Iconography In Zombie Genre

Iconography that is used in a film or TV series/programme is the visual representation of images as well as symbols that are used. So it essentially shows the type of genre they will be. It also shows the the study or interpretation of the images and symbols.

Iconography is used in film to create a curtain image or interpretation for the viewer to piece things together and understand what is happening and what genre it will be. For a horror film such as a zombie film it would be things like people covered in blood, empty scenery so there's a sense of isolation to the characters, and generally being a lot of waste and mess everywhere with the world being in complete chaos.


In films iconography can be used in many different ways, from either lighting, colours, props or characters. These can give the audience a firm interpretation of what is trying to conveyed.

 My group will be looking at zombie horror. Typically this genre would consist of an extreme amount of destruction, abandonment of pretty much every possible place; streets, buildings etc, masses of blood, rather urban and open places to show how isolated the characters are, dull colours such as blacks, dark blues, browns but of course the one colour to stand out a lot of red when it comes to blood. And lastly a use of low-key lighting as much as possible.

The kind of props that would be found within this genre would be some kind of weapon or even object that initiates a form of fear and or danger; even death or pain in someones mind. Props that would do such would be things such as guns, knifes, bats, axe's, ropes (depending on the situation). Other than guns the props used are often close and personal in The Walking Dead. They do this to create a bigger fear of the zombies, getting the characters to use broken pipes and bats, axes etc.



Props that create fear or tension can also just be a bunch of clutter or rubbish such as the in prison in The Walking Dead. This generally creates a sense of fear as a place that is extremely messy can be portrayed as a dangerous place as the mind starts to question and say "What on earth happened? Where is everyone? Has something bad happened?"

The use of Iconography for the World War Z poster's is rather typical of zombie genre. It shows that there is no escape, even in helicopters. It also displays weapons - typically being a gun. As well as showing mass destruction of buildings, either being on fire or crumbling and forming a dusty background, In one poster it even emphasises the 'no escape' aspect by having the somewhat weaker characters with the main character trying to push through all this destruction and mass of the undead. And yet once again the lighting is rather low-key and the colours are dark.