Message To Examiners

Hello and welcome to my Blog. This is just a quick message on where eveything is. All of what I have done on my Coursework is labelled 'Coursework' and will also have thet title of the post (e.g. Coursework - Analysis, Coursework - Final Product, etc).

Also if any images are too small for you, you can click on the image which will then be shown larger and more clearly.

I hope you are pleased with the work I have done and I hope you have no problems getting around my blog. Thankyou.

Preliminary Task

Coursework - Research and Planning #2

Due to not being able to film my first and second script due to not being able to gather my actors at the same time, I have decided to change my script into one that requires less and different people, and less difficult shots. I was given the chance to film my product at my Sisters house. But now that I am planning on filming at my sisters and not with the actors i planned to use. I will have to change my script completely. Below are a list of things in my script I will have to change as I am unable to do most/all of the scenes.

Below are all the things I have had to change when planning my new script. Everything else on the first researching and planning is also going to be used in some way in this new script.

Actresses
As I am going to film my product at my sisters, there will be no actors but infact, actresses. The product will have only to characters. The survivor Who will play as my sister, Amy and
the spooky young girl who will be played by my niece/my sisters daughter, Kacey.

Location
Seeing as the outside has too many cars or people walking about, I will need to film my product in a quiet area, meaning I will have to film my product in my sisters house. There we will be able to move things around to add realism to my product (meaning we will be able to trash the place). As there may be things around my sisters house that will make the area look unrealistic, I will have the whole movie in black and white, which will not only make these things unnoticeable, but will also add more affect in my product. Also we will need to film in the kitchen, as there is a scene that requires the survivor drinking from a tap.

Lighting
I want my movie to be bright, so the viewers are able to see what’s going on and certain objects. As this is a horror movie, and horror movies are known to be filmed at night, I will add the black and white/gray scale affect to the whole of my product. As mentioned before it will also add more affect, but will also make my film look darker aswell.

Weather
Seeing as I can’t control the weather, I am unsure what the weather will be like when I begin filming. I would prefer a bright daylight sky so Viewers are able to see clearly what is going on in the introduction. If I was to film at night, It will be hard to see what is going on, and if I was to film in the rain, I will have to find a way to cover the camera so it doesn’t get wet, which will be very difficult.

Costume/Appearance
In my product, The actresses will need to wear costumes which can make the viewers identify who they are. For the Young spooky girl, She would have to wear a white top, which will then be covered in fake blood. Also, she would have to have fake blood, powder and brown powder (could be cocoa powder) covers all over her to make her look more spooky. Her hair will also be messy and untidy, this will help show that the girl possibly contains the flu virus. The survivor will be made to look like one of the Women who always get killed in horror movies. Her appearance must be untidy, so the viewer is able to see that she’s been surviving in a street filled with infected zombies. She must also have untidy hair.

Added Propps
We have had to get rid of many propps and equipment that was going to be used in the first script of the movie. Firstly, as the main actor, Lewis, in my first script was not going to be in this script, which would mean I am unable to obtain the fake guns and weapons off him. Everything else in the old script will be needed in my new script. But I will also need a picture of the young girl which will be filmed and begin the first scene. Also some sort of weapon will be needed which I may be able to obtain from my sister (for example a golf club).

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)
My 2 minute introduction uses a disequilibrium, meaning there is a problem straight at the beginning. Left 4 dead, the game i wanted this movie to relate too, and Other popular movies such as I am legend and SAW all also are set as a disequilibrium. In I am legend, the viewer is aware of a virus because it is explained in the beginning. In my product, I had a radio type voice explain to the viewers that a zombie virus had spread across the world. Also, I used mise en scene, effects and sound to represent the horror/sci fi genre.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups ?
My media product represents particular social groups with it's genre. As I aimed for my product to be a horror genre, it would be most suitable for the older audience (18 years old +). Children and younger aged teenagers may not show liking into this type of movie as it contains horror and violence. It is also said that the Gothic social groups prefer horror/sci fi movies, So my product may also be suitable for that sort of group


3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
As my media product is a horror/sci fi genre movie, it must contain not only brilliant effects, but also certain professional areas in mise en scene such as lighting, costume and weather. As these things may cost a fortune to do/produce, a media institution with a high budget such as universal will be the most suitable group to distribute my media product. Smaller institutions with small budget will have trouble creating horror/sci fi movies as they will struggle to pay for certain mise en scene areas and editing/effects.


