Evaluation Activity 7

Preliminary Video

In this shot, I discovered how hard it was to pan efficiently. Even though it was filmed on a tripod, it was difficult to keep a continuous pace.

In my final piece 'Dead Night' I tried to tackle this by editing the shot to make it slower, however in the end I decided it would simply look better as an extreme long shot, without the panning.

Here we see a 'match on action'. It is edited so that the shots last barely a second, allowing for continuity and pace. We see the door knob turn as an extreme close up, the foot in the door as a close up and then a medium shot of the 'teacher'.

The 180 degree rule is used during conversation between student and teacher. An over the shoulder shot, to a medium shot containing both student and teacher, and back an over the shoulder shot demonstrates correct use of the 180 degree rule, without breaking it.

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A shot reverse shot is demonstrated between these three scene (as numbered). Although the camera is now in a different position, we still see the camera return to the orginal character.

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A similar shot reverse shot is also demonstrated in this final scene of my own film

A match on action is also demonstrated here, where we cut from one shot of the student standing up, to the student leaving the room. There are no transition effects to allow for continuity.


This preliminary task was helpful with sound editing - In hindsight the music slightly drowns out the voices, and so in the film opening I was careful to make sure the sound levels were as they should be; for example the sound of the zombies needed raising to be recognisable and heard along with the films music. Therefore the audio levels had to be adjusted from their original.

I also learnt that the quality of film was better when uploaded to Youtube rather than Blogger, which affected my final choice.

As a continuity editing task it was very helpful for the final scene in the bar room. For the first minute and a half it was not necessarily necessary for me to use continuity editing techniques, since the scenes often changed with each different title.

This task was also helpful with getting to grips with a camera and tripod. Although I was being filmed, I was still able to help set up the scene.

Evaluation Activity 3

                            

Evaluation Activity 5

Evaluation Activity 5 by Kathstoner96 on GoAnimate

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Evaluation Activity 4

Evaluation Activity 6

Evaluation Activity 2

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In this clip selected from The Walking Dead we see the 'lone cop' character on the left drinking with another man. The lone cop is also rugged, similar to my character in Dead Night. The room is dimly lit with ambient lighting and the characters are drinking whiskey, all of which is similar to my own production. The lone cop character is left of frame with the whiskey central.

In this film Zombieland a 'lone hero' type character is present, similarly to my own character. Both are shown to be wearing; similar black jackets, carrying weapons, and have rugged facial hair.

Although this film contains four protagonists, my film opens with only one. Zombieland also only opens with one protagonist, and he eventually meets the rest to form a group.

My film Dead Night leaves the potential for meeting more characters as we have a cut in shot of a photo frame containing a picture of himself with four other friends, suggesting a possible route for the storyline.

Evaluation Activity 1

Construction

I developed production company names based on which type of companies I thought would contribute to producing a horror/apocalypse film. I used the same techniques as I had planned from the very beginning with the paper burning

which I had practised back in January

However this time chose to edit it with a tint and so that the burning is in reverse - therefore revealing the company name rather than destroying it.

 and the rooftop scene, which I had found on a 'location hunt' before filming

FreeSound.org provided me with all of the sounds in the video. I had always planned on having a radio/television presenter-type voiceover in my film which, and I was planning on using recording my own, however I was lucky enough to find a very good voice over on freesound, which was high quality and very well scripted, talking about the symptoms of the zombie infection. This saved me a lot of time and was perhaps produced to a higher quality than I would have been able, since the recording equipment I had available to me was limited.

A heavy rock/metal song on the opening titles of films for apocalyptic films are very common, and so I used 

to find a metal song which I thought fitted well with the filming. After much searching I did come across a free, unsigned and downloadable song called 'This Night' by 'Dark Dreams'. Combined with the radio voiceover at the beginning, I found these to combine very effectively. Although time consuming to find a good match, I felt that this song worked well with the film.

The make up worked better than was expected. With help from tutorial videos on Youtube and a few hours spent preparing all of the zombies, the end result was to a high standard. All of the paints and liquid latex recommended was used, and resulted in some lovely zombie-like wounds. 

Film Opening Final Piece

Make Up Preparation and Out Takes

Original Storyboarding

Here is my original storyboarding. This includes each shot with camera movements, editing, type of shot, sound and timings, with were not available with the GoAnimate storyboard.

GoAnimate Storyboard

GoAnimate allowed me to feel the actual pace of the film and see how long the film opening will approximately be. It also helped with the drawing, since I do not have the best hand drawing skills. However I was limited with what I could use on GoAnimate and often could not portray certain things. There is also no room to talk about sound or camera movements.

I will not be using the soundtrack used on this storyboard, I decided to put it on to see if the 'creepy' effect was present.

Although time consuming, I do feel it was very helpful to use GoAnimate to storyboard. I know now that my planned film will meet the required time limit. 

It will be useful to show my actors, to give them a better idea of what I am looking for. 

