Teacher Interview

http://vimeo.com/40387034

Class Presentation

http://vimeo.com/40386053

What have you learnt from doing the project?

This was one of the most key parts of our project. When it was all finished me and Amir finally had time to reflect and when we were in planning for our interview and making our PowerPoint for the class presentation we had to ask ourselves 'what have we learnt?'

Firstly i have learnt that organisation is huge key feature for making not just a film project but for any media product. After our first attempt of making a film me and Amir realised how much easier and swiftly the filming process could have gone has we planned and organised everything but we didn't we just asked people we never really spoke to 'Can you film this?' or 'Can you play this part?' without any real thought as the majority of times we asked people to play in our film and they said yes we would find about 5 minutes before shooting that 'We can't make it' or 'I completely forgot' and as much as they didnt help us by telling us last minute we were mainly to blame as we should have constantly reminded them, asked if they still can do it and ensure that we contacted each all the time. Another problem was with ourselves but i will admit that the majority of the time it was my fault, i do allot of things when i get in from school such as playing for my football team which fully cancels out Tuesdays and half of a Saturday which at the time didn't seem bad because i had the rest of the day to film but i wouldn't be back till 3 and at the time of filming it was dark nights meaning it was dark at 4:30. But also at the time our football team was in the semi-final of a cup meaning i trained occasionally 3 times a week. Also one of my other subjects did not help, as chemistry tore a huge chunk of my time as our whole course is based entirely on coursework meaning that when we finished one we would start another straight away which would have to be done about 3 weeks later. However i eventually found time and was able to film with Amir who I'm thankful for his patience and understanding. But the biggest culprit of them all was the weather, as the time of filming we werent getting any good of it. Especially with 2/3's of our film being outside it really made it horrendous. We filmed some of our shots on different days and on one it was snowing and was forecast this the rest of the week, however next time it came to shooting the snow had melted and the sun was shining meaning that we had a huge continuity error which meant we had to re film the scene were it snowed. So we have learnt that organising is key and that when the next task occurs we will be in touch all the time, using the Internet for weather forecasts and sunset times and choosing our locations wisely as a location inside would bet better as weather and time wont effect the film.

Imagination, Ideas and initiative was another thing we learnt, these three I's were the key to our film as without them it wouldn't have been the way it was. Imagination and ideas interlocked with each other as without them the basis of our film would we bland and boring , we used this in our opening tracking sequence as i had the idea of showing hints of a zombie apocalypse without being blunt and abrupt so for example when Greg (a zombie) is behind a fence eating someone and blood on bollards and hand prints on windows creating one of those quizzical moments for the audience as they will ask 'Wait! What was that?' which keeps them alert and focused on the film. Amir also had the amazing idea of placing the credits on the wall to make it part of the scene rather then making it looked inserted.

The intuitive part was Amirs doing as at first we wanted to create a tracking shot of us walking down a road and we firstly used his sister to film us walking, however it was far to shaking and the camera and tripod were heavy to hold for a long period some Amir had the idea and initiative to place the camera on a tripod in the car to create a smooth and good tracking shot.





I have learnt some more about editing but i still have a lot to learn. Amir was kind enough to show me the basics such as inserts, depth of field, cutting, importing, compositions and changing textures, lighting and contrasts. Hopefully Amir will show me how to do more complex editing or more variety of basics to use in either our project or my own.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your project?

What I’ve learned from this project about technologies is about the cameras, tripods and editing software’s and how to use them to make and edit our film. To actually make our project me and Amir started off with one of the schools cameras which were good and easy to use however we found some problems with them as battery life didn’t last too long and the light on the camera itself wasn’t strong enough to see some dark areas  of our film. During the time from our first draft of the sequence to our final draft, Amir had ordered a video camera online and was waiting for it to be delivered luckily it was on time for us to film our final draft. Amir’s camera was initially hard to use at the start as you had to set up all the settings which consisted of contrast, brightness, resolution, pixels and many others, so when I first so the screen I was completely confused and fazed by the amount of writing on the screen but after using it I now understand. The camera was vital to our sequence as it allowed us to create perfect shots and movements due to its graphics and adjustable settings.

When we began the editing process of the film, at first i found it difficult as i hadn't done much editing before. However Amir showed me the basics of editing however not with Premier Pro as we used After effects for our film because we believed it had more features of editing and of a wide variety but also because Amir was more familiar with this editing software. Amir did most of the editing as he enjoys it and is better with the programme however I was round his house to help with the editing, doing some myself but mainly aiding. To start the editing of our film we imported all the clips and shots we needed and placed them into order, from there the real task of editing began. An example of some hard editing was with the establishing shot of the street with garages however we decided to create a depth of field shot which had one part in focus and the other out and after a few seconds it was the opposite, do this we selected the layer and clicked on it to reveal its options and then turn on the depth of field, after this we change the level of blur to somewhere over 500% so that we can have a really creative blur effect. This is then followed by making the focus distance focus on the first part and then the last part. We then have to add a keyframe at the start of the timelime and then to make the last part in focus we changed the focus distance to a different number to the first part.

Another use of editing that we did was our title sequence which consisted of lots of text inserts which we used for our credits. We create a new composition and then click on the text tool, we then wrote the name of one of the credits and chose the font, we then take the pen tool and select the layer and draw around the text; and then click the selection tool. Then we go to our film clip which is the tracking scene with the wall and drag in the writing text and its done.

