Monday, 9 May 2011
Encoding in our film opening
The Editing Process
This shows the amount of audio and FX that went into the making of our film, we have changed the audio level in some parts so it flows smoothly. We had to arrange the audio so it matched up with the video and that the sound was in the correct position .
This shows the audio and video fades that were used to create a professional look for the film, this works well with the genre of the film, as it's dark and mysterious and things are not normal as is normally expected. Also the time lapse we used had to be cut from 1 Hr 40 min to around 10 seconds, to do this we cut some unnecessary parts and sped the clip up by 20,000%.
This shows the colour corrector that we used to add the effect onto the film. To create a dark, and mysterious atmosphere we created a black and white scene onto the some of the clips. This is a simple, yet effective way to change the whole look of the film, and to make it appear professional.
We used Livetype to create the credits and the title sequence, this is the first time i have used this software and i am now more familiar into how to use it. We decided on the red colour and font, this goes well with the nature of the film, we then exported it to Final Cut Express where we placed it into our film. What we learnt from the preliminary and Engaging The Audience
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Focus Group 2
Thursday, 7 April 2011
News Report
Character Descriptions
Character descriptions
There are only four characters that play an important role in this introduction to our Zombie film. They are (in order of appearance) the boy, the news reporter, the dead corpse and finally the zombie.
The News Reporter
The news reporter is seen as being a typical news reporter; smart, serious and nicely spoken. He plays an important part in setting the scene for the rest of the film, due to the fact that he is giving all of the information needed to understand the rest of the clip. Because of this, she needs to have a big impact on the audience so that they are paying attention to her, and therefore like I just said, understand the rest of the film. As she is speaking, she is very serious. This puts across the seriousness of the news report that she is getting across.
The Boy
The boy has a loving and warm personality, whilst not really being able to show this in the short time we have, hopefully his "simple" clothes will show that he isn't a crazy and outgoing person, but someone you can easily warm to. This is important so he comes across as being weak, and also vulnerable.
The Dead Corpse
The dead corpse is simple, emotionless and with guts coming out of her body. That's all.
The Zombie
Finally, the Zombie will have to be as scary as possible. Therefore he is quick on his feet, blood all around his face and shirt and is not afraid of death. Even though the Zombie will hopefully be scary, to add a sence of a typical Zombie film, he will be quite stupid too. This adds a sence of comedy to the film too.
If we had a Hollywood Budget, we would firstly use Jesse Eisenberg, this is because he is a fairly young actor and has been in the movie ZombieLand which is similar to our film. Another character that could be the girl in the film could be Megan Fox as she has acted in a variety of films and would attract the male audience to watch the film.
ByTom Whelan
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Shooting Schedule
Friday, 25 March 2011
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Locations list
By Charlie Gilbert
Friday, 18 March 2011
Props List
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Questionnaire- Primary research results and key findings
Questionnaire- proposed questions
Contingency Plan
To avoid any errors during the process of filming we will arrange a meeting and filming time and we will have each other’s mobile numbers written down to check that everyone is able to make the film. If someone is unable to attend filming for any reason we will have to try our best to carry on our best without them and find an alternative actor.
If our zombie film is very demanding and we are unable to meet the means to film and produce the movie we need to have a back up plan. If we are unable to make our zombie film we would make an action-based film revolving around a hostage and ransom situation.
if our location is not possible to film in we will have to find an alternative location and maybe have to scrap the idea of a basement and use something else such as a stairwell. to make sure our camera does not run out of battery we will carry a charger with us and make sure it is fully charged before we go out.
By Charlie Holt and Charlie Gilbert
Target Audience
The target audience of our film would be predominantly male, aged around sixteen to thirty, they should also fall into C1, C2, D and E of the social demographic scale this is because these are the social demographic groups most likely buy or view the particular genre.
The uses and gratifications theory states that an audience will watch or engage will a piece of media for five particular reasons;
Entertainment
Education
Escape
Identification
Social Interaction
We are aiming for our movie to use at least three of these points, which should be:
Entertainment – our film should be entertaining, one of the major points for a film to be successful is that it should be entertaining to engage the audience.
Escapism – the film should help the audience escape from their everyday lives and forget what’s going on around them the film should be interesting to keep the viewers interested.
Social interaction – hopefully our film will be a talking point among the audience so they can discuss what they thought of it after and hopefully positively review it, if there is a few funny elements in the film it could be a big talking point with the audience.
