Final Draft

Evaluation Of Project

Overall I think my final draft looked good. The film used professional effects by creating the muzzle and blood effects from Adobe After Effects without which I would not of been able to make the film anywhere near as effective. I am glad I used Corel Studios for the main editing process as it allowed me to input titles, different effects and it is straight forward to use.


I think one aspect I could have improved on was possibly the sounds of the zombies, however they were hard to input and no one really knows what a zombie sounds sound like so I think it was ok. All the different shots and angles I planned for and used all worked out and looked as I wanted them to, the close ups were some of the most effective for example showing the close ups of the zombies deformed faces.


I think the script I wrote included well directed lines, which built up the tension from the start of them leaving the house, it also will give the viewer a sense of their urgency and the situation they must be in. All the titles I think look great, they fade in and out well and I am glad that I used MGM as it grabs the viewers attention from the start.


I think my film targets the action convention well enough, although obviously the budget I had didn't allow horrific make up or extreme effects, so some viewers could find it slightly comical. However I think it works and is serious enough to pull it off.

Evaluation Task 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Shot 1:

The first shot of the safehouse gives the audience an idea of the isolation and the characters need for staying hidden. 

Shot 2: 

The second shot shows the characters picking up their unloaded weaponry from a table it shows that the characters have gotten used to a violent environment. This brings in to focus the military background of the the two men, either by previous training or training themselves. 

Shot 3: 

Shot 3 introduces the characters with a side on conversation. They are fully kitted up and they seem as if they experienced in fighting whatever they are up against. 

Shot 4: 

The fourth shot cuts to a medium long shot of the characters walking down a narrow lane where people obviously used to live with the evidence of cars in the background. It gives the sense that they are vulnerable. 

Shot 5: 

In the fifth shot, we see the first sign of the zombies charging toward the two characters, they rush toward them which shows they intend to harm them. The noise of the creatures and from the way they run is quite different to a human showing they have lost their mind completely. 

Shot 6:

Shot 6 shows the zombies being blasted away by the characters and are sent straight to the ground, the characters have obviously learnt how to quickly kill this enemy over time, again the noises they make when they die are very different to what a human would make. 

Shot 7: 

The seventh shot is a close up of the dead zombies face, it gives the audience a full on view of the zombies strange deformed features. This shot builds the tension and gives an eerie feeling to the scene. Also the camera looks up at the characters making them look powerful.

Shot 8: 

Shot eight shows that the zombies are harder to kill than first thought as one lays on the ground twitching then as the first man walks past she grabs his legs but then is soon killed by his comrade. 

Shot 9: 

In shot nine there is a medium shot of the two characters discussing, and by look on their stern faces they may have regretted leaving the safe house, this builds tension. 

Shot 10:

Then the character opens the gate it switches to a close up from the other side, I think this looks good and leaves the viewer on the edge of something about to happen. It makes the viewer feel as if there may be something after the gate and builds the tension of an another attack.


Shot 11:

After the tension is built there is a long shot of a larger zombie attacking the first character and then turns around to roar. The noises of the zombie are different this time they are deeper and makes it sound more powerful. 


Shot 12:

This close up is effective again as it shows the anger fuelled emotions of the zombie and its deformed features.


Shot 13:

In shot 13 the second character tries to shoot the zombie but the bullets are not as effective on this one showing that it must be stronger. The viewer may be wondering how the characters will be able to win this fight. 


Shot 14:

Shot 14 is effective it shows a medium shot of the character running into the following field away from the zombie, the jump slows him down and adds to the suspense.


Shot 15:

This was a long overall shot of a side on and front 180 degree angle of the struggle with the last zombie. I didn't make the fight drag on as this is only the opening of the film I just wanted to show how strong and powerful the zombies could be and further into the film the action will increase and get more up beat.


Shot 16:

This shot shows a medium shot of the two characters finishing the last zombie on the ground with no mercy. The camera then moves to the house, showing that that is the next destination. The characters have no mercy for the zombie and shoot it while its down to make sure its dead, their hatred toward the creatures is shown. 


Shot 17:

The final shot was of the two characters about to enter the house. We don't see inside which leaves the audience on a cliffhanger, and that the story could carry on from there. 

