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.