4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As said in question two, my media product is a horror/sci fi genre, Meaning it is mostly suitable for the adult/older youths audience (or anyone who enjoy horror based films such as I am Legend). This is because my product will contain strong violence, gore and horror which will be unsuitable for children or younger teenagers and those who may be squeamish. My product may also be suitable for groups or couples as it's the sort of movie were viewers can talk about what happens in the film.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?
I attracted/addressed my audience by using mainly editing, sound effects and certain mise en scene areas in a way to make the audience want to watch more. below shows the four areas I used (Editing, sound, mise en scene and camera work) and what and how I used these areas to attract the audience
Editing/special effects- Because I was able to use the amazing editing software, sony vegas, I was able to add more effects and edit better then someone who would use windows movie maker or possibly Imovie (I think that's what the movie making software on the Mac is called). With sony vegas, i could also add special effects, for example I added the static/television fuzz in certain parts of my introduction to add more effect. I was also able to add a grayscale to my product, (This can be done in most movie making software but sony vegas has more grayscale effects to choose from) meaning I could show the viewers that the introduction of my film was set before the rest of the film.
Sound- I probably spent the most time editing, removing and adding sounds onto my product. When I first began planning my product, I wanted a certain friend to do a voice over as a radio person who is talking about the zombie virus. Sadly i failed to do this in the end, but I then found a voice over exactly like the one I wanted on a popular website called Freesound.org (As you can probably tell by it's name, the website provides sound effects and music which is completely free). Other sound effects i found from this website included the sound of a door creakingt then closing, water from a tap running and the scream from the girl as she attacks the survivor. Also, another game that I used to play (Timesplitters) had a website were you could get access to all soundtracks used in the game which I had permission to use in my product (website called tsmusicbox.com).
Mise en scene- all mise en scene was done when shooting and none was done with sony vegas. The location we filmed in was in my sister and neices house. To make my product more realistic, we made the house look destroyed (not the whole house, just rooms and areas we were filming in :)) by throwing blankets, CD's tables chair cushions etc. on the floor and adding fake cobwebs. Outside in the garden we did things such as put a shelf stand outside, throw some toys on the floor and have a bin lying on the floor (the bin which the girl was lying in) LOCATION AND LAYOUT. For costumes the actors wore old clothes that they were willing to get dirty. For the zombie girl, we wanted her to be wearing a white top so the audience could see the blood on her top. The survivor was made to look like the typical women who will get killed in most horror movies, COSTUMES. As we did not have proffesional camera's and special movie lights, we had to film during the day so we were completely able to see everything, LIGHTING.
Camerawork- The camera work would not have attracted the audience as most viewers will not be concentrating on the camera work.

All I have mentioned above were combined to attract the audience.


6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As I have previously made films in history, I can not say I have learned anything in the editing area of film making as all of the effects/what I used to edit I have used before. Although I did learn about what effects I would need to add when editing a product of that genre, But everything else i was already aware of.

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
As I was unable to complete my preliminary task, I am unable to answer this question. But overall, I have learnt the difficulties in trying gather actors together to film certain shoots.

Completed Intro

Due to the amount of time I had left to finish this introduction and also due to the main character (Lewis) being on holiday, I had to think of another idea. I had the chance to do some filming with my sister and her daughter (My Neice). Unfortunatly we was unable to film the introduction and make it exactly the same as the script. We still stook to the same storyline (Zombie virus spreading across the world) but the script was nothing like the old one as we did not have the props and enough people to do the original script.

We filmed all scenes twice or more in different angles each scene. Also we was unable to contain a tripod, meaning all shots were in hand held camera angle (I did want alot of scenes in hand held anyway). below, are all the small scenes that we filmed and how many times we filmed it.

Scene one- Survivor enters the house cautious, as she walks away she is unaware of a small table sidwards on the floor and trips over it. Two shots were filmed for this in different positions.

Scene Two- As she gets up from falling over an infected young girl comes down the stairs and sees her. The survivor is unaware of the girls appearance. Two shots were filmed in two different locations.

Scene Three- As the survivor gets up she looks around, finds a golf club and then spot the girl. This was filmed around 6 times due to different camera angles and some mistake in certain shots.

Scene Four- Survivor looks again and the girl has disapeared (the viewer knows that the house is possibly haunted, but the survivor thibnks she's seeing things.) Took 3 shots to film all in different positions.

Scene Five- Survivor looks into the kitchen and find a water tap, she desperatly runs toward it and turns it on. Another shot is filming outside the house where you can hear the tap running. The viewer does not spot the same girl who is outside lying on the floor. Goes back to the survivor who is drinking the water with her hands (The viewer then understands that she has been desperate for water). Last shot again showing the outside of the house, The viewer can only just hear the tap turn off. Took 3 seperate shots to film this scene.

Scene six- Survivor looks outside and sees the girl on the floor. She instantly drops the golf clubs and goes to aid the girl. 2 Scenes to film this scene, both in different positions.