Who would be the audience for your media product and how did you attract them?

Before making and creating our film, me and Amir decided that the audience for our film would mainly be teenagers and with a focused age of 13-24. The reason for this is because with our cast being between the ages of 10-18 this would be that the audience could relate to characters and their situations because they are similar, for example Sam and Drake at the start of the film are very care free, happy, messing around and naïve which is what the majority of people of the focused age will be. Potenially the film could have an adult audience too as personally my mum loves horrors films just as much as I do especially when it comes to zombies and because films like ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ and ‘Resident Evil’ play older and more adult characters which the adult audience will like and relate perhaps to ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ characters when it shows Shaun’s life before the apocalypse. Still though another reason for targeting young adults is because people between this age are more likely to go to cinemas and see films but also because there is a worldwide horror fan base already established out there for this age such as Zombieland, Star Trek, Shaun Of The Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and 28 Days later.

But also a television series called The Walking Dead which has amazing reviews and ratings, for example the first season of ‘The Walking Dead’ had an average of 5.24 million viewers with its season finale receiving just 6 million views alone in the US. But it didn’t end there, they released Season 2 which set a new record of 7.3 million viewers just in the first episode and towards the middle of the series attained 8.1 million viewers. But its also now creating a Season 3 which will be released in November this year.

In our film we used mainly background noises however we used a range of music from other films such as ‘Sherlock Homes’ which is used at the end of the sequence and ‘Zombieland’ which is used after I (Sam) kills a zombie. The fact we wear clothes that everyday outfits also allows the audience to relate to the characters as it shows them that the characters are just two average people trying to survive, unlike ‘Resident Evil’ were you get this bad-ass character who can do flips and jump of buildings and survive as obviously the audience can’t do that meaning they can’t relate, however despite that ‘Resident Evil’ gets a good reception because it’s not based on reality and normality making it cool, gripping and actiony.
You can view this scene here to get an idea of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIGByOusiCE

We think that overall our themes of our film will be kind of suited to who we have selected as our target audience. Themes of our film include typical horror and comedy conventions such as blood and gritty editing but also props such as weapons and clothing. I believe that the themes we used in our film incorporates the gore, the violence and action that will appeal to the audience and who will view the themes used in our film as appealing, exciting and tensional.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media project?

After looking at different institutions me and Amir decided that the best institution to distribute our film was Columbia Picture. Columbia Pictures are considered one of the big six within the world of film production and doing extremely well financially, the company has released high blockbuster films like 'Panic Room' 'Men In Black' 'Stuart Little' 'Spiderman' and many more. Even though Columbia Pictures don't necessarily focus strongly on horrors or horror comedies, the company does produce lots of high grossing films which have been timeless classics played over and over again without becoming boring. In 1982 Columbia Pictures was bought by Coca-Cola, the same year it launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS, due to this still applying today if Columbia did distribute our film they would be advertised not just in the UK but in US as well, as by having a join venture with HBO and CBS our film would be advertised and viewed on these channels. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia and was acquired by Sony in 1989, because of this this would mean that the film would be global as Sony is a huge company. But despite its high grossing films and huge finances, me and Amir mainly chose Columbia Pictures to be our distributor because of its two hugely successful films which are 'Ghostbusters' and 'Zombieland'.

Horror films distrubuted:

• 30 Days of night
• Zombieland
• Ghostbusters
• Anaconda
• Fright night
• The bride

Ghostbusters - Box Office

• On June 8 1984 Ghostbusters was released in 1339 theaters and grossed $13.6 million within its first opening weekend and earned $23 million in its first week.
•  Ghostbuster then went on to gross $229.2 million at the box office, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984, which in its time, these figures put it within the top ten highest-grossing films of all-time.
• A re-release in 1985 gave the film a total gross of $238.6 million and making Ghostbusters the most successful comedy of the 1980s.

Zombieland - Box Office

• Zombieland was released in October 2009
• instantly received positive critical reviews as it was grossing more than $60.8 million in 17 days.
• The film debuted at No. 1 at the box office in North America, with ticket sales of $24,733,155 on the opening weekend, matching its production budget.
• As of October 29, 2009, the film grossed $75,590,286 domestically and $102,133,700 worldwide.
• Critics and fans of the film said that this is "the first [American] horror comedy in recent memory to find significant theatrical success".

The facts and figures on box office information was from Wikipedia  :)

How does your media product represent a particular social group?

Within our film we don't particularly concentrate on one specific social group such as Colour, Region and Age and so on. However in our film we concentrate on age,gender, size, stereotypes and even American vs English groups. Throughout our film we have the constant representation of gender, as stereotypically men are the stronger, better and smarter sex whilst women are weaker, dependent and less intelligent sex. But in our film we decide to go against the stereotypical representation to add comedy to film as because its not a stereotypical view, the audience laugh at the change, but we also decided to do this to see how the audience would react when the roles are changed and see whether this would benefit or ruin the film.

