ONE SOLID REASON DAWN of the DEAD 2004 rocks

[Trin]

Just look at the responses to Land and Diary on this board. How much gore was there? How many great zombie kills? How many explosions and how many hot chicks? How much CGI and how believable? There is discussion about plot and character and conflict, but it tends to have to fight for time against purely surface crap. In the old days you didn't have special effects choking out storytelling like weeds in a flowerbed.

[Doc]

They probably would if that's what today's audiences wanted. I think t's the rampant A.D.D. that causes films like that to be made. Today's audiences simply don't have the patience to wait for character development. I want to know what is character development to everyone here? I always hear the characters in the original Dawn were the most highly developed characters in the series.....When in reality they were actually very poorly developed. We know little or nothing about these people from start to finish. *gets flame shield*

[SymphonicX]

I want to know what is character development to everyone here? I always hear the characters in the original Dawn were the most highly developed characters in the series.....When in reality they were actually very poorly developed. We know little or nothing about these people from start to finish. *gets flame shield* I think character development is a bit of a false economy in Romero's movies. The characters are kinda just there, but they develop in their reactions to scenarios....not their characters exactly. It's not a character movie, it's about the situation, the adventure, and how humanity on various levels deals with these situations...it's not focused on the "people" so much as "people" in general.

[Neil]

I want to know what is character development to everyone here? I always hear the characters in the original Dawn were the most highly developed characters in the series.....When in reality they were actually very poorly developed. We know little or nothing about these people from start to finish. *gets flame shield* Character development is more than just finding out 'stuff' about them... It's basically about spending quality time with them and learning a little bit about what makes them tick So if/when they are in trouble you actually can sympathise with them and care...

[bassman]

Character development is more than just finding out 'stuff' about them... It's basically about spending quality time with them and learning a little bit about what makes them tick So if/when they are in trouble you actually can sympathise with them and care... Oh yeah. Kinda like in Dawn 04 when....err....when that character....uh....umm... Nevermind.

[darth los]

Oh yeah. Kinda like in Dawn 04 when....err....when that character....uh....umm... Nevermind. I think that the Gar's shamblers being slow also allows for the movie to slow down so we can have things like character development. The frenzied pace of dawn 04' was a big reason why for the most part that didn't happen. Also, alot that we know about the protagonists in Dawn are due to the novel that accompanied it such as their last names etc. But like was said earlier, a slower paced film allows us to get to know the characters better.

[SymphonicX]

28 days later had plenty of "runners" and much better character development.

[Neil]

and much better character development. I agree...

[darth los]

There were also plenty of slow downs which allowed that development. Like the kids going back to find a pic of their mom for example. Dawn 04' had nothing like that. It was balls to the wall from the get go.

[SymphonicX]

There were also plenty of slow downs which allowed that development. Like the kids going back to find a pic of their mom for example. Dawn 04' had nothing like that. It was balls to the wall from the get go. You're confusing 28 WEEKS late with 28 DAYS Later. weeks was lame, and a direct comparison with yawn 04 would herald similar opinions in my books. For instance it was way too over the top, thin on the ground with characters, but had a great opening sequence. 28 Days had quite a bit of slowdown too, and it went to show that the fastness of the zeds had nothing to do with the thin plot.

[Trin]

Similar to what Neil said, I don't think character development is a function of screen time or dialogue. It isn't the ability to name the person's job or hair color or past five job references. It's about knowing the person. Relating with them. Understanding them. And ultimately developing a love or hate of them that might emotionally invest you as the viewer into their fate. Most of all, it doesn't require that you pause the action and have some dialogue. It can be done through the action, through reaction, through expression on faces, etc. I thought Dawn '04 had plenty of character development, and did a good job with it. I couldn't name all the characters but I could tell you which ones I liked, disliked, wanted to see live/die, and why. I thought the main characters were well developed and the supporting characters were developed well enough to not get in the way. Land worked hard at character development and I applaud it for the effort. It had great examples of both good and bad character development. I think its biggest failing was putting Riley in the no-man's land between caring and selfish. He was hard to love and yet hard to hate. Some of the other characters, though, like Charlie, Cholo, and Kaufman, were very well developed. Then there were the total tag-alongs like Foxy and Pretty Boy and Manolete. They had no purpose and being so under-developed were just confusing to the storyline. Diary had no character development. Half of what the characters did or said was to reinforce the message of the movie, not to develop or define their character. That made their characters very flimsy. 28 Weeks did an awesome job developing the family characters. Dad and the kids were great. Then it turned into an action movie that had absolutely no need for developed characters. What an enormous pity.

[Dead Hoosier]

Dawn '04: THE best opening sequence in horror history.

[Doc]

Character development is more than just finding out 'stuff' about them... It's basically about spending quality time with them and learning a little bit about what makes them tick So if/when they are in trouble you actually can sympathise with them and care... Aha ok I see what your trying to say. To me "Character Development" is the little bits and pieces that we learn about a character over the course of a film or book that help flesh the character out more. Stuff like a character's interests, their backstories, last names, relatives, etc.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Aha ok I see what your trying to say. To me "Character Development" is the little bits and pieces that we learn about a character over the course of a film or book that help flesh the character out more. Stuff like a character's interests, their backstories, last names, relatives, etc. Thats how I see it, and Michael,s backstory about his jobs, his failed marriages and being a dad were some decent developments of his character.

[darth los]

What!?! You mean his job selling t.v.'s at Best Buy doesn't count for anything !?! SHEESH ! If that doesn't tell you something about a man then nothing will.