Scene Seven- Survivor is feeling the girls pulse and checking to see if the girl is still alive. The girl then awakens and screams at the survivor, who then panics and backs away. 3 attempts to film this scene, two successful, one being an outtake.

Scene Eight- Little girl grabs the survivor by the neck and pushes her onto the floor. Took one shot.

Scene nine- Survivor is trying to escape from the "zombie" girl who is on her. The girl then spits blood onto the survivors face. This Took 2 attempts, one sucessful

Scene ten- The girl bites the survivor in the neck, From that, blood begins streaming out of the survivors neck. Two shots, one of the bite and one of the blood streaming out of her neck

Scene ten- Ends the introduction with the survivor who is now a zombie and the girl walking away. One shot.

Logo (Brua studio's)

(click the logo for a larger and more clear view)

















One of the tasks was to make a logo which would be shown in the intro. I had a rough plan on what my logo would look like. I made my logo by using Adobe Photoshop elements 5.0. Before making the logo, i decided to name my group Brua. Brua was an old nickname of mine when I was young, I feel this is a good name for a movie making group.





I then began planning on what my logo would look like. Looking on google, I typed "Video Camera" and began browsing for images of video cameras.


I then found a Cartoon average home video camera and pasted it onto A blank page on Adobe. Before editing the picture, I made the background colour black.


















Then, by using a gradient tool, I made a diamond gradient

By using the magic wand tool, I then took out all the unwanted colours in the video camera image, after doing so, my image then aneded up looking something on the lines of...

...This. Finally by using the magic tool again i clicked all the outlines and remaining parts of the image and painted then white, All accept the red light. By going into google and searching for video camera lens I then pasted it and edited onto the logo to make it look apart of the first image. Finally, I had to search a likable text and use it as the title of the logo (Brua Studio's). After finding the appropriate text, I had then completed my logo.

Photo's of locations

Below are photo's of locations I have, I will and considered using .

I was planning on using this path as a run scene, the location was very quiet, the fences looked old and some areas had dead tree's, I didn't use this area as I had to erase the running scene due to time restrictions. The location was found in Lutterworth.

This Location was going to be used in the very first scene of the introduction (Newspaper scene.)

But although quiet, it was quite a clean and bright area, which wouldn't be a good location in my genre of film. Loc ation also found in lutterworth.

This was also going to be used as the running scene. the area was well littered which was what we wanted. Also it contained dead Trees and the buildings that surrounded it were old fashioned. Again, this location was not used due to time restrictions.

Another location that was going to be used for the newspaper scene. Again, the area was quiet and had barely any parked vehicles, I did not choose this area as yet again it was too bright and clean.

I was planning on using this location as the scene were it takes the viewers back 4 hours from present time. The Area was filled with dead leaves and trees and the grass was untidy, also the houses looked old and deserted, We did not use this location because we found a better area to film that certain scene.

The Soloist

The soloist is a film made in 2009 which is based the book written by Steve Lopez. The film is a drama genre and is based on a true story about a musician caled Nathaniel Ayers who develops a mental illness and then becomes homeless.
The plot of the film is about Nathaniel being homeless and ill. One day he meets Steve Lopez, a Newspaper writer, who then decides to write newspaper column about Nathaniel. An old women then reads the article an din sympathy, sends Steve Lopez a Cello to give to Nathaniel. The main plot of the film is about Steve Lopez trying to help Nathaniel.
The director of the film was Joe Wright, who had directed other popular films such as Pride and Prejudice (2005), and Atonement (2003). Nathaniel is played by Jamie Foxx and Steve Lopez is played by Robert Downy Jr.
The film spent over nine and a half million dollars to be shown in over two thousand theatres. Each Theatre would make an average of Four thousand dollars from Customers. In total, The film only gained around half of the money they had spent on making this film, bringing in over thirty one million dollars in total.
The film has only been nominated for one award. The category was Best actor and the nominee was Jamie Foxx. It has an average rating of (out of 10) around 6 stars. A large percentage of viewers have rated this film low because of The plot of the film.

New Storyboard For Intro - Not Just A Flu

After watching a few video's on YouTube, getting more into my work and thinking about how to film, I realised that the rough script I had would be very Difficult to both film and edit. I also Thought it was a little silly and would not show that the movie is a thriller/horror as well as an action. Lastly, the whole location of the introduction would have been bright and dry, which also does not show that the film is a thriller/horror.

During this moment I began to look for other projects that people have done that relates to "left 4 dead". The first video I watched was a trailer instead of an introduction. But it contains scenes and has effects that I am planning on using in my video.






I have now made a new storyboard which makes a bit more sense then the other one. If I ever do complete all of this movie then I will use the first script in the film but not as the intro.