Gender

So as you can see, we have Drake (Amir) lying on the floor being attacked by a girl zombie. This is strange because if we stuck to stereotypes a 'big' 'muscular' man wouldn't be able to be tackled to the ground by a 'small' and 'weak' girl. Then if you look again you can see my character (Sam) in the background looking 'helpless' and 'weak' a she expects her 'strong' friend to take care of it himself. However this isn't the situation as Drake (Amir) calls out for help from Sam and she finds a weapon and kills the girl herself.

Stereotypes

So what you can see above is a screen shot of me and Amir (Sam and Drake). Firstly we have Sam who because of her blond hair she would be stereotypically viewed as stupid, blunt, girly and weak, whilst Amir on the other hand is from the middle east and would stereotypically be viewed as a terrorist and violent. However this is not the case as my character (Sam) is actually the smart and strong one whilst Amir (Drake) is the clumsy and helpless one.

Size

Another representation was size as typically a taller person would be stronger whilst a smaller person would be weaker, however we break this representation as in our film we have the smaller zombie being the strong one and the tall one being weak, as you can see from the shot the tall zombie could easily overpower the small one but this isn't the case this time.

Age

  All of the characters in our film are young characters either at the age of 16, 17 or 18, this means the representation of the film is important. The reason we chose to film young characters was to appeal to the audience as the majority of people who view zombie comedies are between the ages of 13 to 24. If the audience can relate to the characters it creates a connection between them which in turn makes the audience like them, myself personally related myself to Shaun out of 'Shaun Of The Dead' as i would probably not realise a zombie apocalypse was occurring unless i was attacked. But also at the start of the film we see Drake and Sam being typical teenagers, messing about, being clumsy and having fun (like above) as they still believe life is normal, however later on in the film we see Sam and Drake again in the toilets but instead of being clumsy and messing about we see them as mature and focused at whats happening showing the audience that people can change to respond to a situation.

Britain

USA

Lastly we have Britain Vs USA. What i mean by that is when you say zombie horror in America you get the above martial arts, acrobatic super killing women and when you say zombie horror in Britain you get two average joes who have no idea whats going on or how to solve. This shows the complete difference in the countries idea of zombie Apocalypse. If you look at the top left you see Shaun and Ed from 'Shaun Of The Dead' they both are common working class man with everyday jobs (unless your Ed) but life is normal, but when you look at the top right you see Alice from 'Resident Evil' she is wearing adventurous and protective clothing and is well equipped showing that apparently in America if a zombie Apocalypse occurs everything you need to survive will be just around the corner. So when it came to our film we adopted the British representation of horror because its makes the audience feel like they have something in common and can relate to each other but also because its more realistic then back flipping into the air and killing 50 zombies with a pistol in 10 seconds.

How does your media project use, develop or challenge the codes and conventions of your genre?

In the majority of our film we used the same codes and conventions as the films 'Shaun Of The Dead' and 'Zombieland' this was because the films were of the same genre and what they did within their films proved to be successful:

Shots and Camera Angles
We decided to adopt similar shots to those of Zombieland and Shaun Of The Dead as when typing into google these are the scenes that are spoken about, talked about and are shown across the Internet.

Shaun Of The Dead - Tracking Shot

Forsaken - Tracking Shot Recreate

So as you can see above, we used the same type of camera shots as in 'Shaun Of The Dead'. Throughout our film we used mainly medium shots, establishing shots and tracking shots this is because like typical horror films they want to make the audience be on the edge of their seats and to make them question whats going to happen next, the main aim of horror films is to build tension and suspense and that is exactly what we tried to recreate in our film by using the same style and shots that is used in 'Shaun Of The Dead'. The reason for our use of medium shots and tracking shots was not to only build suspense but to allow the audience to see exactly whats going on, so that there is no misunderstanding but enough to allow them to question whats happening. Another example of camera angles and shots used is in 'Zombieland':

Forsaken- Kill Shot Recreate

Zombieland - Kill Shot

So as you can see, we once again used the same shots and angles that is used in 'Zombieland'. We have Columbus conquering his fears and about to finish of the zombie clown with a hammer on the left and our recreation of me (Sam) about to kill a zombie girl with a metal rod. The use of having a low angle shot like 'Zombieland' is to show the power and dominance of the character and pushing of previous opinions on them, for example Columbus from 'Zombieland' is shown as a coward and weak throughout but is finally shown as someone who can be brave and strong. So like Columbus, Sam is shown as a stupid and weak because she's a blond girl but pushes those opinions of her away when she kills the zombie.

Location
Originally we were going to challenge the codes and conventions of horror/comedy because we were going to film in a woods and creepy buildings however we realised that this would be too hard and would be more of a horror than both as creepy buildings and woods add tension and suspense as they are very secluded areas so that's why we didn't challenge it as whats comical about woods and creepy buildings? So instead we decided to adapt the idea of 'Shaun Of The Dead' once again as they have their location set on the streets and in a pub. The use of setting the locations on the streets is because this is were everyday real life occurs so if something was to happen or change people would know the difference, so when we film me and Amir (Sam and Drake) walking down a street and no one is around the audience assume automatically something has happened. We also used some aspects of 'Zombieland' in our film as there is a small scene where Columbus is conquering is fear of toilets at the start of the film so we developed the codes and conventions of the film as we filmed about 3 minutes of footage in the toilet. The reason we used the toilets to film our sequence was to make toilet humour not just a saying but to mean it physically and literally to add to the comedy section of the genre but also not many films use toilet scenes in them so this would have been one of the first the audience would have seen which would mean they don't know what happens in them meaning our film wouldn't be to predictable.