Also for showing my target audience, they will be be able to follow and understand it much easier and so hopefully give better feedback. 

Apocalypse by Kathstoner96 on GoAnimate

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Zombie Acting Techniques

Greg shows his actors several clips from several zombie films, and also suggests that it is not hard to teach somebody to walk like a zombie. I will be using the same idea and will be showing my actors a few films before filming. I will also make sure not to follow typical 'zombie protocol' and try to achieve variety with my actors, being careful not to allow them to go 'over the top'.

Greg Nicotero from the Walking Dead TV series speaks of how he trained his zombies to walk in this interesting article:
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/11/15/the-walking-dead-zombie-school/ 

This video will be helpful for showing my actors.
Zombie Expert Lorin Eric Salm provides some coaching on how to walk like a zombie: 

Prop List

General

Video camera

Tripod - Small and Large

February 25th Monday

Black tape
Broken Photo frame
Teddy Bear

February 28th Friday

Make Up

Face Paint; Brown, Green, White

1 Pint of Fake Blood

500ml of Liquid Latex

1 bottle of conditioner

Spaghetti

Porridge

Red Food Colouring

Oatmeal

March 2nd Sunday

Bottle of whiskey (without alcohol)
I phone and headphones
Clothes; t shirts
Rucksack
Baseball bat

Make Up

Face Paint; Brown, Green, White

1 Pint of Fake Blood

500ml of Liquid Latex

1 bottle of conditioner

Spaghetti

Porridge

Red Food Colouring

Oatmeal

Shooting Schedule

Night of the Living Dead Analysis

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

I chose to look at the classic Zombie Horror film Night of the Living Dead by George Romero, since this is one of the most highly rated and classic zombie films of all time.

7 seconds of darkness before the first title begins

Columbia Pictures – 10 seconds, spaceship type sound introduced

 

Fade 2 seconds darkness

Quiet violin sound begins - tension

Title sequence begins, first with company name

Includes ‘and’ – this is rare in recent films

4 seconds

Sun continues to rise – eerie strange sun, dark, looks a bit unnatural since it is sped up

Director’s name is shown

‘Presents’ – again rare in recent films

Violin music carries on, sun continues to rise

A drum beat sounds when movie title appears- this has been seen in a lot of films

Uses the same font, all in bold. Appears to the left of the moon and is larger, previously the titles appeared on top of the moon in the center. Approximately 4 seconds again. The scene then slowly fades away with the eerie drum beat and violin music.

The same shot is used for exactly 1 minute, introducing the company title, directors and writers name before ending with the film name. The font is all the same, with important names of a larger size. The music creates an eerie atmosphere, whilst the sun rising creates a supernatural type scary setting.

We then hear a mocking voice, which is actually quite effective “we are coming to get you, Barbra”. The scene is completely black and we cannot see where the voice is coming from, this is effectively unnerving. This lasts 5 seconds before we cut to a long shot, with a car driving into view.

The conversation continues with the man mocking. We can still not see the actual people speaking, however since the car comes into view the audience will assume this is where it is coming from. By not revealing the characters yet they manage to retain a spooky feel.

6 names in the same font appear across the bottom of the screen.

The conversation continues and we learn about the relationships between the unseen characters.

Non diegetic, creepy music is played through out the scenes with the car, which we follow to the mansion.

Names are continually displayed across the bottom of the screen as we track the car to the mansion.

An ariel view shows the car entering the mansion.

‘Associate producer’ and ‘Line Producer’ ‘Costume Designer’ are shown across the bottom

Since we are about to enter the mansion which is an important setting of the film more important names appear.

IGN Top 10 Zombie Movies

IGN rates its Top 10 Zombie Movies

1. Night of the living Dead 

The granddaddy of the modern zombie genre, Romero's Night of the Living Dead rethought what a zombie movie could be, removing the shambling creatures from the realm of voodoo and black magic and Haitian jungles and placing them squarely in the backyard of middle-class America, with no clear explanation of the ghouls' origins but plenty of sociological and political subtext surrounding the undead things. A low budget indie that was, according to Romero, heavily influenced by Richard Matheson's vampire novel I Am Legend and the subsequent Vincent Price film version of Legend called The Last Man on Earth, Night would prove to be immensely influential itself on everything from modern, high-profile "zombie" pictures like 28 Days Later to countless low-budget cheapie rip-offs to, decades after its initial release, video game franchises such as Resident Evil.

2. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Launching into its sordid story with only the slightest of explanations, this film is at once a thrill ride and a mood piece: Ken Foree exudes calming authority as Peter, the S.W.A.T. team leader who anchors a foursome of refugees who hole up in a shopping mall after humanity discovers "there's no more room in hell." While much has been made in subsequent years of the film's running anti-consumerist commentary, the film proves to be much more interesting as a character study than a treatise on the dangers of too much shopping; but a healthy dose of gore, combined with some wicked humour and considerable invention on the part of the filmmakers make Dawn a genre classic.