Instead of having one clip have an arrow going to the next clip like I did in my old storyboard, I put each clip in a box which I then scanned onto a computer to put onto here.




All clips listed and explained below.

box1- Scene of a deserted street, Quite littered, Long shot distance + birds eye view, litter includes a newspaper being thrown around by the wind.
box2- Zoom in on Newspaper, shows the heading "End Of The World?" and a sub heading "Virus takes 90% of the worlds population." This is so the Viewers understand what is going on.
box3- Shows a dirty shed wall, written on the wall says "Not just a Flu!" Sounds of gun firing in background and hear a door opening then slamming shut.
box4- Camera moves from wall and onto Three people covered in blood, Holding guns and panting Heavily. Introduces the Viewers to the three main characters (survivors). Survivors called Greg (leads the three), Nick (Oldest member) and Dom (Youngest). after a 2 or 3 seconds of them panting, Shows Dom and Greg with Nick on the other side of the room, Camera is not on Nick. Dom says "What the hell was that?". Greg then replies "I don't know, They must be changing."
box5- Shows Nick Catching his breath who instantly says after Greg "Changing?? Oh come on, why didn't we just stay in the fricken shop." Shows that Nick has different ideas to Greg
box6- Camera goes Back to Dom And Greg. Greg Replies "Because we're trying to escape Nick."
box7- Back to Nick's but a closes view to Nick's face "We was safe there we could have stayed there for days..."
box8- Nick continues to Argue but the camera goes back to Greg and Dom. Nick is in the background saying.. "We had Ammo, Food, Water, Beds.." Nick then gets interrupted by Greg who repeats "We are trying to escape!"
box9- Back to Nick But yet again a closer shot on his face, he shouts "Escape? we're Trying to survive!"
box10- Back to Greg and Dom, Greg Doesn't reply and looks down on the floor. A slow zoom in on Greg. Camera then Blurs off two a completely other scene
box11- Takes the viewer back 4 hours before that scene, Begins with Greg and the camera in the exact same position as in the end of the last clip, Location has changed to a deserted small car park. Sound in background is something screaming (doesn't sound human, sounds unordinary).
box12- Over shoulder camera angle over Greg facing downwards. We see a person on the floor covered in blood, screeching and with bright shining eyes (An infected/zombie). The zombie is squirming around the floor and trying to get up. As it begins to get up, Lewis raises a pistol from his hand and fires shoots the zombie twice (Twice in the head). The camera then moves onto Dom.
box13- Dom is swinging at a zombie with a baseball bat. The zombie approaches him and he jabs the zombie in the stomach with the bat. The zombie stumbles back and Dom then kills the zombie by whacking in the head. Nick walks up to Dom who turns around towards Greg. Nick says "what now?"
box14- Over shoulder view from Nick, Dom in front of him facing Greg who is in front of both of them facing them. "all i can think is to hide in a barricaded house, find some food and some weapons."
box15- Camera faces Dom and behind Dom, Nick. Dom says "what about that gun shop?" Nick is unaware of a gun shop and says "there's a gun shop?"
box16- Camera Just on Greg, who says.. "shit! the gun shop! if it's barricaded then we can't ask for any more luck!"
box17- Birds eye view of the three leaving the car park and running into an empty road.
box18- Cuts to them arriving at the gun shop (Unsure whether this will be filmed in an actual gun shop or not). Long distance shot of Nick trying to open the door with Dom and Greg behind him looking around the area for any Infected.
box19- Close up of Nick's hand opening the door with the handle.
box20- camera shot from inside the gun shop. Room is almost pitch black. beam of light comes in as Nick opens the door, we can see the shadows of Nick, Greg and Dom on the floor from the light coming from the door, the 3 enter and Dom goes to close the door.
box21- Outside view of Dom closing the door.
box22- Viewers can barely see anything, same as the survivors, You can fadely see the three walk away from the door. Dom shouts "Hello?". to see if any survivors are in the shop. Greg then says to the others "Turn your torches on and look for a light switch.
box23- Clip of the three turning there torches on. We can now fadely see the room, and a hooded creature who is hiding in the room
box24- Scene of all of them looking around until Dom finds the light switch
box25- Shows Dom's Light from his torch on the light switch. you can see something with bright eyes next to the switch that Dom is unaware of.
box26- Dark scene of Dom walking towards the light. The creature is on both his feet and hands preparing to pounce On Dom.
box27- Same camera angle as box 25, Dom is now almost at the light, he then hears the creature growl, he moves his torch onto the creature (which is a 'special' infected.). Before he can do anything the creature jumps at him..
box28- Mid shot of Dom flying onto the floor with the creature on top of him, also as he drops his torch the light spins around to add more thrill.
box29- Next scene of Nick and Greg turning towards Dom. Greg shouts "Dom??" then Shines his torch at Dom.
box30- The camera is in the position of Greg's Torch. so it looks as if the torch is the camera. we see the creature swinging his arms at Dom (beating him in a way), Dom is trying to push the creature off but is failing.
box31- Over shoulder view of the creature still attacking Dom who shouts in pain.
box32- Same mid shot view as in box 28, Greg kicks the creature off of Dom which causes it to stumble backwards.
Box33- Another over shoulder view over the creature. This part Greg gets out a pistol and shoots the creature six times. the Creature then collapses and dies.
box34- Another mid shot view but a bit closer then in boxes 28 and 32. This shows Greg hit the switch which then turns the lights on.
box35- Long shot of the room as the lights turn on.
Box36- same mid shot view as box34, Greg is looking down at Dom who is now sitting on the floor with his back leaning on the wall. Dom is Breathing heavily. Greg then asks Dom "Are you okay?". another 4 seconds and Dom hasn't replied.
Box37- Shows Nick Turn away from the two and look at some of the guns on the table.
Box38- Different view of Dom still in the same position. Greg then crouches down and says "Did you get bitten?" after two seconds Dom replies "No...". Greg says straight after "Dom? If you got bit you need to tell us." Dom quickly replies "No i didn't get fricken bit!"
Box39- Over shoulder view over Greg. Dom turns his head towards Greg and then says "Honest.."
Box40- Back to Nick who has picked up a gun and is examining it. In the background we hear Dom saying to Lewis.. "I just need to catch my breath". Nick then turns to a table with a map on it and two pieces of used paper.
Box41- Close shot of Nick then walking towards the table Camera behind Nick.
Box42- Zoom in shot of Nick looking at the map and papers he calls the others to come and look.
Box43- Mid shot of Greg And Dom turning there heads towards Nick. Greg gets up and walks towards Nick while Dom waits a few seconds then gets up.
Box44- Camera represents the map. Shows Nick Looking at the camera (Map) and then Greg Coming up towards him. As he stops Greg asks "Whats That?".
Box45- Over head view over all Greg and Nick and then Joined by Dom. Camera is able to see what is written on the map. map reads "Extraction Points" with some areas of the map circled or crossed with a marker pen.
Box46- Same view as box44, Shows the three looking at the map, Dom to the left, Lewis to the middle and Nick to the right. The scene then fades out and ends the Intro.