Forsaken - Toilet Scene

Zombieland - Toilet Scene

Mise En Scene
Looking back now, i think we could of challenges the code and conventions here as in all horror and horror/comedy films, all characters use weapons to kill the zombies. To challenge this we could have actually killed the zombies with the use of our hands, feet and even mouth; personally i think it would be comical as well as strange to see a character bite a zombie or headbutt them in the face. But instead we decided to to use the typical codes and conventions that is used in 'Shaun Of The Dead' and 'Zombieland'. Like in 'Zombieland' we decided to use stupid weapons to protect ourselves however in ours we never actually got to kill a zombie with it, in 'Zombieland' they do.

Tallahassee Banjo KO

Drake Destruction Of The Deodorant

So as you can see above we have Tallahassee from 'Zombieland' where he's in the supermarket, he then plays the banjo to tease and lure a zombie towards him, a zombie then appears running towards Tallahassee and he then walks up to the zombie and smacks the banjo straight of the zombies face. The use a banjo adds to the comedy and creates the audience to laugh, but also comedy now becomes associated with this character like Amir (Drake) is in our film. In our film we have Amir (Drake) walking through the toilets holding a deodorant can and preparing to use it, this like 'Zombieland' adds to the comedy and makes the audience laugh.

Previous Planning - Storyboard

In the first shot (which is in the top left hand corner) we have a 180 degrees tilt upwards of the camera to show the sky and a satellite. This is to establish a setting to the audience and allow them to make their own guesses as to where the characters are and whats going to happen, this ensures they are focused and interested.

In the second shot (which is in the top right hand corner) we have a medium shot of the street helping create an establishing shot so that the audience can put together the location of characters but make them question 'Why are they there?' The shot focuses on the whole street to start with but it then blurs out the background of street making the focus on the garages making putting suspense on the audience.

The third shot is a high angle shot of a road with characters shadows appearing into the shot. The image creates the appeal that these characters are hero or the good guys as they are appearing from a beam of sunlight similar to that of cowboys walking away into the sunset at the end of the film.

The fourth shot is a low medium shot of a bollard in the middle of a path showing the characters feet walking past. Up until now the audience haven't seen the characters faces due to only been showed establishing shot because we want the audience to guess and understand the location and situation before the audience see's the characters.

The next two shots are took from inside of a bin and is handheld. This is because we want the audience to show or hint (if their not that smart) that its a zombie in a bin and that the shot is from their perspective and point of view. Its stars off in blackness and then the bin lid rises which follows with camera panning from left to right to show the zombie checking the surroundings to realise that no one is there so it goes back into the bin. The next shot that follows is the zombie (the camera) popping back up, panning left to right and then stopping on the approaching characters. This the first real time we see the full bodies of the characters allowing the audience to see the people they will be watching for the next 7-10 minutes.

The next scene is a low angle shot showing Amir (Drake's) domiance and power. However the conventions of him being a strong and tough man are diminished by the humor of this 'strong' 'powdergul' man holding a banana and then throwing the banana onto a zombie and not even realising that the zombies there despite the noises which once again add to the comedy.

The 8th shot is the breaking point of the introduction as the audience finally see the main characters and are now able to make their own assumptions of the characters through their dialogue and appearance. A tracking shot is used as well to keep with the theme of establishing shots so that audience can see where the characters are and where their going and why they are there. But also it shows the naivety and stupidity of the characters as the audience are shown throughout the tracking shot blood and walls and bollards, bloody handprints on windows and a zombie eating a person behind a fence yet the characters are still unable to see the danger around them. This shot is similar to the tarcking shot in Shaun of the dead were Shaun is walking to the shop and cant see that a zombie apocolaypse has and is happening around him adding to the comedy part of the genre.

  

After a transition we have a low medium shot of a body on the floor with the bottom half of zombies showing, the camera then moves upwards to show the whole bodies of the zombies. The zombies are then shown to be having an argument and are playing rock paper scissors to see who should win the dead body to eat which adds to the humour and the audience then see's that the small zombie girl wins against a tall man zombie which once again adds to the humour as the male zombie is clearly much stronger than the small girl.  

The next scene is a immediate transition from the previous one and is a long shot to establish the area and show the characters. The characters are walking towards the camera oblivious to the zombies opposite them until they notice them and stop walking were the audience can only see their body movement to understand the characters reactions to the sight.

The next shot starts off with an extreme close up of the zombie girls face showing how she has also noticed the main characters which is followed by an screech and a medium long shot showing the zombie girl sprinting towards what the audience percieve to be the main characters (me and Amir).

This is followed by a handheld medium shot ofthe zombie girl jumping onto the one of the main characters (Amir) and forcing him to the ground, this shakes off all previous humour and hopefully puts the audience in a shocked and tense mood because they want to know whats going to and what will happen to Amir.

