BBFC Ratings

As my film will be extremely bloody, gory and generally scary I will have to consider what rating the BBFC will class it as it may affect the broadness of my target audience, which are male youths in general.

12A/12 – Suitable for 12 years and over
Horror- Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.
Violence- Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context.

15 – Suitable only for 15 years and over
Horror- Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Violence- May be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

After reading these boundaries, I do not believe my film should be rated any higher than a fifth teen. On the other hand some scenes I have been planning in my script are quite extreme, such as smashing a crowbar into a zombies face, which I may have to remove from the film or re-plan how they will be acted and filmed. However I am still unsure whether a rating of 12 is appropriate as the main theme of death, desertion and dead bodies in the opening sequences may be too disturbing even for young teenagers, so I believe a 15 is more suitable.

Using Copyrighted Music

For the soft piano music lasting through the background of the opening scenes of my film I will use the final 2 minutes of the Muse song 'United States of Eurasia' which ends the song on a short piano symphony played by Mat Bellamy. This music will be suitable for my film as it has been relatively unused in other films and videos, therefore making my own production that much more unique.
•However it is still copywritted music, even if its use is only for educational uses rather than me distributing it as my own work, I must contact either the artist or record label, requesting permission for me to use their product in my project.
I can do this by sending them an email, either to the bands fan base or email the record label directly. Another option is to leave a comment on Muse’s MySpace page, requesting permission for the song, however it is more likely to be ignored compared to an email sent straight to them.
I will also be music other music for the action sequences of my film to make them more exciting a keep the audience thrilled with the accompanying action footage.
For this I will use the track ‘Masyaff in Danger’ off the ‘Assassins Creed Official Soundtrack’, as it is the music used in the game whenever the player engaged in combat, again to make it more exciting, and I believe it will work extremely well for my film.
Finally I will also include a short segment of the track ‘The Last Spartan’ off the ‘Halo 2 Official Soundtrack’ as this musical score was used for a dramatic effect in the cut scenes, I feel it will emphases extreme suspense as the first zombie pounces on my unsuspecting main character.
Even though these are merely soundtrack used for games and were not music released in the chart like Muse’s work, it is still copywritted material I must contact the distributors via email before I finish my film.

Locations Continued

Underpass to Madeley, Woodside

Although it would mean my scene will greatly divulge from what I planned in my storyboard, its and interesting and spooky location. It would be good to have suspense filled scenes such as my main character being corned by zombies from both entrances. Its is the closest location to where I live.

Snedshill, Oakengates

Outside Oakengates there was once a large factory on Snedshill which also got burnt and demolishes, leaving a massive pile of rubble. Although it gives the same effect as the Fugly Uker's location except on a much grander scale it is awkward to get to, arrange all my friends to meet and film there. Also its is fenced off, and I not sure getting permission to film there will be allowed.

Possible Locations for main footage

I looked for appropriate locations around Telford to use for the main fighting sequence in film. Any locations I do not choose I will still shoot footage off, to use at the beginning of my film when footage of Brownfield sites and other useful locations will be shown on screen.

Rubble of Fugly Uckker's, Dawley
There was once a bar in the town park area outside Dawley called Fugly Ucker's, however it was burnt down and all that remains today are piles of rubble and overgrown vegetation. This is a vary appropriate location as it gives the appearance of urban destruction, and with the absence of people its has become overgrown. It is also useful as it is within reasonable walking distance from my house where my friends live, so it would be easier to arrange everyone going there to film.

Tweedale Industrial Estate
This industrial estate is even closer to where I live than the Fugly Ucker's location, and for most days a week it is quiet or even deserted. The most of the building has been graffitised on and most of area is also overgrown, again giving the impression of human absence in an even more urban area. However, there are not many places in this location where zombies could hide, as I mentioned in the storyboard, the zombies almost appear out of no-where and surround my character.


Lightmoor Retirement Castle
Again this is close to where I live, and unlike the previous two locations this stretch of land is always deserted, and there is hardly any chance of any civilians interrupting my filming. Also there is plenty of long dead grass, perfecting hiding places for zombies, which the audience will find believable. I also like how there is a random container, roadblocks and a torn down telegraph pole, all interesting features.

