I walked with a Zombie;

Below is the trailer for a thriller film called I walked with a zombie.



I walked with a Zombie was produced by Val Lewton and was directed by Jacques Tourneur.
RKO studios.
The genre; Horror / Thriller.

There are several clips from the film which are shown in this trailer, which give you a feel for what to expect from the film.
Low-key lighting is used throughout the film, it creates shadows in certain places which creates a tense atmosphere, and it makes it seem like something dark will happen in the film because of the dark lighting.

The first shot that is edited into the trailer is of the voodoo man carrying the dying woman, and the words 'These are the living dead' appears on the screen, the scene illustrates these words. Non-diegetic sound of dramatic music, builds up tension, makes it seem like something bad is going to happen.

The shadow of the man looks like a ghost on the wall, symbolises living after death (after life), creates a creepy/eery atmosphere.

Cuts to next shot taken from the film. Betsy rushing through the crops, stumbles on a black tribal man (voodoo), scary looking, non-diegetic music (string music) creates an eery/dramatic effect. Cuts from Betsy;s shocked face to the voodoo man who is freaky looking, eyes popping out, suggesting he is zombie like, he also looks like a tribal statue. The crops in the background look like spikes - some (behind him) look like they are coming out of him, suggests he might be under control by the voodoo priest and it represents a voodoo doll.

A quick clip of Betsy and the ill woman walking through the night - elements of mystery, she;s wearing a flowing dress which is ghost like, she looks like she is floating, in a trance, which suggests the zombie.

Next shot: tribal gathering, ritual, dancing, drum rhythm (diegetic sound).

Screen transitions - split vertically out and then in (between clips)

Non-diegetic music builds up, tension also builds up.

long-shot then cut to medium close up of Betsy - worried expression on her face 0 like she has seen a ghost.

cut to long-shot of both - music building up further. The woman looks like she is 'floating' the white dress suggests she is ghost like, it represents heaven in a way. She's in a trance (suggesting zombie), backs Betsy up into a wall, intimidating.
Betsy seems to be uncomfortable, (over the shoulder shot) she screams then runs.

Next shot: over the shoulder shots of Betsy and the black woman talking
Diegetic sound - drum beat, tribal music/singing - it is a theme for the film, constant running through.

Jacques Tourneur;

He was born on November 12 1904 in Paris, France. He became an actual US citizen in 1919 after he'd already been living there. He joined his fathers profession of directing films, when he moved to New York and then eventually Hollywood.
Jacques Tourneur is mostly famous for directing three atmospheric "horror" movies which were produced by Val Lewton at RKO studios in the 1940s. These films were, Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man. They were films which were influenced by the genre, "film noir".

One particular film he directed, was highly successful and was "considered to be one of the best horror/supernatural films in movie history". This film was called Night of the Demon, and was released in 1967.

Another film Jacques Tourneur directed was, Out of the Past in 1947, it was classed as one of the classics of film noir. He also made a horror spoof which was called, The Comedy of Terrors in 1964. He directed his last film the year after, the Jules Verne -inspired adventure yarn War Gods of the Deep.

He also directed a few episodes in the following TV programmes:

The Twilight Zone, "Night Call" (Episode 139, February 7, 1964),

Adventures in Paradise ("A Bride for the Captain", 1962),

Bonanza ("Denver McKee", 1962)

T.H.E. Cat (1966).

Jacques Tourneur died in 1977 in Bergerac, Dordogne, France.

Val Lewton;

He was born on the 7th of May 1904 in Yalta which is in Russia. In 1909 he immigrated to the USA like many foreign people were doing around that time. He, his mother and sister stayed in New York. Val Lewton was a kind, sensative, non-confrontational man, this personality he had was strangely different to those who already worked in the film industry in Hollywood. He wrote 'obsessivly' including: fiction and non-fiction, poetry and journalism.

Lewton's mother had a job as a story editor in movies, this helped to get him into the business. In 1942 he was named the head of the horror unit at RKO studios. At the time, RKO was suffering financially and because of this they started a unit that would make horror B-movies that weren't very expensive, this was following an example that was sed by Universal studios.

From 1942-1946, he produced eleven films, listed below (in order of release):
Cat People (1942)
I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
The Leopard Man (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Ghost Ship (1943)
Curse of the Cat People (1944)
Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)
Youth Runs Wild (1944)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
Bedlam (1946)

Lewton mainly concentrated on atmosphere and suggesion rather than showing the audience the "monster", this was so he could get the audience to be psychologically afraid, instead of afraid of the visual effects.
Another way of playing with people psychologically was by using the "bus" -- it was named from the first time it was used in Cat People. "A woman was walking through the dark streets of New York, followed by something. Tension mounts, and the audience is on the edge of their seats, expecting an attack. Just then, a bus zooms loudly into the picture, its brakes squealing and its door opening, startling the viewers who have been primed for an explosion."

He represented black people as intelligent, capable, and normal, even though this wasn't the norm in society at the time because they were mainly seen as slaves and that was usually presented in films aswell however Lewton showed them in a positive light.
The main character was usually female and they all would have the same weakness, of falling in love with a bad guy that didn't treat them well.

In 1947-1950, he had "graduated" and was now making big-budget A-movies (at different studios not RKO), which included My Own True Love (1949) and Please Believe Me (1950). However these films weren't very successful due to things like the studio interference and they did no favours for his reputation. Then in 1951 he went back to low-budget films at Universal studios.

For the last few years of Val Lewton's life, he suffered from increasing health problems and in 1951 he had the "last of several heart attacks" and died.



I got this information from;
http://www.acm.vt.edu/~yousten/lewton/bio.html

Film Noir

Film Noir started in the 1930's where it was used in most types of genre. Back then films from the genre 'Film Noir' were known as black and white films, until 1940 when a film called "Stranger on the third floor" used some new cinematic techniques. These techniques were similar to the sort that we use for Film Noir now in the 21st century. The new effects used in this particular film were, dark or dim lighting effects, dreary settings, filtered lights and generally dark themes and characterizations. The early 1940's to late 1950's was known as the classic period of Film Noir. The early films were usually crime drama's, they included a sense of moral ambiguity (no right and wrong) which meant the audience would have respect for the 'villian' type characters because things happened to them which made the audience feel sorry for them.


The common character types that feature in Film Noir are, a Private eye, business man who was married to a trapped housewife which was usually the femme fatale character. The femme fatale character is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. They are usually trapped housewives who charm a sales man or drifter character into freeing them from their husband who treats them badly (the business man). The Sales man and Drifter are seen as oportunists, they both seem to survive on their wits, they are good talkers which helps them to pursuade people, it also suggests that they could be shallow because they don't actually care about people's feelings but they act like they do.

They tended to be an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, loss of innocence, and paranoia between the characters.

The endings weren't optimistic.

There was a non-linear narrative used in some films - using flash-backs and flash-forwards.

There was a censorship in film at the time, which was enforced by they Hollywood production code. A few examples of this code were that, in the end the villians had to be show as getting punished for the wrongs they had done, and guns were usually only used by the police (who were enforcing the law) because if normal people were shown carrying and using guns it would then seem like they were premoting it to the audience.