The suspense and tension is hightened by the use of shot/reverse shots of both Drake (Amir) and the zombie girl showing both facial expressions. The use of showing the zombie girls face first is to maintain the tension and show the audience how serious and 'scary' the situation is as they see her trying to bite and claw at Drake (Amir) as well as screeching adding to the horror of the genre. The shot is this reversed to the zombie girls point of view showing Drake (Amir) struggling to fend her off and showing the verocity of the zombie, making the audience feel sympatheic and worried towards him due his situation. However all of the seriousness is replaced with more comedy as Drake all of sudden starts slapping the zombie girl across the face, over-exaggerted slapping noises will be put in place here to add to the comedy making almost slap-stick.

The next shot is taken from a low angle showing the zombie girl on top of Drake and how he is struggling to fend her off, with Sam (Charlotte) in the background watching the scene unfold. Dialogue is used here with Drake shouting of help to Sam saying "Sam! Do something!?" Which follows with Sam looking around on the spot before seeing something.

This is then followed by a close up high angle shot to show a weapon against the wall, which now shows the audience what Sam found through her point of view. The use of showing a weapon suggests to the audience that violence and a fight is going to occur.

The next shot is a handheld medium shot showing me (Sam) running up to the zombie girl with the metal rod in my hand, were i then kick her in the stomach off of Amir. This is one of the first displays of violence and aggression which then gets rid of any stereotypical representations of my character being a typical stupid, weak blonde girl who needs help.

This is then followed by a low angle shot of me (Sam) hitting and killing the zombie girl with the metal rod, with blood continously spluttering out and going all over the camera and all over my face. The use of a low angle shot shows the power, strongness and dominance of my character which is emphaisised by me wearing a red jacket which connotes danger, violence and blood.

After a black transition, the next shot is a medium two shot of both me (Sam) and (Amir) and the camera is behind us. We see me panting and breathing hard whilst Amir walks over and says things like ''Wow! Way'd a go sis!'' and then pulls out a kitchen towel out of nowhere which adds to the comedy elements of the genre as the audience would question 'Why is he carrying a towel around in his jacket?'. I then take then towel, wipe my face and question why he has it which he then anwsers my question and the audiences. He then begins to talk saying "That doesn't matter, however i think we are forgetting something?' which follows with me saying ''Yeah, your right, there was something else'' This then moves into a tracking shot as the camera moves from us both backwards to become an establishing/long shot, which follows with us both saying simutaneoulsy ''The other zombie!''.

The next shot is a close up of the zombie males face showing him growling and shouting at the characters which then switches to me and Amir (Sam and Drake) screaming ''Ah!'' then back to the zombie male, then back to us, then to the zombie male and then back to us; which hopefully adds to the comedy. We then finally stop screaming and decides to run away into an eye optitions, which is shown by 180 degree tracking shot.

We are finally now into a new setting which is unknown to the audience at this moment which forces them to think ''Where are the characters? This doesnt look like an optitions''. We then see me and Amir with our backs against the door, panting which is followed by Amir stating and asking ''What the f*** just happened?'' through a medium two shot. This is then followed by close up shots of us both with me saying ''Maybe were in like one of those zombie films, were everyone around us is trying to kill us'' to which the close up is now of Amir with him saying ''but if this is true? then the pretty guys die first'' to which the camera goes into a medium two shot of me replying with ''then you'll be alright''.

The next shot is a side shot of both me and Amir with our backs still against the wall and my hand covering his mouth as something has just dropped to the ground. This is followed by zombie moaning and groaning and me saying ''Did you hear that?'' to which Amir tries to speak but is muffled due to the hand being over his mouth still. This adds to the suspense and tension.

This is then followed by Amir pushing away my hand and saying ''alright! lets kick some asses'' to which i put my hand out and say ''woah! wait! you cant just go in there! we need weapons''. Amir then says sarcastically ''of course. Where are going to find weapons in a tiolet?'' to which i bluntly point towards the camera, the camera then does a quick transition to show a bag on the floor.

Straight after we have a low angle shot of just mine and Amir's legs showing us searching the bag and pulling out its contents. Not showing the audience what contents is at the moment makes the guess and question 'whats in the bag?' keeping them interested in the film. The shot turns into a handheld close up of four different weapons showing a gun, a knife, a deodorant and a brick. After this Drake says "I think its pretty obvious of the choice''

After a quick transition its shows Amir (Drake) with the deoderant which adds to the comedy as it would be obvious to pick a gun or knife. It then switches to a tracking medium shot of Sam and Drake walking towards the camera. The fact the audience can hear zombie moans and groans adds to the tension.

The next shot is took from inside the tiolet and is a stationary medium shot of Drake kicking open the door with his foot and spraying the deoderant whilst Sam is standing next to him. She breaths in a sigh of relief and signals Drake to check the next tiolet.

After this the camera switches to a tracking shot of Sam and Drake walking along and searching the tiolets. Drake once again kicks open the door but nothing is there, this then repeats and the audience see point of view shot of Drake kicking the door open which switches back to the tracking shot to show Sam and Drakes reactions, at first they are normal but then switch to shocked, confused and disgusted.

The camera then shows what it is that Sam and Drake are startled by and shows a close up shot of a man on a toilet who is the source of the moans and groans, he looks up at the camera at states ''I'll never eat chilli and nacho's again'' this once again adds to the humour.

