28 Days Later

London Abandoned

      The Mise-en-scène is used a lot throughout the movie to create a great sense of isolation. This is shown especially in the second scene of the movie which also features the introduction of our main protagonist, Jim. Jim leaves the hospital where he has awoken after being unconscious for nearly a month to find that London has changed. The first shot outside is a wide shot that shows an abandoned London- this not only creates the sense of despair and isolation, but shows Jim to be at the mercy of his surroundings, as the next shot shows him being nothing more than a small speck on a much larger picture. When the camera cuts to a closer shot of Jim's face- we see his expression, we can tell from his turning and slow, cautious walking that he is scared and confused- the close up shot also shows us that he is quite malnourished, probably due to his long vegetative state, this is one example of the make up in the movie being used well. His malnourished state and his hospital scrubs reflect the city, that like him has been abandoned and hurt.
    

As the scene continue we can see him getting more and more desperate by his pace and his frequent turning, this further displays Jims vulnerability in the setting around him. There is a tight shot of Jim walking taken through the smashed window of a fallen down London bus- this massively reflects Jim who is also figuratively broken. There are two main props in the scene- first is the money, that has been dropped and left all over the streets- Jim picking it up shows how confused and out of his element he is, as despite picking it up where others know there is no use for money anymore, he does not smile. This shows his own despair as well as further showing the despair of the whole scene. Throughout the scene there is a few pan shots- this is to draw the audience in, create an emotional connection with them, as well as to show the scale of the cities isolation. Around 3 minutes into the scene there is footage of Jim walking towards the camera, it is zoomed in just enough to show only Jim and the billboard behind him- which shows a smiling woman in an almost ironic fashion as Jim's face at the exact same time is of disbelief. This smiling woman also represents life 28 days before this scene, when life was normal- so it helps re-illiterate the change and abandonment of London and Jim. The 2nd prop features near the end of the scene- Jim attempts to open the door of a car that has been stopped in the middle of the road. The car alarm goes off- startling Jim and sending him back a few feet suddenly, afterwards however is the first time in the scene Jim smiles, This tells us a lot about Jim, first of all it shows he has a sense of humour, but it also shows his relief to hear a noise other than his own break the silence.