Final Film Product

This is my final zombie horror film. 

Evaluation question 1

Our media project was to plan and film the first two minutes, which was the title sequence of our proposed film. The film my group made was called “The Undead Rush”. The plot was four young people running away from zombies in a building. Later on Monroe (me) comforts Erin (Kisha) after the deaths of her boyfriend James, her friend Anna and another friend spencer.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

We have mainly developed rather than challenged the forms and conventions of real media products. We used the convention of a group of people running away from zombies. This is always used the horror genre and especially in zombie films. The diegetic sound of footsteps and a few gun shots can be heard while we are running to emphasise the dramatic effect. 

The zombies cannot be seen while we are running which adds a feeling of dramatic tension because the audience do not know what they are running from. This develops forms and conventions used in horror films. We of course used the form and convention of guns which is always used in zombie films to fight of the zombies, kill zombies or protect members of the group. The character, James, uses a gun while the other three don’t.  This conforms to the stereotypical male leader. 

Furthermore, there is death in our film which is an important aspect in all horror films. The audience is informed that the character of Erin’s boyfriend died earlier on. This adds an emotional aspect so that Erin can be filled with hatred for the zombies and also that without James is vulnerable. Both of these aspects of our film develop forms and conventions used in real media products. The character Anna also dies; this was not intentional. 


We planned that no one would die, intending to challenge the horror genre. However, the actress who played Anna could not come on the day we filmed the emotional scene. We therefore added a line, and later on a scene to show that the character died. I think this turned out to be a positive change because it added to the sadness of the scene and fitted more closely to the horror genre.

Evaluation question 2

2. How does your Media product represent particular social groups?

I think my group’s media product could be argued to represent a number of social groups. The character James represents the stereotypical masculine man. The character is the only one that carries a gun, he uses it to defend himself and the others; this seems quite a masculine aspect. There is one shot of him looking from one side to the other to check if the zombies were close; this is an army technique which is also very masculine. He also looks out for and defends the other characters. He also has blood on his face in the last scene. This seems quite fitting because horror is also stereotypically watched by males, especially teenage boys who like fighting and guns. So this character would appeal to the boys who would watch it.

The character Erin represents the (again) stereotypical emotional and defenceless woman. There are two shots of Erin crying and saying how both her boyfriend and Anna have died while Monroe comforts her. This seems a particularly stereotypical reaction for a female character; while the men carry on doing their job the women care about those who have died. However she does face the dangers of Zombies by running in to the building, this is not terribly stereotypical of the defenceless woman. This would appeal to all the girls and women watching the film because they would like to identify with a caring female character that is upset by the deaths of her team mates and would probably feel annoyed with the male characters for their uncaring attitude. However they would probably like the fact that she is also a strong main character who is involved in combating the zombie threat.  

The character Anna does not have such a big role in our film. However she could represent the more vulnerable people that others care about, look after and fight for.

The character Monroe (me) represents the not so stereotypical masculine man, who does not like to fight or do battle. Monroe does not carry a gun or fight the Zombies like James does. The audience can see him comforting Erin when she is upset towards the end. This does not seem terribly masculine because masculine men would want to show the masculine instinct of survival and not sit around comforting people who are distressed. He is also the only one who holds   the banister of the stairs when they are running up it. This represents those who think about health and safety at all times, even when they are in trouble. I think this does challenge forms and conventions of real media products because main characters normally do not care about health and safety but care about defeating or getting away from whatever is pursuing them.

Evaluation question 3

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Institutions, which specialise in horror films, might distribute my media product. This is because horror films are extremely popular therefore, they might want to distribute my media product because there is a big chance that people will want to see it. Also there is a thriller element to it because the group of teenagers are trapped in a building, so there might be a larger range of audiences that might want to see it. Advertising companies for TV might want to advertise my product, which would also mean that institutions in charge of TV channels would also want to allow the adverts on their channels. Though magazine advertising institutions might also like to advertise it. Online institutions might want to distribute my product because people are using the internet to watch things more and more. Netflix is even starting to make its own episodes so there for Online institutions might want people to watch my movie for the first time on their app. Later on if my film became popular then gaming institutions might wish to use the film for a video game.

Hammer

Founded in 1934 and it is based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for its Gothic Horror films, such as Count Dracula, The Mummy and The Abominable Snowman. It dominated the Horror genre for a time, some say its success was due to it partnerships with distribution companies like the “Warner Bros”.  These were made from mid 1950s till 1970s. It stopped producing film in the mid 1980s. There were some promises made by the new owners that they would return. However it was not until May 2007 when it was bought by yet another company that it truly decided to start making films again. Such as “Let me in” 2010, “The Resident’ 2011 and “The women in Black” 2012.  Hammer I think, would distribute my film. This is because they would want some of their former glory back.

