Make up test

Before we went out filming we tested the acrylic paint we had got, to see what effects we could do with it. Lauren tested it out on herself and created a zombie bite mark on her neck. The great thing about acrylic paint is you can build up texture and layers (which is why we got 3 colors) as opposed to just buying the cheap fake blood and letting it run everywhere. So Lauren applied the paint in layers using the different colors and came up with some pretty cool effects.





The wound looks fairly dirty and messy which fits in perfectly with the movie! So with this done, the zombie outfit made everything was all set to shoot the film scene of the movie!

My zombie outfit

When creating my zombie outfit to wear i tried to stick to the conventional zombie look of Torn and tattered blood stained clothes. I didn't have a big budget to do it on however, unlike most movie makers.
So before creating it I looked around the internet and found some images of people in homemade zombie outfits to see if there was anything I could re-create.



Whilst looking I found this image which I took some inspiration from, I thought it best to use scissors and cut up some old clothes and add some blood, and try to make it look as good as possible.

I managed to create this, although not perfect i tore up an old t shirt and added a small amount of blood splats, when we went out filming I did add some dirt and some mud to this to make it look more realistic. 

Props

So with the final scene needing to be filmed shortly we had to a quire some props and make up to make me look like a zombie. Based on our research we found that zombie films often included Blood, and lots of it. so with this in mind we wanted to try and create a fairly realistic looking wound/blood splats on my face and neck area. To do this we decided it would be good to use some acrylic paint, as it was easy to work with, and wouldn't be too runny, meaning we could create some realistic looking effects.

After we had the paint all I had to do was create a zombie outfit to wear, then the final scene could begin.



Here are the tubes of acrylic paint we got, we thought that to get the best possible effect we should get a dark brown and 2 shades of red.

Ideal audience member

We decided to sit down and think about what our ideal target audience member would be and build up a character profile of them.

We related things to horror movies and what other interests a person may have and came up with:



Young adult/teenager. Aged 16-24.
Interested in heavy music, band such as Bring me the horizon, Slipknot and My chemical romance.
Enjoys seeings horror films with friends, likes things such as comics and Tv shows like Supernatural and Buffy the vampire slayer. Enjoys going to see live bands and uses social networking sites (tumblr, twitter, Facebook) often.

Using this information it helped us in thinking of ways to advertise our movie, and also helped us with our choice of music in the film. We had chosen to use a song by bring me the horizon which are a very popular, and recognizable band on the music scene.

Music for the film

We wanted to use a copyrighted song in our media film as the background music, In order to make sure this was okay with the band i emailed them and asked if it would be okay.

The song we used was Blessed with a curse By Bring Me the Horizon.

I wrote in the email that if i didn't hear back from them that I assumed they were too busy to reply and that it was okay to use the track in our movie.

Above is a copy of the email that i sent to the band, although I never got a reply, we used the track in our film.

Possible target audience

We did a bit of background research and thinking and tried to build up a character profile of what people would want to come see our movie. We know (as teenagers ourselves) that horror movies are popular with young people. They enjoy to go see them in groups or as young couples. An accurate age for a target audience would be 16-24 year olds. The older generation don't seem particularly interested in the horror genre.

Other films of the same genre that have been popular with the younger generation have included Saw, The ring, Paranormal activity and 28 Days later.

  

This is just a rough idea of what a potential audience could be, and in another post I will be uploading a more detailed description and a character profile of a typically audience member that would see "State of emergency".

Animated storyboard

This is the animated version on our storyboard, We created this using Adobe premiere pro. this will aid us in seeing how the shots will look in sequence and how they will flow. The video has been posted on our yuotube channel so we can also get feedback from this.

Storyboard

This is our groups storyboard. We have included as much detail as possible at this stage, but we may go back and change camera angles or sound. But this is the perliminary storyboard for our group.

Company name and Logo

This is the design for our production company "Dead Cell Productions". When designing it I tryed to make it look like a possible Horror/Zombie production companies logo. I used the i destroyed/Gunshot font, A gas mask and smoke. This will later be animated and used in our film.

Possible film Distributors

Whilst researching into possible companies which may want to distribute our film i discovered Bounty Films. Bounty films are a good example of a company that would possibly want to distribute our film. They tend to distribute small films, and normally of the Horror/Zombie genre. The films they distribute are normally low budget too. They have done some more underground films such as "Someones knocking at the door" and "sick girl". They have also distributed more succeful films such as "The human centipede" (parts one and two).

               

28 days later

The opening scenes from 28 weeks later contain many elements that we will try and use in our production. It has many elements that would make our opening more exciting. The lighting in the opening is very dark, and the lab appears to be almost glowing, an idea that would work well in our film. Dull lighting is used to create a dark and eery atmosphere, a common convention of the zombie/horror genre. The very statrt of the film starts with news bulletins and reports, showing the world rioting and panicing. This shows that something has happened on a worldwide scale, and mixed in with the lab we can assume its some kind of virus. The news reports would be a good thing to contain to make the feel more realistic, since things that happen on a global scale are often reported on the news. Toward the end of the opening when the women is biten and turns into a zombie, she coughs up blood and her eyes turn red. This is a twist on the normal "zombie look" which i think is an interesting development. When the protestors are walking down the corridor they are seen on the CCTV camera from a POV shot, and there are also many close ups. These would be good to incorperate into our piece as I have seen CCTV shots in other films (such as resident evil).