End of intro

During Filming - Not Just a Flu

Now beginning with my filming, I have began buying equipment, objects and clothing that is needed for my 2 minute intro.

I listed everything i would need to bring when I began filming. Below is the list and why I need each item.
Fake Blood: I Have learnt to make fake blood by using flour, water, red colouring and chocolate powder. I need fake blood to add effect to the zombies and the survivors.
Powder/Flour: Needed to make the infected pale and more realistic.
2 Cameras: I need 2 to be able to film one section with two cameras angles.
Towels: Needed for the actors.
Guns and other weapons(fake) : The actor Lewis, who plays Greg will supply all guns.
Torches: Needed for the (gun) shop scene.
Newspaper: A Self made Newspaper is needed for the first scene of the intro.


Location
When I began planning my first draft of the intro. In my first draft i was planning on using a large field which contains a large shed. Because of changing my script I have decided to change the intro

(Picture unavailable at the moment)
For the newspaper scene, I filmed this just outside my house on an empty street. The street contained no cars or people which was really helpful when filming this scene. I also decided to film another section of this intro on the same street (This is the scene were it takes the viewers four hours before the very beginning).

Not Just A Flu - Plan/Analysis - Media Film Project

Before Filming

Class Task
Our task was to either create a magazine which contains a front page, a contents, and a first page, Or to Make an two minute opening to a film of any genre. Although I enjoy using adobe photo shops, and have used photoshop for other things such as posters, birthday cards and editing photo's, I feel I'm more comfortable and feel like I can get a higher grade with Film.



Ideas
Before planning anything I had to think about the genre my 2 minute introduction is based on. I instantly had an idea to do a movie based on the video game, "left 4 dead" which is a game based on Disaster and survival.




Left 4 dead storyline
The storyline of the game is about a Virus that has spread through the world, turning all those who are infected with the virus into Zombies. When the virus spreads there are barely any survivors in the world. The game is based on four survivors, who have not been evacuated. In the game you have a choice to play as one of the four survivors, and together, survive through hordes of infected and hunt down for rescue helicopters, boats and vehicles that are still looking for remaining survivors. Surviving includes finding safe houses that the infected are unable to get to, and killing thousands of infected that try to attack you, including "special infected" which have special abilities. An example as one of the infected is a "hunter", which has the ability to jump very high and pin a survivors onto the floor.
One more example of a special infected is a "tank". a giant zombie which is basically a gorilla, but has super strength. considered probably the most dangerous zombie in the game.