The next shot is a tracking shot as Sam and Drake then hear a loud banging on door and instantly think its a zombie. The camera follows them as they run back to the door and as they reach it the door opens slightly and Sam and Drake react instantly and barrcade the door. Whilst Sam is holding the door, Drake grabs and object and slides it under the door to lock it in place; he then takes his place once again next to Sam and hold the door. Both of them look at each other and then upwards towards the ceiling.

The final shot of the film is a huge zoom out from Sam and Drakes heads to their location, the area, the county, the country, the continent and then the whole world. This is then followed by the film tile appearing in engulfed flames and showing an extreme close up of Drake's (Amir's) eye looking about making the audience wonder 'Was it a dream? Has he just woke up?'

Evaluation - Interview

There are three main aspects to our evaluation process which are:

• A group interview with a teacher answering questions which was filmed and will be posted on our blogs
• A presentation to the class of our film
• A ' making of ' document

On Friday me and my partner Amir had our group interview with our teacher were we spoke about the reason that we created the film and questions consisting of : Why we chose this genre? What the representation was? Who our audience? I personally think that both me and Amir did a good job in the interview as we were able to answer the questions with detail and stayed on topic, as well helping each other on finishing the answers and adding in to them. This time next week me and Amir will be presenting our PowerPoint's to our class going of the features of our film, which consists of for the moment:

• A synopsis
• Representation/Stereotypes
• Success of the genre
• Similar films
• Why we chose the genre
• Advertisement

Hopefully our presentation will go down as well as we hope and then we will then be focusing on the ' making of ' documentary.

Final day of filming

So me and Amir had a very busy past three days, we started filming on Friday and Saturday and got at least 90% of the footage done, whilst on the Sunday we edited the footage that we had so that we only need to shoot the last 10% which was shot this morning. We got the majority of it done with only a little bit left to do which will be completed during our media lesson today. Both me and Amir are really happy with all the filming so far and the fact that everything has gone our way for a change like weather and actors/actresses. The rest of the 4 days will be spent on hard editing, hopefully the film will be good at the end.

Filming

So after a long week of planning and organising me and Amir began our filming process this Friday and Saturday. We managed to get at least 90% of the footage needed that day with the other 10% to be completed in sixth form on Monday. Me and Amir are already editing the clips and footage we have and have reviewed each piece to say whats good, whats bad and what needs adding. On Friday everything went our way from weather to actors and using Amir's really good idea of using his mums car with the tripod in so that we could get a smooth tracking shot which looks amazing (link below)

http://vimeo.com/37882502

On Saturday we were abit worried as in the early hours of the day and early hours of the afternoon it was raining, even though it had stopped i knew that we still couldn't film as the ground was still wet meaning continuity would be ruined if we had filmed. But to our luck the sun came and dried the ground and me and Amir with hesitation arranged to meet up and film the rest of the sequence.

All of the filming went great and we managed to get everything we needed that day for the sequence, i just hope everything goes to plan on Monday so we can finish the film and use the rest of the four days for solid editing; during this time i will be looking at creating film posters, magazine covers, logo's and franchise to help with presenting our film in the evaluation stage.

Script for Scene 1

Script:

*Low angle shot of satellite and sky*

*Close up of ground *

*High angle shot of garage doors*

*High angle shot of shadows walking*

*Depth of field shots from behind a bollard*

*Point of view shot from a bin*

*Drake places banana in bin*

*Tracking long shot of Sam and Drake walking along an alleyway*

*Tracking shot continues. Banana is thrown at either Sam or Drake*

*Sam and Drake turn around but then continue*

Drake: Damn, this area is normally full of people

(Blood on window)

Sam: Yeah I know. Where is everyone?

Drake: You’re asking me? I don’t even know what day it is.

Sam: Yeah I know

*Drake falls over a bin* *Sam laughs* *Drake brushes himself down*

(Arm falls out of the bin)

Drake: (Whispered) I did that on purpose.

*Silence for a couple of seconds*

(Bloody handprint on door)

Sam: I REALLY MISS MAM AND DAD!

Drake: (Shocked) Whoa! Where did this come from?

Sam: I just get a little lonely sometimes since their death.

Drake: But you have me!?

Sam: Oh yeah! You >_>

*Walking continues*

(Sam and Drake walk past a fence. On the other side is a zombie eating a person)

*Establishing shot of houses*

*Medium shot of Sam and Drake walking towards the camera until they turn a corner*

*Sam and Drake are walking past a wall. The title appears on the wall*

*Camera switches from one side of the wall (through tracking shot) to the other*

New Start

After accessing our previous film clip and reviewing the feedback from Mr Earl, both me and Amir have decided to create a completely new introduction. Both of us have been looking and watching different horror comedies and have now got an established plan for when we film. We met up on Sunday to decide how and where we are going to film and found a really good location behind a block of apartments and alleyways. Obviously due to the area we will not be filming there after dark for both our saftey and because it would be impossible to film there at night. After our first run through of the scene we accessed what we had and noted any ideas or mistakes to help on the re-film, we noticed things such as the camera being to shaky on the tracking shots and places where we could edit in the credits and objects.

Light at the end of the tunnel

So finally after talking me and Amir have fully sorted and organised everything out. We've said what we think and took notice of each others ideas and thoughts and are ready to take the last step of creating our film sequence. So me and Amir have decided to film tomorrow after school to shoot or last scene of our opening sequence which is when were in the park, we are both really relying on with tomorrow with our fingers crossed that it doesn't snow. If the situation of bad weather occurs we will film on the Friday morning in our frees and if that still doesn't work then we will obviously have to skip the scene completely.