Horror film production companies

Twisted pictures are a good example of a horror film production company. They started as a tiny production company that produced the first SAW film, on a £1.2millon budget. They started off as a small company working on a low budget and then with a success of the saw films the company started producing bigger budget films for the SAW franchise. They would possibly be interested in producing our film on a low budget, then if succeful producing sequals at a higher budget.

Here is a list of films that Twisted pictures have produced over time. they start off with small films and the sequals then have a bigger buget.

Group presentation - Feedback

Our group presents our initial ideas to the rest of our media class, in form of a presentation. it was to get feedback from our class about our initial ideas and try and work on devolping a final idea. I wasnt here for the actual presentation, so my group briefed me on how it went when i returned. This will help towards discovring target audiences and what people want to see from a film. We pitched ideas mainly containing a zombie/horror theme.

Here is a timeline of the opening scenes from "Se7en". I shows the director, actors, producers and other people involved with making the film. It also contains the films name.

Zombie Moodboard

Here is a mood board based on Zombie films. I used google images to find the pictures. Its just a start on zombie/horror films and what they contain. It shows some of the colors, and the common costumes used in zombie films. Doing a moodboard can be a good way to find out about things with in a genre.

Se7en - Title opening.

9 still frames from the opening titles of the film Se7en






Here is the video of the title sequence.
An analysation of the title sequence will be uploaded shortly on a time time.

BBFC - film ratings

 Films are rated by age catogery, to show which films are suitable for the viewers.
They are rated U, PG, 12, 15 and 18. U stands for universal, and should be suitable for young children. PG stands for parental guidance, suitable for young people with paretnal consent.

U - Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring. Mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references only (for example, to ‘making love’). While problematic themes may be present, their treatment must be sensitive and appropriate for young children.

PG - Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy).Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sex references and innuendo only. Mild bad language only.

12 - Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained. Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent. 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. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

15 - Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable. Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.  Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

18 - In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas: where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence. where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault. Where there are more explicit images of sexual activity which cannot be justified by context.

Trainspotting Opening

The opening scene in the film Trainspotting really grips the audience. The music at the start of the film, along with the runnning shows the film is fast paced. The main characters voices over the action, and tells of how he didnt "Chose life" like everyone else. As he is runnnig away from the two men (who we have no idea who they are, or why they are chasing him) his voice over gives use a brief introduction to him and how he veiws the world. The scene is also set in the opening, its set in scotland (as you can tell from the accent). Characters are introduced briefly in this opening too. Whilst they are playing football the camera pauses on each character displaying their name, this is done because there are a lot of important characters in the film. We also find out the main theme behind the film in the opening, Heroine.

The camera angles relaly make the audience ask questions in the opening. The two shot of renton and spud running along the street, away from two men starts the questions. We ask who the men are, why are they chasing them. But because we know the characters take drugs we can assume things about them even though we dont know for sure. Its quite possible that they were caught stealing to pay for drugs. Back at the house the long shots of the characters show the house is unclean and dirty. The close up and medium shots on the characters shows that they appear to enjoy taking drugs. But at the end of the opening Renton gets up and says he wont be doing it anymore. This is then followed by him voicing over again saying "Of course i would havwe another hit, after all, I had work to do". This final line really grips the audience and makes you want to see how he devolps as a character, and how the story will progress.

Codes and Conventions in film openings

The whole point of a film opening is to grip the audience, and make them want to watch the whole film. If the film opening is bad then people will be unlikely to watch the rest of the film. Film openings should be exciting.

common codes and conventions of film openings:

Setting the scene
Introduction to characters
The genre of the film

Sometimes in film openings the characters names will be listed as they appear (if their a quite a few characters) and sometimes the actors name will also be shown.

Action - often open with voilence/shooting/fighting.
Horror - often open with a flashback or a scary setting
Sci fi - often open with spacfecraft/ or soemthing alien
Romance - often open with an introduction to characters, normally done by voice over.
Comedy - often open with a funny scene to set the standard of the film



In trainspotting there are quite a lot of characters, and the character names are dispplayed in the first 2 mins. The main character voices over and talks about "chosing life", then at the end of the 2 mins he says "but you dont need reasons when you've got heroine" and that really grips the audience. This introduction really grips you and makes you question what he says, and makes you want to watch more.

Continuity

Continuity is the consistancy of charateristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the veiwer. If there is no continuity the film wouldnt make sense. basically everything should be kept the same but often mistakes happen. from crew members appearing in the background of films, to objects magically changing places, films often have continuity errors.