Warner Home Video

It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video (for Warner Communications, Inc. The company launched in the United States with twenty films on Betamax and VHS videocassettes in late 1979. They have distributed in 90 international territories this is more than any other studio. In 2013 it had number one share in DVD, Blue Ray and Television category. Because it has distributed more than any other studio I think it could distribute “The Un Dead Rush”.  However, the fact that it has distributed so many films does mean that it can afford to be selective about which films they distribute.

Evaluation question 4

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Teenagers/Youths

Teenage boys/youths are stereotypically the type of people who crave fear and excitement therefore they could be the audience for my media product. They also quite often want to be independent and keen to rebel against adults. So because teenagers are quite often the main characters in horror fighting the monsters. Teenage boys would probably like to imagine they are the characters in the film.  There have been many studies which show evidence that young people want excitement and enjoyment but also like competition. For example the Teddy Boys in the early 1950s wore Edwardian dress/leather jackets but were very aggressive and argumentative. This could have been to show that they are as good have the upper class. Also the Mods and Rockers another youth culture were very competitive and hostile with each other. So it is quite possible that members of both these youth cultures would watch horror films for the thrill of fear and to show they are not afraid of anything. Gang members would want to show off to each other that they are not scared by horror films, as well as watching horror films for the thrill of fear and the thrill of watching them.

People who normally like Fantasy films

Horror films from the 1950-60s although scary weren’t as gory and completely terrifying for people who don’t normally watch horror films unlike what horror films are like now. Desensitisation plays a huge part in this.  For example Dracula and the Mummy.  This at least is what modern audiences feel. So it seems likely that people who normally watch fantasy films and have tried out films from the 50s-60s might try out modern horror, and find that they have grown to like it. This is because horror films do have similar elements to fantasy films; werewolf’s, vampires and zombies have been known to appear in the fantasy genre.

The main audiences in modern times
 

There has been a rise in women watching films in the horror genre. In the past it was mainly considered quite a boys and masculine (as talked of in first paragraph) thing to watch horror films. Though even now stereotypically boys watch horror films women are now equally a target audience for horror films. This probably is because they also like the thrilling and fear making of horror films. Also for quite a long time there has been quite a sexist divide between males and females so because society has been gotten a lot less sexist now it means that horror is more accessible so there for more appealing. Also, there are a lot of horror shows that have the main character being female for example Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Who are the audience for the Un Dead Rush?
 

I have come to the conclusion that lots of different types of people can be the audience for my movie. However what is the link between the types of people is the inner need for fear and excitement which a lot of people seem to have whether they know it or not. 

Evaluation question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?



The use of social media generates awareness of the film for audiences which means that they then pass on their knowledge of the film through social media which could involve discussions on message boards and between friendship groups. They are a handy tool to share thoughts with others about our film, and to also gauge reaction to it.

On Twitter users normally follow the account of the film and then 're tweet' and 'hashtag' it, which would then mean that their 'followers' on Twitter would see the account and further 're tweets' and 'hashtags' would follow, once again generating awareness of the film. 

While on Facebook if users will see the films account they would 'like' as well as 'share'  it, meaning that their 'friends' would also see the films account. When they 'share' the post then their 'friends would also see it.

Both Twitter and Facebook generate interest as well as amplifying the excitement of the film.  These sort of sites generate a feel good factor about the film which helps generate public awareness for it and possibly the desire to go and see it. Both Twitter and Facebook appeal to a wide number of people, though teenagers and young adults are the most likely to use Facebook and Twitter. Also many people might use film websites.

It may be a good idea to add an app which is downloadable so teenagers can access it and this would also generate greater audience bases ands everyone can get involved.  Another idea could be using YouTube.


I posted my film on YouTube which made it immediately accessible to large numbers of people.  I also asked my college friends to have a look and asked for their feed back.  They thought that the opening sequences were quite effective at creating tension, especially in the corridor scenes.   
I attracted the audience by using codes and conventions specific to horror via setting, props, costume and camera shots.  I think that we met the horror genre as well as we could.  In my opinion the key scene was right at the end when Kisha and Myron are told they have to get out of the building (after hearing gun shots).  The screen goes black and the only diegetic sound is screaming .  Yet another successful convention of a horror/zombie specific film.

https://prezi.com/nuw3gr_ux4p9/7-looking-back-at-your-preliminary-task-what-do-you-feel-y/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Evaluation question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have learnt that files stored on a digital camera can be stored in different locations within the camera. This meant that when my team and I were going to download what we had already filmed we could not find it.  Later we discovered that it had been saved in a different section within the memory files.   When we found this it was easy to download to our computer.  In future we should make sure that we use the same area to save having to repeat this procedure.

