After our presentation on our idea we were given feedback on our film. We had to make changes, and we did this parallel to the development of our idea.

Teacher Feedback- 29/01/2013

Conditional green light

Improvements to be made:

• Our USP needs to be changed to the conflict between the two survival group rather the initial idea to focus solely on one of the survival groups.
• Work on our secondary audience and clearly state and include the appropriate elements to appeal to both genders and fans of the genre. 
• Do research on zombie make-up and special effects such as muzzle flashes, body shots and exploding head. 
• Gain a better understanding on titles and provide evidence. 

Positive comments:

• Good research and planning on locations for the film. 
• Clear demonstration of research on films which influenced. 
• Good presentation and roles well distributed within the group. 

Ideas for buying Sniper

http://bbguns4less.co.uk/products/G22-Spring-Sniper-Rifle-BB-Gun-with-Scope-and-Bi-pod.html

This site has a very good sniper that fits our idea perfectly as it has a scope and a bi-pod. It is also one of the cheapest we could find and fits with our budget. It costs around £40

Others with scopes that we could use as back-up would cost around £80.

In the worst case scenario there are machine guns with scopes on that cost around £40.

Before we could go ahead with our production we had to receive a green light for our presentation on our idea. We did a presentation highlighting all the factors mentioned before, however we had to hand out a double sided sheet with all the key information, and those sides have been attached below.

Click on the two images to view on a larger scale. 

Plans use work from last term

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

How our plans use ideas from last term

We will use the ideas from form, style etc that we learnt about like positioning and the composition inside the shot. We will also use our knowledge of how to create titles as we will need to introduce our production company, distributor, etc as this is what is required in a film opening. We practiced how to frame shots and how to use match-on-action techniques which we will need to implement when it comes to filming. We practiced our editing, for how we could make sure the shots flowed seamlessly together to make everything seem like it is happening in the correct order and make our opening make sense. We will also use our knowledge of our audience, which we talked about previously, to appeal to them and make sure we reach our primary and secondary audiences. We will also use the starting structure of setting the equilibrium, which will be broken later in the film and then resolved.

Locations for zombie idea

On the 19th and 20th of January we went to locations we had thought would suit are possible ideas, to see how they faired. We took pictures and looked for areas that could be used for a specific scene and places that would look impressive to film.

For the zombie sniper idea, we visited Cheyne Walk, it seems like a good place to film the idea and we couldn't see many flaws in this location.

What was good about the location

• Many of the areas at the location, we could see fitting the shots that we have imagined working. Such as having a forest area where the sniper could be and and open field where the zombies could be. 
• The location is also very close to my house, so would be easy for all of us to reach and not a long distance to walk between.
• Cheyne Walk is also quite a quiet area there are not any main roads nearby we would not get background sound when filming. Also not many people are in the area and it never gets busy, so we would easily be able to film without people getting in the way.
• The area doesn't have any nearby features make it look  give away that an apocalypse hasn't occurred, for example there are no cars, clean bins, benches in sight.

What wasn't good about location

• An area on the field seems to be a boggy near where we found good places for are idea. It wasn't too bad at the time but that could have been because it was cold and snowy, and on a different day with different weather conditions it could cause problems.
• There was not much else bad about this location.

Where the snipers could be positioned      The field where the zombies could be.

onlooking the field.                                      

Film Inspirations

     This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on: 

Shooter

This film is one of the most extensive recent sniper films. We used this a lot for inspiration as it had dozens of sniper scenes and had very varied shot types. The different uses of scoped in and different perspectives give all the shots different feels which meant we could choose different perspectives to get across our specific ideas. The two scenes we have favored most are the one where he takes a mile-long shot at a can which fires the bullet in while looking at the shooter and then looks through the scope as it hits the can and makes it explode. We could use a similar technique but have a zombies head instead of a can. The other shot we liked was the fast paced scene at the end when he takes out four guards in a matter of seconds from long range. We may have a shot similar but we are in favor of having a more skill based sniper rather than being able to shoot four zombies in the head within a matter of seconds from over 100 meters away.

Zombieland

This film has what we feel has a good representation of zombies and we will represent our zombies in a very similar way. When people get bitten in the film they turn into a zombie within 24 hours. This means that they have a sudden hunger for human flesh and have no longer have any memory of their previous life and only have primal instincts that completely control them. They also do not gain any strengthened physical aspects. They run slightly slower but can run for long distances. They can't sprint and they can easily be sneaked around. They can only die by trauma to the head or by mass damage to the rest of the body. They also have a very nice ratio of humans to zombies where you don't see hordes of zombies everywhere but you also only rarely find other survivors.