Tank-Left 4 dead

The Youtube Video above is the Trailer and the introduction to "left 4 dead". The Video basically shows you that in this game the whole aim of the game is to survive. It relates to my movie because the game's storyline is quite identical to mine.

The Draft Plan On Paper (OLD DRAFT)

The image to the left may be difficult to see, but this is my first plan out of my introduction. It's a rough plan which I did and then scanned onto a computer to upload onto this. In this Paper i give small detail about the Props Required, the amount of actors needed and who the actors will be, the location and lighting, The amount of camera's requires and the clothing that the actors will need to wear. As you can see i have used stickmen and rough drawings to show the plan.



Actors in the Intro
I will be using, in a way, the same storyline as the game. But instead of four survivors, I'm planning on only having three. Another reason why i wanted to do a 2 minute introduction based on this game is because I knew that alot of friends of mine have the game and would be more then happy to be in the film. I wanted the Three survivors to be three certain people, Being Jaydn Tomkins, Dominic Taylor and Lewis Randall.
I Know that I won't be able have thousands of people to play the act as the infected. So I plan on using just five actors who will play more then one Zombie (so in a way they will re-appear as a different zombie). At the moment, I have just 3 people who are taking a role as an infected, and another person who will have the role as a special infected.


Location Location Location (OLD LOCATION)
It was difficult thinking of an area to film this introduction. I though about using a street or road, But as people and vehicles would be coming into the shot almost all the time, it would be very difficult to film. I also had to consider the fact that using fake guns in a public place to film with could get us into trouble. I then thought that using a quiet field would be good. I planned on looking around my village for an empty Field which contains a shed-like building placed somewhere on the field. I found out that an old friend of mine is a farmer who owns a reasonably large field. Currently I have not yet contacted him asking him if we can use his field to film on. I feel that he will be more then happy to let us use it. Using his private land will also enable us to use the fake gun props without getting into any form of trouble.


Lighting (OLD LIGHTING)
Currently I haven't got much to write about the lighting, But I want it to be broad daylight. If my plan can fit into 2 minutes, I'll be able to use a shed like building, which inside will be dark, with one source of light on the ceiling.


Weather (OLD WEATHER)
I also don't have much to write about the weather in the film. I feel Raining and sunny would probably be the most effective weather in this film. Windy weather will be difficult for the camera because it may mess with the microphone attached to the camera. Also, I feel snowy weather will make the film look less effective. It is possible to snow in one of the days we film, as it's been snowing alot recently, it most likely will snow because the weather hates me *laughs*.


Cameras
I imagine that most people who are doing the two minute film intro will be using one camera. I feel that one is fine. but to add extra angles and have less filming scenes, Two camera's would be very helpful. Also, making a film like the one I plan on making will be difficult to film, so having two camera's is more helpful.


Props/Items Needed (OLD PROPPS)
I won't need many props to make this film, But the props I require would be very hard to get. All i require for the survivors are weapons (as I mentioned before), those I plan on being an Uzi (a Small Machine gun.), Machine gun and a baseball. Luckily one of the actors (Lewis) Has a fake (not real) Uzi and machine gun that looks almost exactly like the real things, which we can use for the film. Finding a baseball bat will be difficult, as we haven't been able to obtain one yet, but if we're unable to find one, we can just use something else, such as a cricket bat. Other then the three weapons, there are no more props that I need for the time being.

Clothing (OLD CLOTHING)
I also had to consider what the survivors and the infected would wear. I have to think more about what the infected would wear then what the survivors would wear. Below I have given a rough detail on what each act would probably wear.
Survivors- Casual Clothing, nothing unordinary as we want the viewers to see that they've basically just left there house and came into a disaster in a way (if that makes sense). Dom, Jaydn And Lewis will need to wear something casual but something they don't mind getting dirty, so for example a jumper that they never wear.
Infected- What the infected wear is one of the most important thing in the introduction, as we don't have a make-up department to make the actors look exactly like zombies. Again They will need to wear casual trousers, as they wear dressed casual before they were infected. But to avoid viewers looking at the infected's upper body and saying "hey look it's Bob" and "How does that look anything like a zombie?", i feel that if the infected were wearing "hoodies", it will hide any proof of human identity and make the actors look more like spooky zombies.
Special Infected- To start this let me just add that there will only be one special infected in this intro. With the special infected, I had to think about the exact same thing as I thought about with the normal infected, but I also had to make the special infected different to the normal infected. Obviously, there's no possible way I could make someone look like a tank (picture of tank above on the "left 4 dead Storyline" Section.) So I had a bit of trouble on what i could put on the special infected to make him look different. Other then adding a effects, recently, I've had the idea of having a bandanna tied onto the special infected's head, which blocks the special zombies eyes.
This is all I have currently planned on clothing, I may change what the survivors may wear later on when i begin filming.