I also learnt that we could block out bits of the film so the audience cannot see it.  For example, we were watching the scene where Munro was comforting Eirin and through the door other pupils were visible, we thought that we would have to re-film but the teacher showed us how to block out certain parts.  Therefore we can create the effect that it is just the zombies and un in the building.  We also had to block a window in this scene as it was casting light into the shot and the audience would have ben able to see cars and people just outside and again, and this would have ruined the atmosphere.

Finally I learnt that editing is key as scenes can be edited in and out.  For example, we realised that we had not actually filmed any zombie scenes so we managed to film a scene with two zombies and edited it in to where we wanted within the time frame of the film.  Later we decided to add further zombie scenes to give the effect of there being lots of zombies. We also needed to show Anna and how she died within the narrative.  To this end we had to edit out a scene where James's character asked where Anna was.  So we engineered a scene where Anna was eaten as she was absent on one of the days filming.  I am now able to edit in music, title and credits. 

Evaluation question 7

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I feel that I have learnt about how to make a horror film.  Before I was not entirely sure that I knew what our film would need to make it a proper horror film. For example I have learnt that we needed only a few shots of zombies to give the effect of the group running from lots of zombies. I have also learnt just how many times it takes to keep re-filming a scene again. We had to keep re-filming the scene where we run into the building because other people kept on getting in the way of the camera. At least two times we ran in when the camera wasn’t turned on. Also it surprised me that we had to film so much to make just two minutes of our film.  

I have also learnt how to decide what rating my film should finally be. Of course I learnt how to do this when researching what determines the age rating for a zombie film.  I have also refined my target audience for the horror genre.

I have also learnt how using different cameras angles help manipulate the effect on the  audience.   Though we never used an above shot it is interesting that this shot type gives the person in the scene an air of superiority and puts that person in charge within the scene. They have the power in the scene.  this can also be achieved using a low shot which we also did not use.  a long shot can give the audience the impression that the characters have a long distance to travel, that they are almost there but not quite.  These long shots were particularly effective in the corridor scenes and I think that they worked really well.

Some films fall into the horror genre, however there is a whole host of other films that come under the remit of other genres such as comedy, science fiction or romance.  The zombie sub genre is becoming increasingly popular and there are even television series now that are zombie specific such as 'The Walking dead'.    Zombies are people who have been infected by a disease or other pathogen and have died but are not actually dead but in between.  they have died but then become 'un dead'  who then  come back from the dead with a sudden thirst for blood.  Quite often they have a nasty habit of eating people.  Whenever and wherever they can get their hands on them that is.  Normally the only way to kill one is to chop of it's head (or what is left if it).

http://prezi.com/nuw3gr_ux4p9/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Filming Schedule

Final Planning

I have laid out a detailed schedule for my film shoot.  This is to enable cast and crew to be as true to the schedule as possible.  I will photocopy this schedule and ensure all cast members have one.  This should grease the wheels of production and mean everyone is up to speed on what is going to happen when.

Costumes, props and makeup as well as actors

Camera\camera stand/chairs / gun/ makeup/sauce pan

The camera will be used for filming the movie. The camera tripod will be used for resting the camera on so the cameraman won't have to hold it steady. We will use a chair for the character Erin so she will have somewhere to sit when she is weeping for the loss of her boyfriend and friend because the character Monroe will need to sit opposite Erin and the chair we will use will be difficult to move.

At the present the costumes will be our everyday clothes (doctor Who scarf red T-shirt for me) a grey hoodie for Spencer, furry jumper for Kisha. The reason why my group chose to wear our everyday clothes was to demonstrate to the audience how the character are normal teenagers who go to Sixth form. Props at the moment has been arranged that Spencer will bring in some fake guns and weapons since he will be playing the ‘ weapons man’. The reason for the weapons is so it can fit into the conventions of a horror film.  Hoodies for the zombies. This is so their faces will be hidden from the audience but also to show they were typical teenagers before they were turned into zombies.  Also there will be some fake blood to put on George Spencer so it looks like he got injured. This is so the audience can be assured that the heroes are not invulnerable.

