Catherine Bird & Laura Grant have constructed this page and are willing to answer any questions you may have on Sony which may be useful as part of your forthcoming GCSE Media Studies examination. =)

REPRESENTATION

GENDER


The majority of women in this movie are weaker than the men. Angela, despite being a government agent and seeming very confident and headstrong, needs to be saved multiple times in the movie and slips up as well when people around her are in trouble - following the stereotype of the emotional girl.
Claire, however, is stronger than most of the men in the movie. Even Leon acknowledges her strength and her attitude is very strong - fitting for a video game protagonist. She is shown to be gullible at one point in the movie but has quick judgement and is clever about her predicament.
Leon is by far the strongest character mentally ( and physically, probably). He is practically emotion-less and is dubbed an 'expert' when it comes to killing zombies - again, fitting for the video game protagonist. He rarely slips up and remains cool throughout the movie, making him a respectable icon for the audience.
Frederic, who was the traitor, is also a very 'cool' character. He remains calm and conniving without raising suspicion. It is only at the end when he is found out that he begins to show his weaknesses.
There is a big contrast in the senator Ron Davis, however, who is a weak man. He is the typical 'bad, boss' guy - arrogant and demanding, but in fear, he lost all his confident disposition and became a pitiful character.

JOB

There is also some representation in the jobs and lifestyles of the characters. For instance, Angela plays the stereotypical female government agent, being quite strong when it comes to her job, but weak as a person. She also has the typical co-worker relationship with Greg, who is the happy, confident agent (who dies). Curtis Miller also looks the stereotypical "Sacked Scientist" and acts like a madman.

ZOMBIES

The zombies are represented very typically - they all make moaning sounds and hold their arms out when they walk. There is also the grey-tinged skin and white eyes, which is a very common look and establishes that they are indeed, zombies. (if you happened to miss that point...)

GENRE


The genre would be "Action" or even "horror" due to the conventions it follows of both these genres (zombies!). However, it also falls under the 'video game movie' genre which is admittedly not very specific. It meets the requirements for an action movie with the guns, shooting and action scenes, horror with the monsters, dark palette and storyline, and video game movie by being based on a video game.
Convergence Media :O

AUDIENCE
The audience is primarily fans of the video games already - those who play the series and are hardcore fans will generally be attracted. It contains the two main protagonists also to attract these fans.

However, even a non-fan could watch this movie, as you don't need to know the plot of the video games to understand the movie - it is done separately so it is not linked to the games, allowing a larger audience.

This movie is really not aimed at a younger audience - in between the gore and sometimes sophisticated storyline, it would be a) 'scary' or b) hard to understand. The use of jokes and non-stop action keeps those not too into the storyline interested, and the characters are developed in a way to make them likable (or unlikable if you're not meant to like them...)

NARRATIVE
The story starts with a news bulletin which is quite an interesting (albeit used a lot now) way of starting, and it ties in to the story quite nicely. You are introduced Claire first and find out a bit about her. After the first zombie attacks, you are introduced to Leon via a dramatic build up. "He's an expert!" and the two protagonists meet up. It doesn't take a lot of time for the first attack to happen and the twists and different plots come out relatively quickly, leaving time for the action.

IS THERE A TRADITION WITH THE STUDIO/PRODUCER?
Sony Pictures is notorious for making remakes of already produced products, such as "Pink Panther", "the Grudge" and also other video game movies, such as "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" They tend to make movies out of already existing stories/movies, even, although this not always the case, they are one of the biggest in the industry for doing so.

Most of the time, the movie will be a spin-off, and it won't relate to the original product (meaning you don't have to watch the original to understand Sony's version), there are exceptions but Sony usually makes big movies out of small companies/products.

WHO BENEFITS FROM THE ALLIANCE?
Resident Evil Degeneration is a Japanese CGI animation based on the Resident Evil video game series, therefore the video game organization (Capcom and Sony Pictures) will feed off the popularity of this film because they will acquire more customers (and vice versa). Resident Evil Degeneration is a continuation of the previous Resident Evil film Resident Evil 4. Unlike the previous movies this one is set in the same universe as the original video game series. This means that it has a chance of attracting newer fans to the movies and the video games.