Review of footage

From what I've seen of our footage so far, I'm really pleased. Obviously the editing needs to be done it to give the horror and zombie effect to it but I'm really happy with the clips so far. Whilst I've been planning whats going to happen and when, Amir has been working really hard on the editing which I'm really grateful for as he's doing a great job from what I've seen so far and he is also going to teach me how to use after effects as well so that i can do some editing too. The footage so far is good using a different variety of shots and movements such as Close ups/ Medium shots/ Establishing shots/ Tracking shots/ Tilts/ High and low angle which I'm really happy with. There is one part of the street scene which i really enjoy and find very comical which is me (Sam) and Amir (Drake) messing about pushing each other until he pushes me with huge force and i go flying to the floor, the noise that is made also adds to the humour factor. Another is when Amir (Drake) is stocking up on weapons and you see lots of fast action shots of pistols, shotguns and knifes and then you see him eating chocolate pudding. Hopefully by the end of this week all filming will be done and to a good standard but i also hope that our comedy and horror continues throughout.

Annoyance

Well once again filming was meant to be done but today the weather has ruined all hope of that. I had organised to film earlier because i heard about the forecast snow last night so i wanted to get it done before it started but that didn't happen. Again! I can't hide the fact that I'm quite annoyed as this could have been all done and finished last Sunday but my partner Amir did his own film meaning i was left with nothing. I explained how i felt to my teacher about what had happened and spoke to Amir that i want to continue our Zomcom which was planned to be done today but once again weather and bad communication between us have cost us filming. My friend Sean said to me last week that i can join with him if everything goes from bad to worse so i thinking that that is the most likely option. I know that i haven't filmed or edited or planned or researched anything with him which is bad and i would make up for the work by shooting and editing the next part. The other option is to do it myself because that way its easier and i can get it done with people being unreliable.



Zombie Poster/Magazine/DVD Cover

Hopefully once all of our filming and editing is out the way i would like to design either a poster, magazine or DVD cover of our film to help advertise and present in the way we want it to come across. I've had various ideas of some designs to create for the covers and some which i have seen from either google and deviantart which consist of these: 

I like this poster as it gives the impression
that life is on the brink of humanity and also
gives the impression of apocalypse.

This poster gives a similar
impression that the film
zombieland has. It shows action,
thrills and horror through the poster
and also suggest carnage. I like this
one as its a similar style to our own
film.

This poster gives the impression
of death, fear and tension. It suggests
to the viewer through the title that
the people in the film aren't the same.

This poster gives the
impression of apocalyptic
and brink of humanity theme. The
title tells the story of the man
and hints at future scenes.

Finishing Off Filming And Problems

Since the starting progress of filming there has been problems consisting from frosty weather, to timing and human errors. The past 2 weeks have been very much at standstill as lots of ideas were coming and going and none of us really knew what was happening. After sorting things out and me sketching out the storyboards of the scenes (which i will upload later) we then were able to plan out when and where we were going to film but once again problems occurred. The plan was to film on Sunday 29th and finish everything off that we needed that day, however there was no contact between that us that day so no filming was done once again. When i came into school on the Monday i found out that my partner for the film had made his own on the Sunday that we were meant to film and said that we could use that, however i didn't want to as the film that he made didn't link into any research or planning we had done meaning we would lose marks but also i hadn't filmed or helped in any of his new film so i didn't really wish to be part of it. At the current moment we have decided to carry on our Zomcom opening sequence and film it either today (Friday 3rd) or Saturday, hopefully all filming will be done which leaves us with a solid 5 days to edit the clips and hand in our rough edit on the deadline of Friday 10th.

Story board for scene 1

I apologise if this is hard to see

1. When filming the first shot we will have is a medium close up shot of a swing which still has some small movement, dramatic horror music will accompany this to build up suspense and tension but also to make the audience question 'Where are the children?' and 'What has happened?'
2. The next part is that we see is an establishing shot of the whole park which will be followed up by a pan of the area to show the extent of seclusion. The part is to still continue the tension but also to establish to the audience where they are.
3. The next part is a close up shot of the ground nothing is occurring at the time but then suddenly blood begins to drip down in front of the camera and begins to create a pool on the floor. This continues the suspense and makes the audience question what is happening but also would hopefully trick them into thinking its a zombie.
4. Afterwards we then have a slow tilt upwards from the floor upwards to show Drake (Amir) eating a sandwich with ketchup coming out which now notes to the audience that it wasn't blood before and also that Drake isn't a zombie, to the right of him is his sister Sam (Me) who is looking at him disgust at the fact that he is such a messy eater and then we have our first part of dialogue which is Sam saying to Drake "That's disgusting" followed by him shrugging his shoulders. Straight after Sam turns around and says "I'm leaving" and begins to walks out of the park which is shown through a tracking shot of the characters walking towards the camera, Drake then throws his sandwich away and catches up with his sister and asks "Where is everyone?" which is followed by her saying "Probably at that stupid cricket game".
5. Shortly after the previous shot we have Drake and Sam facing each other with the camera behind their shoulders showing the other person talking which creates a shot/ reverse shot, dialogue is once again in place here as Drake then asks "Where are all the kids?" which is answered by Sam scoffing and saying "Ha you know what kids are like these days, their probably out getting smashed"to which Drake states "Oh".
6. Occurring directly after that dialogue jets appear travelling over their heads in sky causing Sam to flinch in shock but Drake just watches them go by. Sam then says "Jesus Christ whats going on?"
7. After the last part of dialogue we have an a sky-view shot of Sam and Drake in the park which is followed by a fast zoom out of the park to the entire country then continent then all continents and then the world. Upbeat action music will accompany this.
8. We then have a medium shot of earth which will be followed by the title of the film (Legacy) and perhaps a small monologue explaining the situation.