Evaluation Task 2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My film would most likely be viewed by people aged between 15 and 25, and most of them would be male. They would like fast paced films and plenty of violent action scenes.  Other films they are likely to of watched would be thriller action films such as 'Dawn Of The Dead' and '28 Days Later'.  Many horror thrillers have an aspect of comedy, so the viewers may watch it to have a laugh.  Films similar to this could be 'Shaun Of The Dead' which is a comedy based on 'Dawn Of The Dead' -

Evaluation Task 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

MGM are a well known company who have represented many action and thriller films such as the famous ' James Bond', 'Hannibal' and the 'Rocky' series.





The style of the logo is impressive and personally I think the noise of the lion roar grabs viewers attention right from the beginning, and makes the feeling of the film feel more dramatic. I will download the video from youtube using http://keepvid.com/.

Evaluation Task 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

As I have stated in a previous post my audience would most likely be aged in their teens towards their twentys. It is an action film so it would have a mainly male audience. James Robinson is a 17 year old boy from Loughton Essex. He enjoys spending time with his friends playing violent video games such as 'Resident Evil' and going out. His favorite films consist of 'Dawn Of The dead' and 'The Crazies', both of these films are zombie action films which relate to mine making him the typical audience of my product. He is not a violent person much alike most other viewers of the action/thriller genre, but just enjoys the intense and jumpy, violent scenes which are included.-

Evaluation Task 5. How did you address your target audience?

From my first draft my class had some input into how I could improve it. Firstly the main change had to be the scene where the characters see the first zombies. Before Ashley shouts "contact", we should see a second glimpse of the zombies coming out of the gate, also change or completely get rid of the running zombie sounds as they sounded silly.


Also when the characters are walking towards the house the camera cuts to them a quarter way into their walk, which makes it look more realistic to how you move from them leaving the house to the lane leading toward the house. They also said that I should cut the scream down when we see the final zombie. Otherwise they thought the effects were good but it just needed a bit more tweaking to get the final product.


Finally they advised me to changed the positioning of my title to be a different font and all on the same place of the screen and in 3 second intervals. Also the title of 'Spring Of The Dead' should appear near the end of the opening instead of straight after the opening production titles. Also they said the quality of the file which I will change to 720 p.

Evaluation Task 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Task 7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

When I started filming my preliminary task, I was a lot less experienced compared to I am now having finished my project. I didn't know many different camera angles to use when making the preliminary task except for the 180 degree rule, now I have researched many different angles which add different feelings to my film.


My main improvement has mainly been my editing skills. When first using corel studios it took me a while to get used to adding basic transitions and effects to scenes as well as cutting scenes. However now I have am able to add and understand many effects as well as using other software such as adobe after effects which I used to add gun muzzle and blood effects to the film.


Overall my knowledge of the media industry has increased dramatically over the making of my media product, and if I come to making another film I will know what to improve on and hopefully will again improve my skills furthermore.

Evidence Of Filming

During the filming of 'Spring Of the Dead' I got a friend to take pictures randomly as evidence of my filming. Each photo shows different parts of the production and techniques and Idirected Jack where to take different shots. 

These were the final pictures of the make up. I think the eyes were very effective to show the zombies absence of life, however I feel that there was far too much white face paint, it looked slightly fake, although the blood looked good, I could possibly of used blood capsules which would have been more effective. Overall though I think it made the characters distinctly inhuman and to buy all the extra latex and blood capsules would have been very expensive. 

This next picture shows me directing the camera man where to move the camera. I made all the decisions as to where the camera was going to be positioned and the different shots and angles which would be used. It was surprisingly difficult to act and think about the angle positions at the same time, as I couldn't see how it looked whilst it was filming it turned out we had to take many more shots to get it right. 

For one scene I wanted to get a worms eye view,  showing a close up of a dead zombies head and with the characters in the background to give them a sense of power, however we couldn't manage to get the tripod low enough and we didn't know how to keep the camera stable at that level. Luckily I had an idea, I told Jack to balance the camera on his foot and tilt it up at a slight angle. This obviously took a few goes to get the right shot but it turned out to look great. 

The drive of the house after the gate was a great place to film as there was a side way which was very effective for the final zombie to jump out from and attack one of the characters. Using the house for filming was a great area to film and fitted perfectly with the film.

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the field we used for the fight scene, however that area of space allowed us to create an impressive fight scene; these were by far the hardest shots to make as I had to make sure the camera switched angles regularly and there were no mistakes in the combat to ensure it looked as realistic as possible. 

First 30 seconds of my film

My film obviously starts with the MGM logo, followed with the Elite Pictures logo. I think I will move the Spring Of The Dead title to later on in the opening before the characters enter the house, also I will replace the animation with a 'burn in' effect as I think the present effect looks unprofessional. I filmed this using a basic camera.

