Strengths, Weaknesses and Final Summary

Even within my planning before I went out shooting, I began making some adjustments from my original storyline. First, when considering the rating of my film, making me rethink how I was going to carry out the fighting scene and how gory I made it, and then secondly replacing a crowbar with a survival knife. Sadly I could not get the people I originally wanted to act as my Zombies due to time constraints, when I had the opportunity to book a camera from college, so I had to rely on my younger brother filling the space. Although I was impressed by his performance and grateful for him helping me, I still felt one of my own friends who I had originally intended to fill the role would have looked more threatening. The people I originally chose were taller and bulkier than myself, which would have given a greater sense of suspense for the audience as it would have looked like an unfair battle between my character and the zombie, as opposed to my younger, smaller brother.
Also I should have edited the pace of the news report scenes to be much quicker and made each clip shorter than the last to build up suspense more quickly, rather than the repetitive and tedious scene I produced in the final cut. Furthermore, on editing criticisms, I should not have made the TV static footage so loud, as it made my classmates cringe and cover their ears when I presented the finished film to the class.
However I was overjoyed when people stated in their feedback that I had an excellent selection of props costumes and location, and that they even found it scary. I personally believed that my location especially worked well to portray the story and to convey the right emotions to the audience. Shots of the Donnigton locations for example were perfect as they depicted deserted urban landscape in broad daylight, like in ‘I am Legend’. I felt that the daylight helped to emphasise the absence of life.
On the whole, with what I had to make do with I was extremely pleased my Film, and from the whole experience I have improved on my filming and editing skills compared my project from last year.

Evaluation of Planning and its Affect in My Film

Although my story boards were to general on the scenes, rather than being specifying what each shot would display, I found it was sufficient enough as a guideline when I went out to film on location. I listed the different types shots that each scene would require, what music would be played alongside it and how it would be edited later on.
I had to carefully select which news reports I was going to incorporate into my film, as they were purposed to give the audience a gist of the storyline, when the actual reports where on entirely different subjects. I felt that I had chosen the appropriate clips and had edited them perfectly, so they were not misleading.
I decided to choose props that would look authentic and represent traditional horror film props. I decided to use a sawn off shotgun as one of the major weapons, as it is the stereotypical weapon used in almost every zombie film in the last few decades, which I decide to pay homage to. Also I chose short barrel gun after Terminator 2 inspired me, as if this choice of weapon would make my character to appear as macho as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I originally choose I crowbar as my character’s melee weapon during my early planning as I felt it gave my character a more raw and gritty impression.
However I later changed it to a survival knife, as it was simple to make a fake knife that resembled my real one, and also because it was more practical, both to carry around and when using it with actors.
In the end I felt the knife worked just as well, and the fact I used both a fake (and real) survival knife, gave my character a more deadly look, and come across as a more professional survivor.
I also wrote my own short script for my radio news report, covering the zombie outbreak, read out by my friend in a North American accent. I felt this choice worked well in my film, as I played the report over a black screen, helping to build suspense, as the audience could not see what was happening, also the decision of an American reporter, aided in giving my film a Hollywood feel to it.

Evalaution: Screenshot analysis

I got this clip off YouTube, its new footage of riot police attacking protestors at the G20 Summit camp and its original YouTube URL is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs.
I used it because I wanted to give the impression of a mass panic outbreak in the cities. I felt it achieved this with the sheer amount of chaos, occurring in the clip. The main reason I choose this video is because of the extreme violence the police are using, and its appears as if they are trying to contain an evacuation, or an infected mob.
I am pleased with using this video clip in my film as I feel it displays what I intended and helps to give a hint of the storyline and setting of the outbreak of the infection. It managed to achieve the desired affect on the class when I presented it to them, as it seemed to grab their attention, which I feel is crucial at the beginning of a film.

Here is an example of my favourite shot of the film. During the climax where my main character is in a prone stance, unaware of the zombie that has just emerged from the shrubbery ready to pounce upon him. I filmed this shot at sunrise, so I could achieve this fantastic effect of the zombies outline casting a horrific silhouette against the rising sun, as if they are rising together to bring chaos.
The inspiration for this shot came from this image I found on the website www.houshaunters.com/products of a Halloween window silhouette which itself, is purposed to give houses an eerie sense to passers by on Halloween.
As I was impressed by its effectiveness, I wanted to recreate my own shot that looked as similar to it as possible to build up tension as the zombie in my film is lurching forward towards my vulnerable character.I accompanied this shot with the strings segment of ‘The last Spartan’ score from the Halo 2 soundtrack. The brief section I used is composed of a string orchestra and choir which both build up in noise to quickly create a spine-chilling sensation to play alongside the zombie lurching towards my character, making the overall scene even more eerie.