This is what me and Amir decided on on Friday but we are meeting up today (Saturday) to discuss this scene again so there maybe changes. If this does occur then i will update the new storyboard.

First day of filming

Well today me and Amir decided to shoot our first scene of our film, we had talked about it today and we ready to do straight after school. Because me and Amir both star in this film we asked our friend Sarah if she would be the camera woman and showed her how to work it as well. When we all got there we were all confident that it was going to be a success but unfortunately me and Amir hadn't planned as thoroughly as we thought as when we got to Richmond park we were hit by problems, at first we thought Richmond park was ideal as it was local for us both, there is food shops and toilets near by and we knew the area however we forgot the fact that by going straight after school that some of the younger children from primary schools would be there. At first we were able to avoid the situation by moving further down the park where it was secluded but unfortunately children running through shots and kicking footballs at us was inevitable. Another problem was that we had limited time as at this time of year the dark nights come early at about 4 o clock which meant we had to get what needed to be done quick, but we found sorting parts of the scenes out to longer than excepted which meant our first shot was in broad day light and the next was in darkness which ruined the continuity. Another issue was a misunderstanding between myself and Amir as we both thought we understood what each other meant when we discussed what we were doing but when it came to setting the scene out we were both confused and found difficulty in explaining things to each other.
Even though we managed to get some shots me and Amir decided to call it a day when it became pitch black and discussed about what needed to be done, we both decided that we would take what we learnt today and meet up on Saturday at either mine or his house and sit down and make sure we 100% know whats going on. We also decided that we are going to take the whole scene again just to ensure that the whole scene is perfect with the elements of continuity and the 180 degree rule is in place.

Week by week plan

Week 1

• Finalise story and add changes if needed
• Get the props needed
• Finish storyboard with Amir
• Start filming by 11th January

Week 2

• Create posters and perhaps other merchandise
• Sort out all voice overs
• Create credits, logo and production companies
• Carry on shooting

Week 3

• Add any last minute footage to rough edit and ensure its submitted byJanuary 30th
• Begin editing
• Perhaps creating a trailer out of some footage from the film
• Make sure the rough edit is complete

Week 4

• Ensure that film is complete to the best standard
• Prepare for group presentation of the film

Props list

These are the props that are needed at the moment however some may need to added as the filming progresses:
 Fake blood and Pouches - These will be needed for the effect of any fighting, killing, gore or injuries sustained on characters and places.

Toy weapons - These will be needed for about 90% of the film as they will be used in all confrontation and tensional scenes. But when these scene dont occur the weapons will be sheathed on the person.

Costumes - These will be needed to ensure that the characters charcacter is shown through sterotypes for example if they are a tough character they will wear leather, boots and have rough features or if its hot the characters will be in shorts and t-shirts. This is to make the film as realistic as possible.

Make up - Lots of make up will be needed to bring out the best of the characters features, for example make up will be needed to make the zombies look as realistic as possible.

 Flashlights - Flashlights always add tension to horror films especially if they occur in hospitals, schools and buildings when its dark. The suspense is added by having no music and just the sound of the characters feet and perhaps breathing.

Toy Guns

Costumes

Make Up

Fake blood



Story Overview

Samantha and Drake are siblings who still have the memory of their past firmly in their minds. When Sam was 7 and Drake was 9 have their parents were brutally murdered in their home without any mercy and killed them infront of the eyes from Samantha and Drake. Since that moment they can't get that what happened at that day out of there head however Sam has seemed to block that whole memory from her mind with no recollection of what happened. They knew nobody and they were scared to tell anyone what happened so they kept it for themself, Sam lived her life to the best she could whilst Drake turned to a more personal approach. With money left behind by their parents and from the jobs both of them do they are still able to live in their parents home. Both siblings have a huge hatred for the president of the area as when their parents were killed the president did nothing for them and left them to fend for themselves with no support but also for the way he treats the people. There then begans huge amounts of television reports of increasing trouble and worry from the secluded country North Korea, due to the country letting no one in it has remained a trouble on lots of high powered minds over the world. Following the televison reports the President holds a public speech at the park trying to win the support of people and telling them that the country has announced war with North Korea. As the war begins to spark turmoil in all countries, North Korea release a nuclear weapon on the country of england relinquishing a devastating radioactive blast on the entire country, after the incident those who survived noticed a difference in the those that had been hurt in the blast but more disturbingly that the dead were coming back to life, at first it was deemed as a great miracle but their curiousity becomes the destruction of the whole country.