Thursday, 5 May 2011
Along Time Running: The Film
Monday, 28 March 2011
Long Time Running Questionnaire
We made a questionnaire asking a variety of questions about our opening sequence, such as "What genre does this short film belong to?" and "What makes this clear?". We made ten copies and will show our production to an audience and gather their feedback. This will help us greatly as we will be able to understand in more detail, how to make our sequence better and how to do this. This is important as the views of the audience count and we will appreciate positive and negative feedback.
Long Time Running Feedback
Would you please take the time to complete this short questionnaire which will help us improve our film.
1. What genre does this opening sequence belong to?
Horror Romance Comedy
2. How could you tell this?
3. Who was the main character in this sequence?
The guy in the school The person chasing the guy at the beginning
4. Is there anything we could do to make this clearer?
5. What is happening in this sequence?
6. Is there anything we could do to make this clearer?
7. What, out of the sequence, interested you the most?
8. Do the images work well with the music?
Yes No
9. Are the shots typical and Ok?
10.Is it visually interesting?
Thank you for taking our questionnaire !
Long Time Running Feedback
Would you please take the time to complete this short questionnaire which will help us improve our film.
1. What genre does this opening sequence belong to?
Horror Romance Comedy
2. How could you tell this?
3. Who was the main character in this sequence?
The guy in the school The person chasing the guy at the beginning
4. Is there anything we could do to make this clearer?
5. What is happening in this sequence?
6. Is there anything we could do to make this clearer?
7. What, out of the sequence, interested you the most?
8. Do the images work well with the music?
Yes No
9. Are the shots typical and Ok?
10.Is it visually interesting?
Thank you for taking our questionnaire !
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Long Time Running: Location Shots
The location we will be filming at is Moorland Private School, Clitheroe. We decided to choose this location because it quite a large, old building that I feel created with the right effects, filming and cinematography could create an highly adrenaline fueled location which we hope can appeal to the thriller-zombie genre.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Long Time Running: Hand Drawn Costume Design
These are some hand drawn designs of what we hope are main characters costumes are hoped to look like, even though they maybe changed due to budget and availability.
Long Time Running: Risk Assessment Form
This is a signed assessment form, both by cast and A. Birtwell to show that safety has been taken into consideration when production of our film Long Time Running is taking place on the Wednesday 23rd until Saturday 26th at Moorland Private High School in Clitheroe.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Long Time Running: Identifying the Roles of cast
The identified roles of each of the crew members for the production of Zombie Media's, Along Time Running are as follows:
William Leather: Directing and Cinematography
Arran Williams: Make-up, costume design and sound
Joshua Bray: Lighting and editing
After the production is completed, each member of the crew will analyse their own aspect of which they have contributed toward the production. Even though these jobs are given to a specific member the crew will be on hand to help each other.
William Leather: Directing and Cinematography
Arran Williams: Make-up, costume design and sound
Joshua Bray: Lighting and editing
After the production is completed, each member of the crew will analyse their own aspect of which they have contributed toward the production. Even though these jobs are given to a specific member the crew will be on hand to help each other.
Long Time Running: Script and Voiceover
This is the script that will be used when we a producing Long Time Running, there is not a lot of dialogue in this as it is heavily visual. It maybe changed during production as to keep to the alloted time limit.
(Opening on to heavy breathing and running steps during titles)
(Cut to morning after)
MB: Ahhhh! (Stretching)
(Sits down)
(Laughing of child can be heard from flashback)
MB: (Laughs) Go on go ahead!
MK: Okay! Who are they?
MB: I don't know! (.5) Hello?!
(Sees Z, turns around and grabs MK hand)
MB: Come on! Run!
(MK falls, caught by Z)
MK: Dad! Come back...
(Screams can be heard. Heavy breathing and running fades out)
(MB crying)
(Interrupted by a loud moan)
(Slow steps echoed by the corridor as MB steps into corridor)
(Growling heard from Z)
(MB screams, running and heavy breathing heard)
(MB falls, screen turns black. Screaming stops, Z moan carries on)
(Opening on to heavy breathing and running steps during titles)
(Cut to morning after)
MB: Ahhhh! (Stretching)
(Sits down)
(Laughing of child can be heard from flashback)
MB: (Laughs) Go on go ahead!
MK: Okay! Who are they?
MB: I don't know! (.5) Hello?!
(Sees Z, turns around and grabs MK hand)
MB: Come on! Run!
