Preliminary Task

Link to my preliminary task.

Profesional Improvements

The school had a processional film maker come in to give us advice on our finished products. Oscar Stringer gave me loads of good feedback on my video and things I could include/improve.

One thing that was noted is the start of my video when my main character looks at the two images the audience doesn't feel much sympathy due to them not knowing the relationship between them and why he was looking at the images. So instead we had the idea to have a large image of the characters school class with crosses on some faces to show who he has lost and then once he shoots the first zombie he could cross off another face on his picture.

Another thing that was pointed out as I also mentioned in another part of my evaluation is the horror scene with the second zombie as he two felt it wasn't scary and almost comical. To combat this we noticed two major things the first was the noise that the zombie made as this was just sped up version of his own scream and wasn't very scary and so need to be changed. Another point was the amount of suspense built up so I went and changed the time in which the music stopped sooner to build more suspense which worked but still wasn't nearly scary enough.

Finally I needed to put the title in the video somewhere which I had no original plan to do so he adviced me to place it at the end with the car journey which turned out great.

Evaluation

Overall evaluation of my final piece

All In all I enjoyed the way in which my production was produced and the outcome of the final product. Looking back there are many things I would of changed and many things I enjoyed.

Things that turned out well:

One thing I thought that turned out well is the music I added throughout the video, I felt it added the desired mood when needed efficiently especially at the start to show sadness and deep thought. Another thing I thought turned out really well is the Film magic pro tints as it gave the whole scenes more professional look and something you might see in the cinema.

Things that I would of liked to improve:

One thing I would of liked to improve is the special effect I placed on the zombie being shot as there was a delay on the blood splat on the camera in which I did not have enough time to re-render and recolor. Another thing I would of liked to change is the horror scene when the second zombie jumps out as I found this part almost comical rather than scary due to the zombies noise and music ending too late for suspension. Finally the most important thing I would like to of changed is the title sequence as I would like the title to pop out after the zombie attack just before the flash back rather than at the end which is exactly the same as other films to add impact to the title.

I found this task a great insight into how films are produced and the amount of work spent on them regardless of how good a film turns out to be and that the film will fail if one aspect is poor.

The Audience

My target audience will be males aged between 15-25 interested in the apocalyptic horror genre for example films like resident evil, Eli and 28days later. I chose this target audience as I wanted a minimum age rating of 15 so I was aloud some freedom in the horror and violence I was able to put into my production. The audience will be primarily male due to the genre involved and the amount of violence.

To keep my target audience’s attention during the film I want to add a lot of suspense and very powerful music in the background with the final film having large action scenes only after the release of suspense as a relief and enjoyment for watching the horror.

Planning of the foundation production

The planning of my foundation production allowed me to try and place together different ideas from my head onto paper through different story boards. I always wanted to do a film involving zombies but wasn’t sure on how to do the opening 2minutes of a film.

Ideas:

During the planning process I had many different ideas on how to start my film. One idea was to introduce a couple of main characters at the very start fighting off the zombies in a woods but I found this idea to be to action packed for what I wanted to create and not included the horror aspect I wanted due to no suspense.

Another idea I had was to film an abandoned street with one main character in which the audience no little about to add mystery into the beginning. I refined this idea after watching a new filmed called “skyline” in which the main characters meet the enemy at the beginning but still keeping the mystery and then flashed back to an early date to introduce the character and story.

Storyboard:

With my storyboard I was able to improve on my second idea by choosing camera shots and scripts during the clips. Even on the storyboard phase I was still coming up with different ideas in which I had to choose which to use and would suit my desired genre the best. For example at the end of the flash forwards I wanted my main character to have a prolonged fight with a zombie but then thought it was not scary enough and too action packed. So instead I tried to build up suspense in the music and the character peering around the corner and cutting the clip as the zombie jumped out.

Media Institution

The ideal institution to examine my finished production would be Bristol film studios. This is due to them being a local low budget film producer that creates horror movies and other genres which is perfect to examine my film.

