Gantt Chart

Here is a gantt chart we made that will show our time on each stage.

How to make a zombie

If you are going to have a zombie, there are a few things that you might want to consider before you start to make it. First of all, will it be an ‘Intelligent’ or a dumb zombie. We found ‘Intelligent’ ones in 28 Days/Weeks Later, and in I am Legend, whereas there are dumb ones in Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead. The zombie’s personality plays a great part in thrillers, as dumb ones are usually massed and are killed all the time, though many more come, where as the ‘Intelligent’ ones seem to be everywhere, and can interact with the surroundings better. In I am Legend, the zombies are extremely fast, and are also very ‘Intelligent’; in the sense they lay traps and stay away from sunlight. There is also the ‘Intelligent’ ones in 28 Days/Weeks Later, where they mass, run extremely fast and are able to interact with surroundings. The dumb ones are usually used to show isolation due to the sheer mass of them, where as the ‘Intelligent’ ones usually create tension and suspense making the characters attempts seem useless.

When we think of zombie, we get the image of rotten skin, teeth showing, brains, claws, torn clothes and a relentless attitude. When we make our zombie, we will consider all these things, though we can not have very graphical images, so we will stick to showing silhouettes of them, or at a distance.

There is also the zombie “hot spots” such as dark rooms, isolated areas, urban cities and the classic, zombie hand clawing through the window. All these areas need to be thought about when thinking of where to make the protagonist go. A lot of zombie thrillers show the protagonists trying to get to another abandoned building, and must pass masses of zombies to get to them. This is a common theme in zombie films.

IOn our first storyboard, our zombie will wear over sized clothes, though you will only see silhouettes of it running. We will make them extremely strong and fast, making the protagonists seem inferior to them, even though they are still teenagers. We will have masses of the zombies, though we will only show a maximum of 5 in the woods scene. This is to still keep the realism of the zombies actually following the teenagers, and the isolation of them.

We could consider using fake blood and wounds if we were to use a close up, although due to our budget, we will stick to keeping them at a distance.

Preliminary Task

We were told to do a preliminary task based around a person walking into a room and exchanging conversation. Me and simon decided to have a gangsta style one, and it turned out pretty well.

Image Board

Filming Location

Pitching the Location
In order to make sure we know where out setting and location will be, we decided to go up to the woods that we plan on filming in to take some shots that will be included in the film sequence. This makes sure that when we go up on the day, we will know where to set up our shots. It also gives us ideas to work though and show where we are so far in ideas for pitching out movie. Unfortunately due to the weather, we only have shots of the settings in the snow.
Consideration
We plan on filming our movie in the woods near where we live. This will provide us with easy access, and a powerful convention used in horror and thriller movie. The woods are perfect for our move, due to the gnarled aged trees and giant landscape. There is also the isolation of it. The woods near some open fields. We will need to consider the weather when filming in this location. Due to the muddy ground, we cannot film on a wet or rainy day as this will make filming and acting extremely difficult.
The entering the woods scene
We will need to find an opening in the woods, with a tree outside giving us cover to film the teens as they venture into the woods. There will also be a juxtaposition of the open field and the cramped woods.
The camping scene
We will need to find a small open clearance in the trees when in the woods to film and build the camping scenes. The opening must be big enough to fit a tent but small enough for trees to hang over and surround it. We must also make sure there is safe ground to build on, such as a hard surface, no hills.
(Pictures to still be uploaded)
Gnarled Tree-
We are using a picture of a gnarled tree which is a typical semiotic for bad things. This tree will set the genre of the movie when it is seen in the shot while the camera shows multiple shots of the teenagers walking up the path.














Camping location-
This will be the area that we will have the tent and camp set up. It is close to a path for easy access, and it is also flat enough for room for setting up a camp. It is also near a few trees that will be perfect for framing the camp sight in for one of our ideas.














Another shot of the camping location used to show the trees in the background.















Opening in trees/Enterance-

Here is a shot that we probably will not use due to the obviousness of the camera shooting location of the entarence to the woods.

This is another easier to see shot of the enterance.














Here is a picture from behind a bush. This shot may be used unless we find a better way of hiding the camera from the teens as they enter the woods.














Framing of trees-
Here is a shot we will use from behind a tree watching the teens as they have entered the woods. The camera will pand as they walk from one enf othe tree, through so the camera cant see them, to the other end of the tree, back into view. This will give the idea of the teens being watched, and the audience being of an advantage to the teens.














This is a shot of the other side of the panning from behind a tree, after the teens have passed.














This is another of the multiple shots from behind a tree while the camera follows the teens up the path to their camp.














This is a shot we will use the style of for shoting the teens in the camp. It will symbolise how the teens will be trapped in the middle of the action.














Here is another shot showing trees either side of the camera composition. This shot could be used at the end when the teens realised they have been followed.