First Plan of the Storyline (OLD SCRIPT/PLAN)

After thinking and making small notes on the set up of the film I then quickly drew a rough stickmen comic of the storyline. Currently this comic is what I plan on using to help me direct the film, but some things may be edited as I get further into planning the structure. The comic has been scanned onto the computer and is underneath this paragraph.

First Storyline plan (Difficult to read and understand when viewing from my blog.)

The introduction is split into 6 scenes. these scenes have unimportant titles and are listed below

1-Introduction
2-Running Scene
3-Jaydn Attacked
4-Boss Appears
5-Boss attacks Dom
6-Boss attacks Lewis and Jaydn

Below shows the storyline of each scene. (Note: all this is mentioned below is not the actual final storyline. This is the basic plan which may be edited later on.)

Scene One - Introduction
I plan on having the introduction start with 3 areas that are infested with zombies, the last area being shown will show writing on the wall saying "Not 'just a flu' " (which is the Title of the film.) Which introduces the viewers to the film. this will be a very small scene, which I plan on being around 15 or 20 seconds long.
Scene Two - Running Scene
In this scene I won't the viewers to know that the film has begun with a disaster that has occurred (So A disequilibrium, The story instantly begins with a problem.) The scene basically shows The three survivors running across a field. Dom is in front of the other two with a baseball bat, Then Lewis is in the middle Firing an Uzi (small machine gun) at zombies that are charging at the three from the sides, the camera shots prevent the viewers from being able to see the zombies attacking from the side on this scene. And Lastly, jaydn is at the back running sideways while shooting zombies that are coming up from behind with a machine gun. While they are running, Jaydn Asks "how far now?!", Lewis then replies "we're close!" this would make the viewer realise that they're trying to get to a certain location.
Scene Three - Jaydn Attacked
This will probably be the longest scene and the hardest scene to film. as the three run and defend themselves jaydn gets pinned down by 4 zombies, causing him to drop his gun. as jaydn is pinned he calls for help. Lewis and Dom instantly turn around and Lewis shouts "Hang on!" and attempts to shoot the zombies off of Jaydn. Lewis sucessfully kills two of the zombies on Jaydn but another zombie sneaks up on Lewis, Dom then uses his bat and hits that zombie away from Lewis, who has realised that a zombie has snook up on him and turned away from Jaydn. Jaydn now has two zombies on him which manages to push them away and pick up his gun and shoot the last 2 zombies. As jaydn is sprinting back to the others, Lewis (who is standing, not running.) asks Jaydn If he got Bit by one of the zombies, Jaydn says he hasn't and instructs the two to continue running.
Scene Four - Boss Appears

This scene starts with a special infected called a boss, which I plan on being a bit like a "tank", in the actual game. It's quite a distance away from the three survivors but it can still see them. It charges towards them knocking other zombies out of his way (Like in the trailer of 'left 4 dead'). Dom is the first to notice the boss charging at them and alerts the other two that it's about to attack. This scene then ends with The Boss around 10 feet from the survivors.
Scene Five - Boss Attacks Dom

this will be a short scene, but a very difficult one to film and edit. The boss goes for Dominic first, Dom swings at it with his bat, but the boss ducks and punches him away. Because of it's super human strength, the punch sends Dom Flying, around 10 metres away. The scene ends with Dom landing on the ground.

Scene Six - Boss Attacks Lewis And Jaydn

the last scene in the intro. As the boss walks to Dom again, Lewis and Jaydn start to shoot The boss, Which then turns it's attention onto Lewis and Jaydn. opens it's mouth and forms some sort of beam. it then spits/fires the beam at Jaydn And Lewis, The beam hits the ground near the two and explodes, the impact of the explosion causes Lewis and Jaydn to be pushed away and seperated. The Boss Charges at Lewis who is down on the floor and lifts him up from his coat. Jaydn quickly recovers and gets up, he begins to shoot at the boss Who is still holding Lewis. The boss then again moves it's attention onto Jaydn And throws Lewis Away. The Boss begins to charge at Jaydn, who has ran out of ammo and needs to reload. At the end of the intro. It shows Jaydn About to get attacked by the boss, he shouts for his friends and the intro then ends.