Editing

The editing of my film was the hardest part of creating my project. As it was a action zombie film I needed to include blood effects. Luckily I had software called 'Adobe After Effects' which made the process faster and easier than physically adding blood.  I downloaded the 'Blood Splatter' and 'Blood Burst' effects. Changed the colour of the blood to dark red and inputted the effect where I wanted into the clip. I also needed to add muzzle effects for the guns, luckily there was a 'Muzzle' effect available which I inputted again into the clip but obviously a brighter colour. The only problem with using this software is that once you have added the effects you have to completely re edit the clip on corel studios.

After I had added all the effects to my individual clips I needed to put the opening together. I used the software 'Corel Studios 4'.  This is quite user friendly and includes great titling options and effects. The software allows both storyboard and timeline-oriented editing. Different formats are supported for source clips, and the resulting video can be exported to DVD, AVCHD, HD-DVD and AVI. VideoStudio also supports direct DV and HDV capturing to disk.Video transitions are placed into different categories such as FX, which contains assorted video effects such as 'Burn' and 'Fade to black' also 3D, which contains assorted 3D transition effects.VideoStudio is able to change the speed at which the video plays, reverse it, and modify the colour and saturation. It can also trim, crop and split the video tracks. The soundtrack can be split from the video track, allowing the audio to play at a different pace than the video. Altogether I found using Corel very useful and without it I would have been unable to create my film in such detail. 

Script for my film

I decided to include dialogue into my film, I wrote a script with words for both the main actors. The project had to be the opening of a film so I had to keep the dialogue short and I wrote it so it could lead onto a much bigger story. The main characters had to seem as if they were used to these zombie attacks and trained and ready to fight them.

Script

While Camera moves over safe house

Ashley – “We have to leave the house”

Will – “I’m sure we can last for a bit longer”

Ashley- “we’re low on supplies, if we leave it longer there will be more of them and we need more food”

Pause…

Will – “Ok lets go”

Medium shot of two character loading weapons and chatting

Ash - "I've got no ammo left on my M4 and 2 mags on my mp5..."

Will - "Mate just try not to run out of ammo this time"

Skips to characters walking down a lane and shooting three zombies Ashley shouts 'Contact!!" when they appear.

Characters walk down dead zombie girl is still moving, both character don’t notice and walk closer

Grabs Will’s leg Ash shouts “Rich!!!!” Ashley shoots girl…
Ash runs out of ammo on rifle…

Will – “I told you we shouldn’t have left!!”

Ash – “Come on lets keep moving”

Hear footsteps and the gate creeks…

Will – “Did something just move?”

Ash – “Lets check”

As soon as will opens the gate he is ambushed by the large zombie and taken to the ground, Ashley steps back and takes a few shots before the zombie is on him, from nowhere Will gets back to his feet and stabs the zombie in the neck… Both characters are safe

Will - "You alright mate?"
Ash - "Yeah" then shoots the zombies on the ground

Will- "Lets check the house"

Camera rolls to the house...

Ash – “At least we know what we’re up against…”

Shot of both characters at the door of the house...

Ash - "You take point"
They open the door and enter the house, leading on to a further story...
End

Assistance with the making of the film

My friend Jack helped me while filming. As I had to act he volunteered to move the tripod on certain shots and pressed record when filming. He also let me use his Sony tripod which will be very useful when filming. Another great help was when it came to editing he lent me his Mac laptop for a day to edit using the Adobe After effects software this made the film look significantly more professional.  Here is a picture of me and Jack at V festival.  It proved to me that it is useful having contacts when making a film as they can be very helpful.

Actors

I have three characters who are going to be in the opening for longer than 30 seconds. Obviously my two main characters who are remaining humans who survived the disease and are on an impossible mission to get the world back to normal. I decided I would have a role as one of these characters named 'Rich' and my friend Ashley who goes to acting college would play the other named 'Alex'. We need to act stern and as if we had gotten used to this dead environment.

I wanted a tall actor to play the zombie in front of the house as I wanted to show it as a dominant character and overwhelming to the two comrades. I decided to choose my friend Chris because as you can see from the picture he is a lot taller than me and Ashley.

Weapons

My main characters will be armed with weapons to fight the zombies which they have collected because of the zombie invasion. The weapons are not too complex but are basic guns which would be used in the army or other military forces.