Evaluation of Research

I began my research by studying the history of short films, and their significance within the industry. The main thing I gathered was that modern short films are deliberately different than mainstream feature movies, in their topics and how they are made, so from this point I wanted to make my own production which included aspects from typical feature films but still retained distinctive elements.
I then started to look at an overview of the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ sub genre, noting what aspects they included to make them fit into that category. I could then incorporate them into my own short so my audience would recognise it as an apocalypse film.
The first popular media about zombies I looked at for inspiration was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video. However, I did not find it particularly useful for my own project because it wasn’t really scary or realistic. I then decided to look at the depiction of zombies in popular culture throughout history. I took particular note on the novel ‘I am Legend’ and the Romero’s film ‘Night of the Living Dead’ which together formed the zombie stereotype of western culture.
I also looked at more recent production such as ’28 Days Later’, the TV series ‘Dead Set’ and the film adaptation of ‘I am Legend’. All of these have aimed to defy the common stereotype, the most notable new feature is that the zombies and infected people in these productions are capable of sprinting, as opposed to the traditional shambling monster.
I found all of these extremely useful, for the concept of my own zombies, thus helping me to formulate which costumes to use and how the actors should act.
The final part of my research involved me searching for a suitable location to shoot my film, I considered many different Brownfield sites across Telford each with their own advantages. I also had to bear in mind accessibility to certain locations, as it was difficult to arrange my cast and crew to meet up at locations that where awkward to get to. However, even though I settled on using the Lightmoor location for my fight scene, I still used footage of each of my considerations in my final film.

Evaluation: Audiences Review

After presenting my finished production to my media class, I happily received positive comments from everyone in the room. However, after carefully reading my classmate’s feedback, it intrigued me how certain sections were disappointing to some viewers but praised by others. For example one persons feedback who liked the music, felt the fight scene looked too amateur, whilst another despised the music but was thrilled by the final battle.
On the other hand I found common positive trends, as everyone thought the props and costumes I used where up to standard and in some reviews regarded as excellent, which I am pleased about. Also, I was satisfied when the main ‘scary scene’ of my short, made several people jump, which I was trying to achieve.
One negative trend I noticed on practically every feedback sheet was that the TV static was far too loud, which I will admit myself, as I used it repetitively, it became tedious, and made me cringe let alone my classmates. On the whole I am pleased with my classmates opinions and agree with the majority of criticisms, which I will try to eradicate when making another production.

Finishing Touches to Print Text 1

For the style and font of the title text I want to use something similar to the logo title from the 'Left 4 Dead' computer game series, here to the right I have included the title for 'Left 4 Dead 2' as an example.
The reason I am using this logo for inspiration is firstly because the 'Left 4 Dead' franchise is a popular Zombie series, but because I liked the shear contrast of

bright colours. The use is white writing against a dark background, with blood splattered across looks admirable to me because of how bold it is, with the blood giving a hint of the films horror content, which is more subtle opposed to the whole poster being bright red like the '28 Days later Poster'.

Here I have drawn out a rough draft of my ideas for the poster, where I have compiled the two images into one picture of what appears like an immense zombie face emerging out of the night sky ready to pounce upon the unsuspecting main character at the bottom of the poster.

It made realize that when I come to making the real thing on photoshop I need to edit the image to be darker to suit the topic of the film, and that I should use the font 'Impact' for the title to make it more bold and intimidating.

After compiling together all these features, I finally devised this poster for my film using the programme Photoshop. As well as editing the lower screenshot, I also edited the above image of the Zombies face, making it paler so it looked as if it was actually dead.
I also added several fake reviews and fake Warner Brothers logo to make it come across as more profesional.

Inspiration For Film Poster (Print Text 1)

After watching my film, I noticed some shots of me walking alone through Tweedale (During the sequence of the main character wandering alone) resembled the promotional poster for the film adaptation of 'I Am Legend', in that a lone character is walking down the middle of road in an abandoned urban landscape.
I always thought the 'I Am Legend' poster was captivating and appropriately advertised the film's content. I feel it has many features I wanted to incorporate into my own poster. The fact its the protagonist being the only person in the poster helps to establish who and what the film is about, and what kind of audience it is aimed at; obviously a male audience.
I feel I need to edit the colour of the still from my own film to a lighter more yellow colour as the sepia tone in the 'I Am Legend' poster gives a sense of death, like plants that turn yellow when they lose life, and the lack of diverse bright colours makes it seem more serious.