By Charles Holt
Initial ideas
It starts with a news report saying a worldwide infection has spread, this ends and the credits begin to roll down the screen. There is a timelapse of the sun settling to show the passing of time and then year is then written after. We then meet our main character who is a defiant man searching for his lost wife after the terror of many being turned into zombies and then being split up after the panic, wearing a gas mask to prevent infection.
The audience knows that he is searching for someone as he holds a picture out from his wallet, while walking down an abandoned street (possibly park an abandoned car sideways in the road) he comes across an open door so goes to search inside. He opens the door and walks down the stairs, the room is pitch black so he gets his torch out and when he turns it on a few zombies are eating somebody on the floor, they see him and then there’s a shot of him being dragged down the stairs screaming ‘help!’ then the name of the film appears.
Props may include:
Gas mask, fake blood, wallet with picture, red contact lenses, television and makeup
Camera angles and composition:
Low angles, point of view shot, close shots, medium shots and over the shoulder shots, extreme CU, tracking, handheld and subjective filming as well as objective.
By Charlie Gilbert, Charles Holt and Tom Whelan
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Written analysis of openings to films(four)
Zombieland -Genre: Comedy, Horror
At the start of Zombie land we are initially presented with a problem, but this is done through a comedic touch. We see the establishing shot that it’s America as there is a flag waving on the car, but then the camera turns around and we see that the car is upside down and the white house is on fire, this creates question on how this was done. The camera is a handicam which makes us feel as though we are there; it adds to the realism, then a zombie jumps over the car wearing a suit and kills the cameraman but they add comedy to it by the zombie checking his teeth in the camera and burping.
We then get an aerial shot of earth and we see that it’s partly destroyed; we are then taken to a large man running away from a zombie on a field and cannot outrun him as he runs out of breath and subsequently dies. This is followed by another clip of cars crashing and a police officer zombie getting hit by a car and shot but doesn’t die and kills the shooter, these are played while there is a narrator who explains the rues in which to stay alive adding another comedic factor such as the ‘double tap rule’ and to be fit and healthy. We are then taken to a toilet cubicle where a man is reading whilst on the toilet and then a zombie crawls under the cubicle, we then see the man scream and the camera switches so we are eon the outside and see the zombie kill him.
We then see woman trying to start her minivan whilst zombie children wearing dresses are surrounding her, she then speeds off with children grabbing onto the back of the van who eventually fall off, we see a bumper sticker which reads ‘my kid is an honour student’ adding humour. She then crashes into the side of a truck and flies through the windscreen killing herself, we then see more quick clips of the zombie killing, scenes such as chasing a woman with a milkshake, a wedding gone bad and a topless woman running after a man. All the clips add a humorous effect to the film telling the audience that it is going to be a comedic zombie movie; the zombies are established straight away in this movie but it does not tell us how the infection has occurred and with the use of subjective filming it feels as though we are in the action.
24 Days Later -Genre: Horror
Immediately we are presented with chaotic behaviour where there seems to be anarchy, there are riots, people are beaten and fires are raging. But we then see as it zooms out that this is being shown on numerous television screens and causes questions to why these images are being shown to apes with sensors on them. We can see that this is an artificially lighted room, but still is very dark creating an atmosphere and tension, as well as using a deep, slow tune in the background mixing non diegetic and diegetic sound with the ape noises. We are then shown a point of view shot from a CCTV camera’s perspective and then a masked man covers it up with a cup, this again creates question to what is going on.
The masked men move into the laboratory where they discover apes locked in cages; they are wearing black costumes, telling us they probably do not belong there. A scientist then walks in on them , who rushes to a phone to call security but fails to do so, he claims that the ‘”chimps are infected” with “rage” this is confusing the audience more and obviously means the animals are dangerous. A woman then opens one of the cages while the scientist is shouting no!! The ape runs out of the cage and bites her, while there is a confusion of red flashing lights and the red eyes of the ape while she is bitten. We see her on the floor with flood coming out of her mouth, we still think that she is not infected but when we see her stand up her eyes are red and she kills the scientist while the apes bang on their cages, we then are presented with a black screen saying 28 days later. This establishes the film, letting us know how the infection was caused and leaves the audience wanting answers into what has happened after this incident.
Resident Evil -Genre: Horror
Firstly we see a red background scene with confidential report written and the subject is the events leading up to the incident at Racoon City, this again causes question to what happened there. We then get a narrator who tells us how Umbrella Corporation had became a large company who supply medical products, computer technology and healthcare and that profits unknowingly are made through experiments, military technology and viral weaponry. This lets us know this untrustworthy company are probably responsible for events in the city, whatever they may be; we then see the title of the film. While the sequence was playing we had a low sound of music which increases after the title, it’s a creepy, dark type of music that creates suspense, and again while the opening plays it is diegetic and non diegetic.