Script

Apart from the speech from the news reports, there will be very little dialogue in my film, apart from what I have written here for my own news report. Although I mentioned earlier that it will be awkward for me to film my own studio report, I will also include my own audio report that will be read out by one of my friends with no visual footage.
This report can be either a radio broadcast or an unseen television broadcast, which I will play in the background when the credits come on screen, as I feel this will make them more interesting. I have decided to write and include my own report as I feel the channel 4 news reports will not be able to give enough information for the audience to get the gist of the story, as they have to be edited to hide the fact they are real reports on entirely different matters. Also my own audio report will be read out in an American accent, to give an impression that the infection has become a global crisis.
Here is my simple script which I will use in the opening of my film:

Report 1: "...They're still unsure of exactly how it's spread to epidemic proportions. Quarantine was enforced on the city by the police this morning with road blocks across the major highways and riot police outside the hospitals.."

Report 2: "..Dismissed report of the deceased re-animating and becoming hostile to civilians have now been proven to actually be true. Reports from the city morgues and from the streets.."

There will of coarse be other sounds by my characters in the film, such as the groans and screams of the zombies as well as my main character making various anger or fear yells and other noises during the action scenes. I believe this will create an atmosphere of tension and realism.

Other people's footage

For the news reports and other short clips at the beginning of my film I will use footage of real news reports of featuring civil unrest, war, terrorist disasters and other chaos, although I will only use around a second of each clip in my film. I am resorting to this as I soon realised the logistics involved in creating realistic reports was currently beyond my ability. I instead, used the camera to record a few seconds of news reports being played on my computer.

Not only am I resorting to using a real television report for a split second scene, but I soon realised that if I record a channel four news report of John Snow, viewers will recognise readily the reporter and therefore find the scene even more realistic and believable. The Youtube video I will be using will be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDX2nvwn-Rw which I have a screenshot of to the right. When I use this footage at the beginning I will edit the clip to where Snow is explaining about a mass evacuation, to give the viewers the impression that the report is about people escaping zombies when actually it is about an earthquake.
I will also use another channel 4 news report I found on Youtube of civil unrest in Africa, and edit it to where the reporter informs about the police shooting at people, to give the impression that he is refering to police shooting zombies instead. The url for this video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfG0vXO3qvc.

I will not only use other people's footage of news reports but also footage of real riots, the main one I will use will be a Youtube video of riot police attacking protesters at the G20 Climate summit pictured right. I have chosen this as it appears the police are trying to contain a mob of infected people.
The video url is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs.

Storyline/ Storyboard part 3

Then in a close up shot of the figure, it turns around to face the camera to reveal that it is actually a female zombie. At this point the main male character is in a prone stance over a pile of rubble aiming his gun at the hostile zombie, which is now emitting a horrific scream. However just before my character fires I will then use a low angle shot to show another zombie lunching over the main character, like some horrific silhouette against the sky. It will look similar to this image to the right here except with the protagonist character in the bottom of the shot. This will build up extra fear and tension for the main character as he is unaware of this new threat and is vulnerable to surprise attack.

Still oblivious to the zombie behind him and continuous to shoot at the female zombie in the distance. After the sound of the gunshot I will continue this now more exciting audio with some fast tempo music to back up the now engrossing events which are unfolding as the new zombie from behind lunches for the main character. Realise the zombies presence, my character drops his weapon and roles over to defend himself as the zombie grabs him. Whilst this is happening I will continuously switch between close up shots of the brawl, also using a range of high and low angle shots, again resembling this screenshot from a video game I have pictured to the right here.

However my main character manages to break away from his attacker unharmed, and draws out a crowbar and uses to strike the zombie in the head. As the zombie falls back defeated I will use a slow motion shot to show the gushes of blood flying through the air from its head. It will bear a resemblance from this screenshot from another zombie game here to the right again, although of coarse, my character will not be using cricket bat.

As the zombie crashes to the ground I fill fade out to black, then role on the credits, ending my short film.