3. Shaun of the Dead

Following in the social satire tradition of George Romero's zombie flicks, but played much more as a comedy than a straight-up horror film, Shaun of the Dead ranks as one of the most all-around entertaining zombie movies ever made. Telling the story of unambitious electronics salesman Shaun (Simon Pegg) as he races across town to save his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who recently dumped him, from the undead. Shaun boasts some great characters (including Shaun's best friend, Ed, played by Nick Frost), hilarious scenes, and very funny lines, all mixed in with some real scares that elevate it above stock zombie films.

4. Zombi 2 (Zombie)

5. Dellamorte Dellamore (cemetery man)

6. Dawn of the Dead

7. Plan 9 from outer space

8. The Return of the Living Dead

9. Land of the Dead

10. Braindead (Dead Alive)

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/02/11/top-10-zombie-movies?page=2

Zombieland Opening Title Sequence Analysis

Zombieland is an apocalyptic horror film including dark humour and comedy.


Zombieland opens with a bell ringing over a black screen for approximately two seconds. The opening sequence then ends with this same bell ringing.
The man jumping off of the building jumps into the opening title credits. The man is seen jumping away from a zombie, who can be identified with his bloody face and zombie-like movements.
The credits are coloured red and in bold, with the company name in a larger font next to 'presents'.
In this long shot the camera is angled upwards, meaning the man is jumping into the screen, at the audience.
The letters are bashed out of the way as the man falls into them. The title is included in the scene, and goes across the building.
Heavy non diegetic music is played on top of the clip, with no diegetic music present. This music carries on through out the opening title sequence. 
The transition to the next clip is a fade.
The man falling and zombie are placed in the center of the frame, as is the title.
This clip lasts approximately 8 seconds.

We now see a gruesome medium close up of another zombie spewing up blood.
The man is in focus with travelling cars in the background. A lot of the scenes are placed in normal every day situations.
The man is covered in blood but otherwise is in normal clothes.
The titles are of the same font and colour, 'in association with' is in a lower font with 'relativity media' in a larger font below.
In slow motion again, the titles are placed underneath the man's chin, where the spewing blood knocks out the titles, before fading to the next scene.
This clip lasts less than 8 seconds.

Next we see a woman running from another zombie.
Some similar conventions are included which have been shown in the previous few scenes; Slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene
'Pariah' is also larger than 'a production', similarly to the previous scenes

The camera is angled slightly upwards, with the woman running into the center of the frame

This scene is only 5 seconds long

This scene is again 5 seconds long.

The zombies are bloody and noticeable by their bloody clothes and zombie like movements.

This time the title is 'pushed' out of the way by a zombie. We are now onto names instead of companies, and the whole name is in the same font, colour and is bold.

slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene

In this long shot the scene is 7 seconds long, and includes two names. The second appears as the first is pushed out of the way. The exploding car and men are at the center of the frame, with the titles either side. The zombie is behind them, noticeable again by the zombie like running movements and blood.

slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene

Another two scenes are shown with the same conventions of:
slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene.

The first is a close up of riot police batting away a zombie, both lasting five seconds.

The second a zombie woman getting married tries to attack her husband. The second scene has no titles over the top, as it is the preceding the movie title.

The man smashes through the Zombieland title as though it were glass. The scene lasts 5 seconds. The same conventions are used; slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene.

The zombie is out of focus in the background, but there is always a zombie present.

The next few sequences show casting designer, music, editors, productions designers, director of photography, executive producers, producer, writers, and ends with the director. The final few scenes all include the same conventions; slow motion, zombies, every day situations, titles being 'pushed' out of the way, and titles of the same font and colour, fade to next scene. They all last approximately five seconds.

Make Up Equipment

Recommended make up equipment has been purchased;

Green, brown and white face paints, 500ml Liquid latex, 1 pint of fake blood

Zombie Make Up

The Walking Dead TV series
This TV series DVD comes with a tutorial for zombie make up

By Greg Nicotero - Consulting producer/special EFX Make up

Andy Schoneberg - Special EFX Make up Artist

Walk through:

1. Add handful of conditioner to hair to make it greasy and lifeless

2. Apply liquid latex

3. Mix oatmeal & latex to create dirty rotten skin

4. Use gelatin to sculpt wounds

5. Cosmetic sponge to add texture

6. Layer tissue & latex to add depth

7. Apply latex to blend

8. Add powder

9. Use mineral oil to blend base

10. Use dark colours for shadowing

11. Mix food colouring & corn syrup for blood

12. Splatter blood with brush

Bayleigh Sly

Since zombies are going to be a crucial part of the film, the make up will need to be of a high quality. I have enlisted friend Bayleigh for help with the make up, since she has had a lot of experience and expertise with creating good Halloween-style make up effects. We will be watching video tutorials for the best zombie make up with resources available to the general public.

Dawn of the Dead Analysis

Questionnaire

I have created a 5 minute questionnaire to be filled in by the target audience, including questions on horror movies and their preferences.