We then have a dark setting with a room in the background and then it gradually zooms in to the room, where we see what looks like a lab with a scientist dealing with chemicals behind a screen. We then see what looks like a virus being placed into a secure container which is taken out of the lab by someone wearing a hazmat suit, indicating the substance is very dangerous. The music then goes quite and we see a man in a suit throw a container, presumably containing a virus into the room where it breaks and the room is secured once they are out. We are taken with the camera where the toxin is spreading though the vents, into the workplace of the employers, a caged dog smells something in the air and starts barking, this lets us know that whatever it is, it is bad.
We are then taken to a point of view shot of the camera where it detects the biohazard and secures the building, the dogs also seem to be going crazy. The ones stuck in a lift are panicking, the lights go off and we see another lift drop rapidly to the bottom floor, killing those inside, the office workers are also sprayed with a substance from the ceiling which seems to kill them. All this at the start makes us wonder what is going on and why these workers are dying and what actually was in the container, we can tell this company is seedy.
The Crazies -Genre: Horror
At the start of the movie we are introduced to a problem straight away, we see a building on fire, and burning cars and other houses in the deserted town on fire, this causes question to why it is deserted and why is everything on fire. A banner then falls down with the town name on it, at the start it is diegetic sound, with the alarms going off, the fire crackle and barking, but switches to non diegetic once it says two days earlier, when cheerful, old music starts. Everything now looks normal, a police officer is driving along in the countryside, with a close up of wedding ring, telling us he is married. We see him drive through the town of Ogden Marsh, where everything was burning but now seems normal, we see children on their bikes who seem happy and mothers walking with their children. We are introduced to the first of our character in a medical house, where they make a character likable as she lets a girl who works for her leave to see a baseball game.
We then have an establishing shot of a baseball field where we see the police officer and some other characters there. Everything seems fine, but we see an officer’s face change, looking worried and then there is a long shot of a man walking onto the field with a shotgun, which then switches to a shoulder shot and handheld for subjective filming to add realism and to make us feel as though we are there. The officer’s then spot him and everyone stops clapping, slow music starts to create tension, we see the officer talking to the man, but he is quite and seems confused, there is shot reverse shots between them. We then see an extreme close up of the police officer’s gun and once the other man raises his shotgun, he is shot dead. An aerial shot follows this from the scene zooming out to a further aerial shot of the state; this then turn’s blank with the Crazies written on it. This lets us see the start of the chaos unfold and we wonder why the man did what he did.
By Charlie Gilbert
Conventions of genre and successful example
The conventions of zombie movies are generally simple; you always have one or more main characters that travel place to place looking for salvation normally, there is also sometimes a love interest between characters. The zombies are nearly always causes by an infection/virus that spreads person to person, city to city, usually by bites from a zombie. There also seems to be a touch of comedy in most movies, with some it may be mostly based on comedy such as Zombie Land, the zombies have bloody mouths and ripped clothing, with maybe a gash on their body from a previous bite that infected them.
The following list is some of the most successful zombie movies of all time; we see a lot of George A. Romero films on that list who is one of the first to use the typical zombie films we see today, with the famous Dawn of the Dead being one of his best works.
Successful movies that use this genre include:
1. Dawn Of The Dead(1978)- worldwide gross revenue of $55 million
2. 28 Days Later(2002)- $82.7 million worldwide
3. Night of the Living Dead(1968)- $18 million internationally
4. Shaun Of The Dead(2004)- $30,039,392 worldwide
5. Return of the Living Dead(1985)- grossed $14,237,000 domestically
6. Land of the Dead(2004)- over $40 million
7. Resident Evil(2002) $102 million worldwide-
8. Zombie Land(2009)- $60.8 million in 17 days
9. Re-Animator(1985)- $543,728 on its opening weekend, made $2 million in North America,
10. Dawn of the Dead(2004)- $102 million worldwide
By Charlie Gilbert
Research into genre and similar media texts
Top 10 Zombie films
1. Dawn Of The Dead(1978)- worldwide gross revenue of $55 million
2. 28 Days Later(2002)- $82.7 million worldwide
3. Night of the Living Dead(1968)- $18 million internationally
4. Shaun Of The Dead(2004)- $30,039,392 worldwide
5. Return of the Living Dead(1985)- grossed $14,237,000 domestically
6. Land of the Dead(2004)- over $40 million
7. Resident Evil(2002) $102 million worldwide-
8. ZombieLand(2009)- $60.8 million in 17 days
9.Re-Animator(1985)- $543,728 on its opening weekend, made $2 million in North America,
10. Dawn of the Dead(2004)- $102 million worldwide
Zombie movies generally use a virus/infection to start chaos; normally we start to see zombies at the near start of a movie and that there is one or more survivors trying to survive going to various places throughout. A touch of comedy is sometimes used to lessen the tension and to make the audience laugh; this entertains them as well as fulfilling gratifications such as entertainment. One of the first feature zombie films is thought to be White Zombie, although it was not a success critically it set a benchmark for others to follow.
