Spaced series 1 episode 2 opening sequence

I will be summarising and commenting on the opening sequence of series 1 episode 2 of spaced, a British situation comedy aired in 1999.

The sequence depicts Simon Pegg’s character “Tim” taking on the persona of his avatar in the game resident evil by shooting zombies and quoting one liners. The director Edger Wright used similar lighting and camera angles to show that the game world that “Tim” has been in is merging with his world due to lack of sleep. The audience only realise that “Tim” has only been dreaming or sleep walking when he is awoken by “Daisy” played by Jessica Stevenson, at this point the lighting return to convention. “Daisy’s” character inadvertently mirrors a stereotypical zombie expression, which are numerous in “Resident Evil” resulting in a comical climax. This is the only example I know of where common traits specific to a Digital game are used as an artistic means to facilitate narrative in another form of media in this case a comedy.

For most of the episode, “Tim” is sat, playing the game on an original Play Station and at numerous times throughout the episode, clips of the game, depicting zombies getting shot are flashed in between character conversations. I feel the flashes of death, represent the characters felling of dread. The writer used “Resident Evil” as a vehicle to relate how the character is feeling to the audience which I feel is quite innervating.

I think the episode was written as homage to video games, showing both the negative connotations associated with digital games, in the form of sleepwalking, and the positives, using the images and the affect of the game on the character resulting in comedy.