• Myron / as Monro
• Kisha/ as Eirin
• Spencer/ as James
• Mystery person/as who guard’s door
• Mystery person/as who guards door
• Mystery people as the zombies / how many unknown right now

Filming schedule

On Tuesday hopefully period 1 and 2 however it this does not appear convenient for some members of our cast then after school will be conveniently possible (unless of course someone has to go to the doctors) the afternoon of Thursday.

Locations

Hall way and class room
Annex
Corridors in the sixth form
Corner between rooms
Outside the sixth form

Storyboard

I took my storyboard to some other students for them to peer assess.  They thought that the opening was good.  The use of diegetic sound was good however, the camera work could have been better.  The non diegetic sound track was appropriate to the genre of the film.

The use of diegetic sounds when the zombies were walking and dragging their legs was thought to be ok.  The camera could have been used better in that it was static again as opposed to be used in more effective ways to achieve the desired effect.  They did also like the black screen with the time which gave the effect of reality.  The music accompanying this scene was also thought  good.

Camera static, again so that is something we can look into in the future.  The diegetic sound of a zombie eating another human was good.  The non diegetic sound was good for atmosphere.

The camera close up is a good idea, it will show the emotion of one the  main characters.  the gun shots being heard was also another good idea.  More weapons may be something to consider to make more of a statement. The use of the prop backpack was also a good idea and showed realism.

The ending shot of black screen with just the diegetic screaming being heard was thought to be a really good idea as it left the audience wondering exactly what happened. Like a cliff hanger.....  

I asked for some feedback from our audience reading the storyboard with regard to any improvements we could make.  They suggested the following:

• More varied camera angles and shots.  To give added emphasis to particular scenes.
• Greater use of differing camera movement i.e. panning/tracking.
• Cast being more believable and not so 'wooden'. 
• More attention to the costume and make-up would help make the film better, there was not enough blood and gore and the costumes they thought were not good enough.
• Better editing possibly adding a few jump cuts or fade outs.

Audience questionnaire

To get proper audience feedback, i designed a questionnaire to ask people in my 15+ target audience what they would prefer to be able to get decent feedback. I analysed the results below to be able to make the best film possible to meet the needs of the target audience.

Question 1: 

How old are you? 

12-14           15-18            19-24                25+

Answers: 

100% 15-18 year olds

This result shows me that my audience are appropriate for the 15 certificate and that i am targeting the right age group demographic.

Question 2: 

Are you male or female? 

Answers: 

81% male, 19% female

This result shows me that i have got a mainly male audience.

Question 3:

Which genres of films do you prefer? 

Circle your favourite one

zombie              horror              comedy            romance            drama           thriller

Answers: 

12% romance

3% comedy

4% drama

42% zombie

18% horror

21% thriller

 

My male audience show me that i have picked the right genre for them because they either like zombie, horror which is where the zombie sub-genre comes from) and thriller, which is often connoted in horror films and chase scenes. I think this is because they are a mainly male audience of the 15-18 age group that we got this answer. Therefor i am going to go ahead and make the zombie horror film. 

Question 4: 

Where do you prefer to see a zombie film? 

Circle your favourite location

A forest               inside - trapped              in a small room              underneath the floorboards           attic

Answers: 

43% forest

52% inside - trapped 

3% small room

2% attic

0% floorboards

These results show me that the audience want the film to be inside - trapped, which is what i will do. I will use the corners and the corridors and the parts of the college which have high banisters so i can get bird's eye shots to suggest that a person is being chased by zombies. 

Question 5: 

Who do you prefer to see a zombie film? 

Circle your favourite

Male protagonist             female protagonist             child hero 

Answers: 

75% male

25% female

0% child

These results show me that the audience would prefer a male hero in the film. I think that is because this is what they are used to seeing in zombie films, and also because the audience of my questionnaire is mainly male. As a result, i will include a male hero in my film. 

Question 6: 

What props would you like to see in a zombie horror film

Circle one favourite

  Knife            Gun           Harpoons            Flesh-eating zombies             dead bodies          blood

Answers: 

8% knife

7% gun

0% harpoons

48% flesh-eating zombies

24% dead bodies

13% blood

These results show me that the audience would prefer to see bodies, zombies and blood and gore in the zombie horror film, rather than weapons. This is not what i expected, as i thought they would have picked the weapons and the action type props associated with boys and male testosterone. As a result, i will have to change my idea to accommodate the needs of my audience to have dead bodies. I thought i might do that anyway because weapons and deaths are hard to make look professional without lots of CGI SFX.

