28 Days Later
(2002) Directed by Danny Boyle
I’m a bit surprised at how much I loved the visuals for 28 Days Later, but in retrospect that makes perfect sense. The atmosphere of an empty, post-apocalyptic world is really created through images to show that emptiness. It’s hard to convey it otherwise. So a shot like the one with the windmills has the big open sky with one lone car. The sequence at the beginning is Jim (Cillian Murphy) looking around a nearly empty London for people.
Absolutely love how text got used in these visual shots, beginning with the graffiti from the church scene, the heartbreaking letter from Jim’s parents, to the STOP outside the Big Set Piece. That said, the last third or so of the movie is over-represented in this post, since it is the Big Set Piece.
I think Danny Boyle has a great sense for the visual aspects of his films. And according to IMDb, his cinematographer for this was Anthony Dod Mantle, who also shot Slumdog Millionaire and Antichrist. So great visual artists all around.
Yeah and just listening to the commentary on the deleted scenes, it’s really clear that Boyle knew what he was doing in all aspects of the movie-making process. I was just surprised that this turned into a Visual post because I tend to favor costume pieces for those.
RENTED!
Some excellent shots there. 28 Days Later does look rather good but I still prefer the way 35mm film looks over HD video.
I feel the same way, but I think their choice for digital in this situation worked out really well. It made everything look appropriately dismal and grimy.