END OF MY FIRST SCRIPT

Special Effects - Sony Vegas Movie Studio

Some people will be concerned about how I can pull off some of the parts in the 2 minute intro. For starters, I will not be using Windows movie maker or a Mac. I have my own software which I feel is one of the best editing software you can get. The Software is called Sony Vegas Movie studio. I've used this to make other school projects and video's based on games, And I feel it's very possible to pull of this introduction. Some of the special effects I will do are...

Zombies - Glaring eyes: I will try to have the zombies eyes bright yellow and glowing to add more effect and realism.

Boss - Beam from his mouth: I will use the same effect as I use for the Zombies Eyes.

Boss- Beam Explodes: sony vegas does not have an explosion effect, but I've found an add on you can put into sony vegas which enables you to use an explosion effect.

Currently I can't think of anymore special effects I will need to add onto my intro, but their's a high chance that i'll be adding more effects to make the intro more realistic.

After writing this information about sony vegas, I decided to look for a Music video on youtube which uses sony vegas to edit. I found a random video which I thought shows alot of sony vegas's affects. (The song isn't very important, I haven't exactly listened to what the song is on this video but I imagine the video matches with the beat of the music.) The video relates to my idea from its effects it uses.

Introduction Speech Plan - Deleted

Before the christmas holidays when I had a rough idea of what I was going to do. I had a plan of having someone with a really good voice (A voice that would sound excellent for a "customer announcement" at a supermarket.) and having him read an introduction speech which I would record on a microphone. I Had pretty good script for this speech which I eventually deleted.

Basically, I wanted this person to read a script saying on the lines of "barricade your homes, avoid contact with any infected individuals..." etc. I would then record this on a microphone and put it onto my computer, which would then be edited with sony vegas and added onto the very beginning of the Intro.

I then realised that the intro I had planned was way too long. Aswell as cutting out half of the storyboard, I had to also get rid of this idea.

Finding Related Movies

It was very easy finding movies that are related to my own. I instantly thought that "I am legend" was a movie that was very identle to my Idea. I am Legend Begins with the World already caught in a disaster, so it begins and ends in a disequilibrium, which is how I want my introduction and whole movie to be like. With I am legend, the movie is also about a virus outbreak turning those infected into zombies (Also relates to my own idea). Since this movie is very identical to my own idea, I can watch the movie carefully and look at all types of camera angles that they use and use these angles in my own to make it more professional.
I also thought that 28 days later and the sequals to that movie were quite identical to my own. In 28 days later, it begins by showing us what causes a virus outbreak. With I am Legend, the virus has already happened. 28 days later also relates to my idea because of it's storyline, which is basically to survive.

MoodBoards

Left 4 dead Moodboard

Related movies Moodboard

I decided to make two moodboards instead of one, One with pictures and images from 'left 4 dead', and another showing related movies.

Left 4 dead Moodboard

I felt i didn't have enough to explain by just doing one moodboard with all related movies and other samples. I decided to to make a left 4 dead moodboard to explain more about what is featured in the game. Onthe top left shows us the 4 characters from the first left 4 dead game. Next to them is the 4 characters from the sequel to the first game "left for dead 2". Unlike my film, both games have 4 survivors instead of 3. On the top right it has an image of a 'horde' of infected from the game charging. The Middle image which is covered by the Title is alocation in the game. I had a small blank space behind the title, so I decided to put the location image in as a background. The buttom left shows us the front cover of the game (the front cover of the case the game comes in). It shows a severed hand with it's thumbmissing and it's 4 fingers spread out. The 4 fingers represent the 4 in "left 4 dead". Above that it shows the front cover of the sequel "left 4 dead 2". Which also represents the 2 in "left 4 dead 2". The last part to mention whichis on the bottomright of the moodboard shows all the types of infected in the game. These are: Normal Infected, A spitter, Charger, smoker, Witch, Jockey, Hunter, Boomer and a Tank. All the special infected have these nick names for there special abilities/ways of attacking. For Example, A charger is nicknamed charger because it charges at an enemy with great speed, A boomer is nicknamed boomer because it explodes if it is shot or hit, and a tank is nicknamed tank because it's strength, defence and abilities match up with an actual tank.

Related Texts Moodboard

I used The films 28 days later and i am legend in this moodboard aswell as Left 4 dead. I made this moodboard before i made the left4dead moodboard and before I had plans to make a seperate moodboard which explains why Left 4 dead images are on both moodboards. I had trouble browsing the internet for suitable images from the two texts. Alot of images were either bad quality or too small. In the end i found 4 images for each movie which I then used in my moodboard Along with some Left 4 dead images. I then began to look for a video I watched a few months back on youtube, a popular and short home video someone did which included Zombies wearing Hoodies (what gave me the idea of having the zombies wearing hoodies). I eventually found the video which i then print screened, cropped and then used in my moodboard (The image underneath the M in the MOODBOARD title).