Establishing target audience

The target audience for our film is teenagers and young adults. This is because they are the majority that go and watch horror films at the cinema. Perhaps the reason for this is that youths enjoy the thrill of an adrenaline rush because it is rebellious and because horror has shocking scenes, it makes them think they are seeing things that aren't allowed and this pushes their boundaries. 

What determines a particular certificate is the violent and sexual content. Also for the younger ratings criminal acts are needed to be discouraged. Violence for a 15 certificate  can be quite strong but should not focus on the infliction of pain or wounding also scenes should not be distressingly gory. 

http://www.slideshare.net/10simpsonm/certificate-ratings-27008959 

Idea development

How our ideas developed after our in-class pitch

My group told the rest of the class our initial idea (of zombies chasing three people around a school and at one point I tell another character that her boyfriend is dead).  The class members suggested that we developed our characters more fully and explore ideas in greater depth.  We went away and thought this through before finally making a decision.   We could come back at a later date and get further feedback on what we have done well and what we could improve.

Director's Cut

When Bruce, a local director, came into our media class he suggested to the whole class that we think ahead of what happens in the opening two minutes of our film. When we told him our idea he further suggested that we should think about whether the camera should be from the zombie’s point of view or whether the tension would be better built up using a hand held camera as if shot by one of the cast in an ‘as it is happening’ style like the film Blair Witch (date). He also suggested that we think through all of our ideas in more detail such as characters and who might play which part.  Furthermore, how each character may develop as the story unfolds.


What would we do next?

• Develop characters more fully, giving the audience a feel for each of their backgrounds and personalities.  Where they have come from and why they are there. We could also see those characters evolve and develop throughout the story.
• We could try using a hand held camera for 'live action' believability.  This would give an air of reality about the film, like it was being shot by one of the cast members rather than on a static tripod as an outsider.  We could also try using different camera shots and angles such as panning or canted to give different effects for the audience.
• Further development of who is going to play which part is something that we could also analyse further as we want to get the right person for the right part.

Evaluation of Preliminary task

When we had finished our Preliminary task and made sure it was coherent, we gave an evaluation sheet to another media group. So they could peer assess and help with the evaluation. 

• They were quite positive about our film and how we had produced it. The other group said we had used match on action rather well, as a good example of what it is. The match on action is demonstrated when a character in the film steps through the doorway and enters the room. 
• The shot reverse shot was also well used when the male and female were sat down talking to one another. The 180 degrees rule is used looking over the shoulder of the female then the shoulder of the male. They also thought that this made sense, also the sound mirrored the action. 
• They also thought that we used a variety of shot types, which was another positive. They however, did not think that there was a controlled use of camera nor was there close attention to mise-en-scene.
• They also thought the use of costume and settings weren't scary enough.

To improve our costume issue we could pay special attention to our props, using more weapons as weapons do tend to have prominence in horror/zombie films.  Normally they are relied upon for survival. we could next time make the clothing on the actors torn and dirty (as though they had been through a gruelling experience and finally thought they were safe in the college).   
To make the setting more scary we could next time shoot at night or at least when it had become dark or was nearing dusk, this would immediately create a spooky and eerie atmosphere.  The college is quite a bright environment so in hindsight may not have been the best place to film.  Outside could be another alternative, using the woods at the top of the college site.  woods again, are another convention for such films. 
We could have used the camera more effectively to show fear on the faces of the victims in the film. We actually could have used far more diverse camera shots and angles to give added emphasis 
The characters' in our film lacked believability and were not made up very effectively, they really did not look much like they had been through and ordeal and just looked like regular people who had strolled in off the street for a rest.  To this end the make-up would have to be improved upon, and costume as stated before.  If that was not possible we could have made the setting dark with low key lighting to make the zombies look more menacing which would also hide the lack of make-up.

Final Prelim task

5) This is our group’s final prelim task

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtcTY1C6Ftg&noredirect=1

Planning camera angles and shots

Filming movement

One suggestion amongst the cast was a shot of a character opening a door and walking through it. We tried this prior to our preliminary task.  One possible scene we thought may be a character crossing a room then sitting down in a chair opposite another character and opening a dialogue (diegetic sound).  (if the film is a horror or thriller genre then the subject matter would probably be serious “have you heard about the curse attached to this place?”.  Possibly contributing towards the plot) this would use a shot reverse shot. Finally, we looked at point of view, which is self-explanatory and is filmed from a particular characters point of view. One problem we identified early on was that acting would be poor, so we needed to limit the acting in our film, and make it suggestive.