- A tight community of protagonists
- isolation
- contrast editing
- urban and deserted locations
- survival
- focus on the head to kill a zombie
- low lighting/low lit
- Usually suburban setting
- well-lit and natural
- group of characters - often seemingly different for comedic purposes
- Exaggeration for humourous purposes
- Verbal comedy
- Physical comedy
The use of camerawork is all level showing that the zombie is not more potent than the others, the camera angles are smooth and sharp showing the most interesting times in line with the music background. The use of fast editing helps the flow of the characters with the music, with low lightning making the sense of horror and fear, along with the use of blood.
The film 'Shaun of the Dead is a hybrid zombie horror and comedy film. In the 'Don't Stop Me Now scene we see many of the genre conventions played out through all the micro-features we expect in filmmaking. One convention is the use of lighting, with darkness being used to add to the tension of a zombie horror film. This contrasts with the expectation of a comedy, which is often well-lit, so this scene uses its quick cuts from the protagonists to the zombies they have barricaded themselves in from to create a sort of middle ground, where the visual comedy, such as the choreographed pool cue beating, as well as character's facial expressions can be seen so the humour is clearly visible, but the background zombies appear darker and shadowed, which is typical of a zombie horror to create a sense of fear.
Being a mix of zombie horror and comedy clearly links to Christian Metz's genre development as zombie horror, itself being a subgenre of horror, has a long and rich history, meaning, to do something different, adding comedy to create a hybrid keeps the film feeling interesting.
Following on, it uses physical comedy in the hybrid zombie film, In the 'Don't Stop Me Now the scene has physical comedy, where a dart misses the zombie and hits one of the humans attacking the zombie. You normally don't see this type of comedy in a horror film, but since it's a hybrid, comedy is shown throughout, this shows the character's expression clearly as startled as he's been hit by a friend, but also funny because it was meant for the zombie.
This gives the audience a funny moment but also a scary moment, as the zombie is not harmed however the human is harmed making it dangerous but funny. Using Met'z theory, being a sub-genre of horror, meaning they do something different such as physical comedy which you normally don't see in normal horrors which keeps the film interesting.
Next, in the scene ' Don't Stop Me Now focuses on the head to kill the zombie throughout the whole scene, the is normally scene in most zombie films, however in this scene they do follow the traditional homemade/found weapons, they don't follow the traditional, hiding and running they all attack the zombie in the head on time with the backing music, the creates a sense of comedy but also fits in with the traditional zombie film where they attack the head with found weapons, this keeps the audience interested because it also adds a sense of comedy because they are all attacking the zombie sequentially to the timing on the music which fits into Metz's theory, not following the traditional serious horror/zombie film but also adding some more enjoyable parts in attacking the zombie, making a good hybrid.