I Am Legend

Although we don't like how the zombies are represented, in that they are like vampires and only come out at night or they get burned. We prefer the more conventional zombie representations but there are some ideas in this film that we liked. We are also having the use of a military camp where survivors are gathered, though would be considerably smaller. We have also taken inspiration from the final scene, where Will Smith decides to blow up the large horde of zombies by taken his own life with a grenade. We are thinking of having a similar scene at the end of our opening as it conveys lots of emotion and shows how desperate the new dystopian world is. We do feel they have far to few survivors as throughout the film we are led to believe he is the last human on earth. The zombies are also portrayed with intelligence which we would prefer them not to have.

Techniques and technologies used

In our film opening we will use continuity techniques, like match-on-action in the running and sniper scnenes.
We will also aim to not break the 180 degree rule or the 30 degree rule.
We'll use a wide range of shot types to keep variety in our sequence.
We have decided to use cut-away to black titles so we can traverse over larger distances in a shorter time frame.
We will use effects like blood splatters, exploding heads and muzzle flashes to keep with the action genre and to keep the audience entertained.
We will use the relevant editing software available to make our head shots, exploding heads and grenade explosion as realistic as possible.
For the overall editing of the we will use Adobe Premier Pro.

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Appeal to audience

The characters involved in the sequence and the rest of the film are of similar age to the intended core audience therefore the audience will be able to relate to the characters. The characters as mentioned before are brave young individuals, this means the core audience can aspire to be like them.

The action in the film and this particular sequence will appeal to all the audiences we have in mind. The action will be exciting and engaging to watch and will keep the audience thrilled and entertained. 

The film will follow of conventions of the zombie genre and this will appeal to the audience as they'll familiar with the genre and its style. 

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Style of our opening scene

The grading of our sequence will be slightly dim, this will reflect the dystopian future and this atmosphere we intend to create, as we believe this will best suit our genre- Zombie/Action. 

The sequence will alternate between titles and action, this will keep continuity and create ellipses which means the audience can fill in the gaps themselves and the sequence isn't dragged out. 

As the sequence progresses the pace of the of the action also increases. As a result tension increases and when it ends with a 'bang' and a cliff hanger, it keeps the audience gripped and excited. It will also have dramatic music which will work in synergy to add to the tension and drama in the sequence. 

We are following many of the conventions of Zombie/Action films. These include: an apocalyptic world, an isolated/abandoned setting, zombies shot in the head to be killed, the zombie virus is transmitted through a bite and people are willing to die rather than living as a zombie. 

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Representation of  social groups

The main characters involved in the opening sequence are young males and are represented as brave and intelligent individuals. This challenges stereotypes of young people being rude, rowdy and mischievous hooligans. 

Conforming to conventions where men are the one doing the manual work and the more physical work. 

Later on in the narrative a very strong female is introduced. She challenges stereotypes through her role in the film, as she does similar jobs as the men, such as fighting off the zombies and other enemies.

The two missionaries are on an equal footing despite coming from different ethnic backgrounds.

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Media institutions responsible for the distribution for our production

Our distributor is Momentum Pictures who will own the distribution rights in the UK. The international rights will be sold off to other distribution companies to distribute in foreign countries.

Our production company is JAD Productions. However, we later changed this to 'Bitten Productions'. 

chosen genre and film idea

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Chosen genre and film idea

Zombie, Action and Horror.

Two missionaries get caught up in a zombie fight. They shoot zombies and eventually get overrun. This results in one getting caught and therefore choosing to sacrifice his life using a grenade. The opening ends with an unknown man knocking the missionary out. 

This a post which we used in our proposal of our idea. This particular post focuses on:

Chosen Target Audience

• Primary Audience- 16 - 24 year old male audiences.
• Secondary Audience- Older fans of both Zombie and Action films of both genders.

We chose our primary audience to be the 16 - 24 year old males mainly because it is one of the biggest markets out there when it comes to films and it is also the age group and gender which our film will appeal to the most. This is due to themes which have come up in previous Zombie films and games such as Call Of Duty. The main actors in the film are of a similar age to the audience, allowing them to relate to them.

We chose our secondary audience to be older fans of both Zombie and Action films of both genders. This is because we wanted to widen our audience reach, and therefore gain more people to watch the film.

Meeting

During the planning stages of our a film we held several meetings to come with an idea. We met up outside lesson times to contribute ideas to the project. Meetings were a good form of communications as we were all together and therefore worked through it more efficiently face to face rather over social media.

Below are things we went through in three of our meetings:


Meeting 1-

We discussed a variety of different ideas we could do, however we did not reach a conclusion and left our options open.

We talked about genres, types of characters and narrative.


Meeting 2-

We made rough notes on different ideas, and narrowed down to two ideas, Zombies or a mystery themed one.

We will plan for both ideas and do our location research.

Meeting 3-

We talked through each idea, and discussed which would be better and why.

We decided to go for the Zombie on as it's unique, it'll have a variety of different shot types.

We have evenly distributed research tasks for the presentation and we have made plans to start all the pre-production material- such as the storyboard, shot list etc.