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Dead Island Audiovisual Analysis

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Dead Island Audiovisual Analysis
Dead Island: Audiovisual Rhetorical Analysis Dead Island is a video game where players are trapped on an island resort and have to fight zombies in order to survive. The trailer for the game does not focus on how the game is actually played, which is the norm for game trailers, but instead sets up a narrative that is different from society’s typical view on zombies. The trailer also has more depth and emotional pull than most advertisements. It pulls at the heartstrings of its audience by using a touching visual narrative and accompanying it with emotional music. It is in our culture to create meaning and definition of things because we are afraid of the unknown. The Dead Island trailer alters our culture’s typical view of zombies and of advertisements, as there has not been a video game trailer similar to the narrative or musical accompaniment of the Dead Island trailer. This trailer makes a successful and compelling advertisement because the visual narrative and the music work together to create a memorable, emotionally jarring, and unique piece unlike other trailers.
The game trailer is supposedly nothing like the actual game. The game is a typical zombie-apocalypse game where the goal is to kill zombies without a second thought; not a very elaborate or touching storyline. Zombies in pop culture are a bit romanticized. Like vampires, people fall for the dark fantasy, the idea of a twisted reality where humans aren’t the top of the food chain and death isn’t a serious topic. Zombies are no longer considered human beings – they are monsters and all they want to do is kill, so it’s okay to kill them and move on. Referenced in an analysis of civil rights artwork, “Danielle S. Allen has observed in Talking to Strangers, sacrifice is ‘‘a democratic fact,’’ a fundamental means by which democratic rights are achieved. Yet, for whatever reasons, citizens often remain unaware of this ‘‘fact.’’ So, as Allen observes, photojournalism and other visual images are important


Bibliography: Cypher, Logan. "FULL Dead Island Trailer Music (Without Effects) HD." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 18 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. "Dead Island Trailer: How Music Made a Viral Hit." T3.com. Future Publishing Limited, 8 Sept. 2011. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. Eisler, Hanns, and Theodor W. Adorno. "Prejudices and Bad Habits." Composing for the Films. London: Athlone, 1994. N. pag. Print. "Giles Lamb - Dead Island Trailer Theme." Musical Chimpanzees. N.p., 3 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. IGN. "Dead Island: Official Announcement Trailer." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Kalinak, Kathryn Marie. "The Language of Music: A Brief Analysis of Vertigo." Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1992. N. pag. Print. Lamb, Giles. "Giles Lamb Film Composer." Giles Lamb, Composer. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
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