They would be able to help me make improvements on my final piece, help advertise my product for retail, create a DVD and market my product.

What I’ve learnt from start to finish.

During the time from planning my preliminary task to editing the clips I have learnt many key things in the process of creating a film production.

One main thing I have learnt is the importance of sound in a video clip from a music track to sound effects. In my preliminary task I didn’t use any music compared to my foundation piece and in comparison I found that my foundation production had a much larger atmosphere and set the mood very easily whereas the preliminary task was almost silent and i felt no emotion when watching.

Another thing I have learnt from the preliminary task is the importance of different camera shots and angles. In the preliminary task I used the 180 degree rule when filming my interview, this allows the conversation to flow better and allow the audience to see the expressions of the actors face. Also during my preliminary task many of my shots were very dark in which I tried to correct using computer software but was unsuccessful and so the original shots are extremely important and not everything can be fixed during the editing no matter how good the software is.

Finally I learnt a lot about the editing process and how much is involved during it. During the preliminary task I took time to try and cut the different clips together to look continuous during the opening of the door using different clips. To do so I had to zoom into the timeline on Adobe Premier and play through constantly to see if there was a delay or skip, this process must take a lot of time during the making of a large feature production.

Foundation Peoduction

My finished piece of work for the main task. I originally shot this piece in 720p although was unable to upload anything higher than 480p due to the upload times.

Adobe - Premiere

Once I have collected all of my clips together I will use a programme called Adobe Premiere which will allow me to edit all of my clips together once i have finished with them in After Effects.
(After effects for compositions - Premiere for Editing)

Adobe - After effects

"Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems. Its main purpose is for film and video post-production: combining multiple video sources in various ways (compositing), correcting brightness, color, and unwanted camera motion, adding visual effects, and many similar tasks." - Wikipedia

Plug-ins I will use:

- Action essentials 2

Using this Plug-in I will be able to place muzzle flashes, blood splatters, sound effects and smoke into my videos.











- Film Magic Pro

Using this Plug-in I will be able to place pre-rendered video pre-sets over my video to give it a more desired atmosphere.

Software

The software that I will be using includes:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe After effects
- Adobe Premier
- Adobe Encore

Equipment and Props

Clothing:
For the the first couple of scenes the main character will wear camouflaged or combat trousers with a t-shirt or jacket. Preferable old clothes will be used as rips and dirt will add to the apocalypse look.
The infected will wear old ripped clothes, the clothing does not need to be specific with the infected.
In the Final scene all players will wear football clothing.

Sniper Rifle:
To create the sniper rifle I followed a guide on Youtube that shows viewers how to create guns out of paper. This gun was made out of around ten rolled up pieces of paper which I will paper mache and then paint in black to make it strong and realistic.
This technique is perfect as it allows me to create the required affect while not needing a working sniper due to the software I will be using.

Meat Trap:
For this I will use my brother to lay on the pavement with some fake blood.

Cast

Here is my first idea on the cast, although I may change some later on in the planning process.

Main Character - Joe Parfit
Infected1 - Torben H
Infected2 - Dan Henshall
Dead man - Jack Pearce

Goal Keeper - Andrew Ridge
Footballer1 - Joe Parfit
Footballer2 - Matt Mealing
Footballer3 - Jake Clark

Due to my video not needing many actors in the same scene it will make life a lot easier to film due to being able to film different scenes depending on if my actors are available.

Story Board 1

For the start scene i wanted to throw the audience right into the action making them think about whats happening and what happened. while doing so i also want to make the audience feel sympathetic about the main character through him looking at pictures of his dead wife and child with powerful music in the background.

Story Board 2

On this scene i wanted to scare the audience after being introduced to the "flesh eating zombies" by building up suspense through the camera shots and music.

Story Board 3

On this part of the film I wanted a flash back by 3days so i could introduce the characters and show they were once ordinary people playing a simple game of football in the park. This technique has been used in many film for example the recent film "Skyline" in which they are thrown right into the action and then flashed back to introduce the characters and plot.