Here are some shots of the location we will be filming at. These will not be used, but give us an idea of the area we will be working in.

28 Days Later opening + location analysis

Title: 28 Days Later
Year it was made: 2002
Director: Danny Boyle

28 days later is a Zombie Thriller/Horror. It starts with activists who try to release monkeys who were infected by a deadly disease called Rage. A monkey bites one of the people as they let it out, and within moments you turn from being sympathetic to the chimps to terrify of them by this act. During the arrival of the activists the chimps are all crazy banging the cage, then the camera follows the views of what a monkey is being forced to watch. We then see the activists see the monkey in this table strapped down with monitors above it. On the monitors we see violence. As one of the activists takes pictures, the camera flashes and we see what the picture was taken looks like. During the pictures, there are sound bridges of the monkeys screeching to keep the action moving. This keeps the audience tense and stops them loosing interest. At this point, the music is slow and quite eerie, but is slowly building speed and suspense. Once the cage is opened, the camera goes wild and shows a first person of the monkey charging at the woman where it ends up as a close up of the monkey biting this woman. Within moments, she pukes up blood, and acts like the monkeys were like, crazed and angry. You can tell the tension of the film by the yelling of the scientist. The editing is very powerful in the way the fast transitions are done and the shots of the camera angles. You would expect the camera to be distance and away as far as possible from the danger, but in this movie, it shows you the danger as close as possible. This is what makes 28 days later a horror type, rather than thriller, the fear is created in the physical viewings rather than mentally. The lighting that the special effects create is very powerful. There are very dark red ambient lights in it to show blood, rage and anger. There may also be a dark red filter put over the top. This whole sequence leaves you wanting to watch more and more of the movie, as you are kept in your seats with the powerful music and fast transitions, never showing you the finished result.

The camera is set as if it is a person standing idol in the scene, switching from first person to third. This is creating a very dizzy effect on the audience, as they don’t quite know where they are. Are they in the scene or are they a character in the scene? This is also related with the music. Due to the high strings sound, and distorted feelings we get from hearing this music, we feel uncomfortable watching this. The way the camera switches from one view to another, while the music still, slowly drones on with slight highs keeps us watching for more!

The location is very typical of a horror in this. They managed to get pictures very early in the morning of New York landmarks with nothing or no one there but destruction and wreckage. They use these locations as it scares us. Some people, usually the target audience, use this place daily, and know how busy it is, and seeing it in this state, scares them. The animal testing facility is also very strong in the way that you never know what horrors they will be doing to the animals. This is also a controversial issue at the time this movie was created, therefore it linked in well with the timescale It was created. The lighting is one of the things that make this movie and other horror movies powerful. There is lots of flashing lights showing close ups of the faces of the victims and the zombies, making it a very hectic situation, and instead of showing a slow whole shot with no transitions, it shows snap shots of the danger. The natural daylight is also very good in the way it creates an eerie atmosphere when the man is outside the hospital. There are dress codes used in these scenes that give us a clue to the genre as well. We first see the protagonist in a hospital, completely naked. The semiotics of being in a hospital enough shows how vulnerable this man is, yet he is completely naked, isolated, being the only one in the whole hospital. The scientists are first seen coming in drinking what we would think as coffee. We drink coffee when we are tired, and due to the lighting, it looks like night. This tells us that the scientist must work late nights, and is probably really stressed. His body language also shows this. He is very submissive, yet anxious about letting the monkeys out. During this, you would expect the camera to show lots of low angle shots at him, due to the other characters yelling and swearing at him, although the camera is always shot grouping him with the other characters. This is bringing all the characters together, showing that there is no pro or antagonist in this scene, that they will all be attacked by the chimps similarly.
(Unfortunately we could not get the opening sequence)
Chimp Scene:

Location + Music:

Target Audience

Our target audience is 18-30 years old. We plan to keep a young adult age for our movie, due to the actors being a young age, and the audience is able to relate to some of the issues and events that will come. We will need to keep to 18 plus due to the violence we plan to have in our film, but due to our equipment, we will have only suggestions of it, rather than showing the graphical scenes. We will keep our audience hooked with our suspense that seems to last from the beginning. This is similar to some of Hitchcock’s greatest films. He was restricted to 10 minute filming scenes, due to the cameras, and he overcame this with a dark object passing by as he put a new camera reel in. This meant he could keep the audience in suspense for more than 10 minutes without making them bored. We plan to do it for 2 minutes. We will use editing such as fast transitions, but only before the suspense breaks, and we plan to keep a lot of the POV so the audience is kept as close to the danger as possible, and only know what the characters know.

The 3 actors will engage in typical conversation that people of that age would have, to keep to our target audience. We also plan to keep the idea of having them camping out with a camera to record their journeys, which links in with the target audience as well.