html
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/01/play/stories-that-work-in-150-seconds
http://www.eatmybrains.com/showreview.php?id=19
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