Another poster I will draw inspiration from is the '28 Days later' poster, pictured right, which also displays the lone protagonist characters walking through a deserted London skyline. I like how the extremely bright red background symbolises blood and gives the impression that the film will contain extreme violence and gory imagery. However, I feel this choice is too intense for my own poster, so will stick with editing the above still with a yellowier feel.
However, I really like the use of two massive eyeballs, which represent the infected humans positioned towards the top of poster, as they give the notion that the characters in the bottom of the photo are being watched and are therefore, unsafe.
Also, the diverse proportions of the eyes compared to the human figures at the bottom creates a more threatening feel, as if, whatever is hostile towards the protagonists is more dangerous and numerous in numbers than them.

Again, I want to incorporate a similar feature into my own poster, so I used this screenshot (pictured to the right) where one of the zombies is pouncing from the darkness onto a survivor. This is the main scary scene within the film, which is intended to shock and frighten the audience through its surprise. I am using this image to insert in my poster above the screenshot of myself walking in the empty streets, as it will look like some giant menace, similar to the yellow eyes in the '28 Days Later' poster, posing as a watching threat, that looks as if it will pounce on the character positioned below at any moment.

Target Audience

My film is targeted at young adolesant males, typical fans of both action and horror movies, although unlike typical horror films, I do not want my feature to be rated as an 18. This would result in limiting my potential target audience. Here I may have to alter and re-plan some of my scenes to fit the rating criteria of a 15, as I believe my film will appeal to boys around that age as well.
As I mentioned when looking at BBFC ratings, I feel that the subject of an apocalypse and such a focus on death is too disturbing for a younger audience and would be suited to more mature audience.
I believe my film is fitting for a premdominatly male audience, as males are typically stereotyped to enjoy violence and action. This is possibly due to males leading lifestyles that involve active elements such as contact sports. Males are also naturally more aggressive and engage in fighting each other far more when compared to similar aged females.
On the other hand, horror sometimes appeals to a wide range of female audiences, so perhaps some teenage girls will enjoy the horror elements in my short film.
Although my audience is mainly young males, my film should be enjoyed by males from both well educated backgounds as well as less financially disadvantaged lifestyles as elements such as the classical music is more suitable for intellectuals, whilst working class audiences may relate to the setting of urban decay backdrops.
However, I would say my target audience is more swayed to the more educated males as I feel the television and radio news reports at the beginning of my film are appropriate for those with a taste for intellectual media such as news broadcasts and newspapers.

Props

As previously mentioned in my storyline, my character will be using a shotgun. These guns have become the stereotypical defence weapon featured in many zombie films, due to them having devastating effect at close range.
For a more authentic prop, I felt plastic toy guns would appear unrealistic, and shotgun and BB guns seemed too expensive just to use for this film.
I chose to resort to this real 19th century pistol that belonged to my family, which has been deactivated, which will look truly authentic as it is made of the same materials that would be used for a real shotgun as well as it bearing a resemblance to a sawn off shotgun.

However, I did not feel it had enough bulk to it, not to mention it only has one barrel. So, I decided to tape two plastic tubes over the real barrel to resemble a double-barrelled shotgun. Here I have taken a photo after I stuck the tubes to the gun with black tape, although it seems to have lost some degree of realism due to the odd proportions. I feel it now looks more powerful and will help to give my main character a more menacing persona (like Arnold Schwartzenegger's shotgun in Terminator 2). Also the college cameras I will be using to shoot my film would not have enough detail to make them out so I would create the right impression without resorting to expensive props.

For my characters melee weapon, I have decided to replace the crow bar with a survival knife, as I can make a convincing prop knife out of card and tin foil that will resemble my real knife pictured here. For some scenes such as shots of drawing the knife from its sheath, I will use the real knife, so the audience can establish that it appears authentic. Of coarse for scenes of combat against the zombies I will be using my fake tin foil knife, as whilst acting, it is too dangerous to use safely with my actors. Again as it will be used in action shots, it be continuously swung, so the audience will not be able to distinguish whether it is real or fake. I decided to choose a knife over the crowbar in my original storyboard, as I felt it seemed more professional for a survival rather than using a random tool like a crowbar. I also realised it would be easier to take a fake knife to my locations than crowbar, as I may be reported to the Police by any passers by whilst filming.