The characters leave their safehouse to collect supplies such as food and ammo to be able to protect themselves in the future and to prevent starvation. The weapons I have chosen to use are replicas of the real things, they are not illegal but bb guns which I have sprayed black. One character will be armed with an M4 carbine, and the other with an MP5 sub machine gun. The pistols used will be an M9 and a Desert Eagle, I will also need a fake knife for one scene.

Costumes for main characters

My two main characters in the film, will be dressed in army camo, this is to show they have got used to this environment of combat with the zombies. They are prepared and have trained themselves how to fight the zombies.

It will be a woodland colour to suit the British environment. Tough leather boots could be worn to show they may be travelling through tough terrain.

Location of Filming

I found a good location to record my film.  My friend's house was perfect, the area surrounding it is deserted and the house is large and my film leads on to the characters entering a house.


In the first scene the characters are located in their safe house which is where they have been hiding during the zombie invasion, the garage fulfils this role well, it's big enough to be a house and during filming I can avoid shooting it in the scene when they are near the other house.

The lane which the film will cut to when the characters are walking towards the house was well positioned and will flow well when recording.

Finally the gate which the two characters enter and will then be ambushed by the last zombie before entering the house which is shown in the background.

Risk Assesment

I had to make sure that there was as little as possible risk for harm to come to our actors as we were doing the majority of filming on a lane and a driveway,  I obviously got approval to film at my friend's house from his parents, and we were able to alert neighbours nearby who may travel down the road in which we were filming.


Also the guns we were using are bb guns so I will go through every gun before filming to make sure they are all unloaded, just incase one fired off by accident.

Weather for film

For my film I wanted there to be a dark a dreary mood. I checked the weather forecast the night before filming and it said around 11.00 it would be cloudy and with slight rain. This was perfect the poor weather would increase the dark feeling of the film. 

What to Include in my opening sequence

In all films there are the opening credits. They include the names of the people who helped create the film, and their different roles. Usually the opening credits only show the main people involved in the film and everyone else, for example costume designers would come up in the end credits. The jobs I will show in my credits will be:

• Producer
• Director
• Actors
• Music Producer
• Distributor company name
• Producing company name

The film 'Se7en' is a good example of opening credits as it involves all the main people involved and in well positioned places on the screen.



The first title shown is the name of the distributer, then every three seconds it changes. After the producing company it names the two main actors then there is a pause before naming others who are involved.

Creating a Title logo

I needed to create a production company in my film. It was named 'Elite Pictures' and I created it on Corel Studios text design, which was simple and faster than too do it on photoshop, I did the same for the title of the film which is 'Spring Of the Dead'.

I used a plain black background and white font. The font style I chose was 'Felix' which is found under fonts on Corel Studios x4. It looks professional but is not too similar to other production companies. I think the bold writing makes it stand out.

For the title of the film, I was looking for again a basic design, not too silly as I wanted it to create the feeling of a serious film. I used the font balckadder ITC found on corel studios and had red font to express the violence in the film.

Sound effects

The noises made by zombies in most films are usually unatural sounding and obviously my actors would not be able to mimic these sound effects. In most films they usually make grunting sounds, sometimes deep sometimes high pitched.



I had a look at the noises used in 'Call Of Duty 5' Nazi Zombies. I will use these noises by either downloading the video using www.KeepVid.com or record them using my camera. I may also use the noises from 'Half Life 2'.



Gun noises will also be used in the film as the characters are armed, I tried to find realistic noises, the sounds from GTA IV were good quality and I would insert them into my film at the same as the zombie sounds.

Makeup

In my film some of the actors will be playing an inhuman like/zombie character. I will have to make them look different compared to the actors playing humans. This can be done many ways firstly the clothing should be worn and tattered, my idea is to get old shirts and trousers and cover them in blood and dirt and tare them.


Secondly the facial features need to be different, I could use make up to create the blood effect and pale faces with white face paint.

Lastly the eye effect needs to be different and unusual compared to a nomal humans to show they are possesed, I will buy some coloured contact lenses for my actors. I was thinking either in black or white colour.

Audio Which I Will Use In My Film

I found some impressive audio tracks from the game 'Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2' the songs are dramatic and could create a feeling of tension for the film. Both of these songs could be used right from the start before the action begins then I could add in more up beat music.

Audio Ideas

For my film, I need music which has more up beat and jumpy ring to it and that is also dramatic. Alot of army films have this sort of combat music, a short film I found on youtube made by students called 'Surrender or suicide' had music which started slow and dramatic and went into fast paced heavy song, which helped make the film feel more action packed.