By Charlie Gilbert
Monday, 14 March 2011
Scripts and screen play for our zombie film
The shot starts with a full perfect view of a turned off television screen. There is nobody in sight and no sound at all. After a few seconds, the television is turned on by the remote control, therefore you still cannot see anybody. A random nature channel comes on; however this is quickly changed to the news. After the news reporter quickly finishes the previous news report, she starts the new one (script below). During the whole report, the camera slowly starts to zoom into her face, reaching climax just before the camera cuts away.
News Reporter Scientists have discovered a disease within the blood stream of a seriously ill man in St Thomas’ Hospital yesterday. They are unaware of the source of the disease; however what they do know is that it spreads through any type of bodily fluid, even if sweat comes into contact with another human’s body. Because of the high risk of the disease spreading, already two doctors have caught the disease trying to treat the man. It seems almost impossible to treat anyone with this disease without catching it yourself so doctors are running a self-help treatment so that you can treat yourself without any help from anybody. Due to all of these factors, the Minister of Health has put this disease onto high alert. There is nothing to worry about, as long as you keep your loved ones safe, do not come into any form of contact with strangers, and if you have any suspicions you may have the disease, due to constant sweating and constant hunger, travel alone to your nearest hospital immediately to gain emergency, self-help treatment. We are unaware at this moment of how fatal this disease is, however…
At this moment the camera zooms out to where a mans face would be, sitting directly infront of the television. The camera pull around to the left, creating a POV shot behind the mans head. The shot is looking at an open door, presenting a woman poking her head around the door to the room. She has a slight nervous look on her face. The sound of the television dims so all focus is drawn to her.
Wife Darling.
The man on the sofa turns his head to the left to look at his wife; he is almost in shock at her entrance and looks concerned by her facial expression, perhaps wondering if she thinks that she has the infection. The camera rotates around using the 180 degree rule, so that it is now behind the womans head.
Husband Yeah babe, what’s wrong?
The camera shot then changes to directly in front of the womans face; a closeup of her eyes. Her eye brows rise. The camera then zooms out ever so slightly, revealing the rest of her face.
Wife How many sugars would you like in your coffee?(cough)
The screen then fades out into darkness, and after a few seconds a shot of a deserted path looking straight down the centre rises up from behind a fence, creating an establishing shot. At the bottom of the screen, the numbers “2015” fades onto the screen for about two seconds before the location name, “...” fades onto the screen too. They both then stay there together for about four or five seconds.
Another angle of the path is shown with the husband walking carelessly. His facial expression is blank. Several different angled shots show him walking down the road. He gets out his wallet and looks at an image of his wife. This is seen with an over the shoulder shot, down onto the wallet.
Husband If your not here, then I dont know where you would be; your favorite place in the world.
He puts the wallet away and carries on walking slightly further down the path, until he reaches a building. He pulls open the door and looks inside. It is pitch black inside so he pulls a torch out of his bag. He shines it around inside, sees nothing of threat so he walks in. After about 10 seconds of wandering around, he hears a really faint scream. He stops walking. A close of his eyes then appears on the screen. He picks up the pace, following the scream around the corridors. The noise consequently gets louder. As he turns the last corner, he stops in his tracks, coming in front of a zombie eating an indescribable person laying on the floor. This is seen wih an over the shoulder shot. The camera is wobbly at this point. The zombie eventually looks up; the camera slightly zooms into the zombies face. Blood is dripping from his mouth. He slowly stands up and starts creeping towards the man, however after about two or three steps, the zombie starts to run. The camera now goes directly behind the mans head. You see him turn around, but he trips over at the same time. The camera moves down to the floor with his face. The camera now is so zoomed in at this point you can't see behind the man. He panics and starts to crawl forward but suddenly stops, and is dragged back at high speed. He dropped the torch so he essentially is dragged back into the darkness. The screen is then completely black and the film name appears on the screen.
By Tom Whelan