In my film I will try and find music without vocals and a more eerie style of music.

What to name the film?

I have come up with four options for film names:

• Oncoming Tide
• Grave Masacre
• Spring Of The Dead
• Last Men Standing
• Zombie Uprising
• Men vs The Dead

I have decided that out of these I will chose the 'Spring Of The Dead'. I think some of the other ideas are too cheesy and sound too action packed. My film will have more of a story to it than just men fighting zombies. I think the name is not to extreme and fits the feel of the film well. 

Mise en Scene

Mise en scène means 'putting into the scene'.
This is all about continuity. Working as a student without access to expensive resources and amounts of time that the film industry enjoy, mise en scene is the most difficult element of production to get right. essentially its all about detail. Carefully choose costume, lighting, locations and props to create the kind of feel that is required. Then ensure that this is maintained shot by shot. Simple mistakes that lots of students make are costume changes or haircuts mid sequence, poor lighting or contrasts in lighting mid sequence, poorly chosen and unconvincing props and bad acting is also another factor. Although not part of the assessment, poor acting skills will undermine the overall flow of the narrative and the realism of mise en scene, I will try to use actors who are more comfortable with performance even if it end up with me acting which could be difficult.

25 word summarry of my film

“…Two men in a empty world which has been swept by a zombie virus, left with only a few survivors. They attempt to save humanity”.

3 Priorities of Approach

•Don’t overcomplicate from the start

•Needs to wipe the viewer off their feet

•The fun of our business is creating new things

Initial Idea For Film: Storyboard

My characters took the role of almost intruders. As they leave their safe house to kill the zombies and entering the large house. This is the basic outline of the film obviously I will add some dialogue and add more depth to the opening sequence. I think my film will take the role of a action/thriller film due to the unnatural creatures and jumpy scenes combined with the heavy use of weapons and other combat. 

Shots I liked from other films

From the film 'Hard Boiled' in the hospital scene there is good use of tracking shots as it follows the characters through the scene. The camera moves back as the men walk towards the characters, in the shooting scenes the camera is not still it moves around like a person would in first person view.





I liked the idea of getting a close up shot of the zombies to show their strange features, I looked at triller films such as 'Dracular' and 'Frankenstein' and they both used these close up shots.





I wanted to have a scene of my characters talking, I looked at the film 'Cloverfield' and saw in one scene they showed side on medium and medium close up shots of the characters chating, changing shot types when he moved positions, for example when he enters there is a medium side on shot of the characters talking then, it changes to a close up chatting with another character. Although there is no dialogue in these shots as it is overplayed by music it still has good camera positions which I could use in my film.

Titles used in other zombie thrillers

In the film remake of 'Dawn Of The Dead' on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfMj7mo-38g&playnext=1&list=PL5DC7CCF015581CFA, the titles are shown on a black screen like the idea I had, all the titles are in the same position and have the same style of font.


In my film I hope to get more dialougue at the start som I may only add the black screens at the end of clip or at parts where there is no dialogue or action scenes.

Title Research

I had a look at http://www.watchthetitles.com/, I particularly liked the opening sequence titles used in the film 'The Fearless Vampire Killers'. However I dont think I could use titles like this in my film because there are action shots early on in my film.





I decided to look at more films with openings which go straght into the action, for my film however I will try to add the titles where there is no action or dialogue, I may even add a black screen where I could add extra credits. In the film 'The Other Guys' although it is a different type of action genre to my film it jumps straight into a full blown action scene, It shows the credits all in similar font sizes and style and are mostly poistioned at the bottom of the screen.

Action Conventions

Narrative led films with tightly woven story arcs, where the dialogue drives the plot rather than builds character. An action adventure film is essentially one long quest with a succession of different chase sequences, each one more death defying and seemingly impossible than the one before. The trick for the producers is to ramp up the tension as the film progresses to a storming end sequence. Will our intrepid explorers make it, or will the evil antagonist get there first. A strong story ark of a quest for treasure, or an incredibly valuable object, or an item that has occult power. Love interest that both hinders and supports the main quest.

 A fast moving narrative with constant set backs that are overcome one by one, leading to fairly complex plots. Look carefully at the representations in the film. Do the main characters conform to representations that we can understand as real people. Is the character a hyper real superhero (Superman?) or is he down to earth and essentially human – what events and details display his character.