(MK falls, caught by Z)
MK: Dad! Come back...
(Screams can be heard. Heavy breathing and running fades out)
(MB crying)
(Interrupted by a loud moan)
(Slow steps echoed by the corridor as MB steps into corridor)
(Growling heard from Z)
(MB screams, running and heavy breathing heard)
(MB falls, screen turns black. Screaming stops, Z moan carries on)
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Long Time Running: Animatic Storyboard
Once our storyboard was complete, we animated it. We chose which clips to cut and extend, making shots smaller and larger in order to make the film fit together correctly. We then chose an appropriate sound to add to the animation. The sound we chose fitted into the thriller genre perfectly as it contained lots of strings and tinned sound, creating tension as well as an uneasy atmosphere. This is important as it gives us a better impression as to how our own film will turn out.
When examined our animation it became clear that the beginning shots need to be longer to give the audience chance to adjust to the shot. It also became apparent that some of the middle shots are not needed and it was too complicated. We will correct this before our own film to make a successful thriller film.
When examined our animation it became clear that the beginning shots need to be longer to give the audience chance to adjust to the shot. It also became apparent that some of the middle shots are not needed and it was too complicated. We will correct this before our own film to make a successful thriller film.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
technology to be used!
For our film we will be using a Cannon MD235 camcorder to record our film. We are using these are they are relatively new as they came on the scene on 9th january 2008 and we have access to them. in my opinion they are very good as testfreaks.com have rated them 7.2 out of 10. Another piece of technology we will be using for editing our film will be imovie pro, iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation and iPhone 4 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac 0S application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple model. Furthermore for our editing we shall be using a website called Dafont.com as it gives an incredibly wide variety of fonts to use for our credits.
Long Time Running: Synopsis
Our film 'Long Time Running' shows the story of Michael Bower who takes refuge in a school after a virus infects the United Kingdom turning everyone into the undead. The film opens 3 weeks into the widespread infection of the UK, as well as being a Zombie-Thriller it is a psycological battle with himself after he lost the last important part of his life to the infection his son, a flashback during the sequence will show this point.
The infection is violent once in the system the victim changes almost instantly, just like the T-Virus in 28 Days Later even though our undead cannot run as quickly. The change becomes apparent through the dialation and colour change of the pupils (which will be done through colour contacts), also the behaviour becomes very irratic and violent to all who aren't undead.
To kill the infected Bowers discovers he must destroy anywhere above the neck area to destroy transmissions from the brain so the infected can no longer be active. It finishes with a fast paced chase through the school finishing with quick cuts of what seems to be his death but leaves it on a cliff hanger where the sound of a crush is heard and the screen goes black. We hope this will acheve a tension that will stay with the audience even after the film has finished.
Long Time Running: Sounds and Music
For our film, as it being a thriller, we chose sounds that are ominous and connote danger and tension. The music used includes a lot of stringed instruments such as violins and drums to create a beat and increase a rising tension throughout, which will build up the chase scene at the end. We can combined sounds to create a fast moving scene, perhaps making the beat more modern and fast paced but keep the strings as they are needed to keep the tension in the scene.
All our music and sounds are copyright free and were not taken from a website but from CD's with sounds made on computer music makers.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Long Time Running: Storyboard
This is an idea for the storyboard of the future production of our zombie thriller 'Long Time Running', which follows a day in the life of an isolated man who in an highly dangerous and zombie infested part of England. The storyboard contains 2 montages and one flashback to when he lost his son, alot of quick cutting is used throughout the film to build tension,
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Through watching this film I have learnt about keeping the subjects face on one side of the screen and making the camera focus on the space in front of them you can quickly switch to the space behind them revealing something scary and surprising to the viewer. Also I have learnt about how having an overhanging light coming down onto a subject, it lights up certain aspects of what you are filming, leaving certain things in the darkness making them mysterious and scary. I have also learnt about how using high pitched and quick noises when a clip quickly changes creates an emotion and sense of fear from the character which in turn is shared by the viewer.
By Joshua Bray
zombie make- up Arran Williams
For our film project we will need a number of sufficient products in order to make the zombie look scary and realistic, after searching on google and youtube we discovered a quick, easy and cheap way to make the actor look like a zombie.
1. Liquid Latex from a costume shop, to create a flesh tone.
2. Toilet paper mixed with liquid latex and fake blood to create bloody wounds.
3. Multi-color make up kit to make the zombie more grim as well as creating a dead atmosphere.
4. White face cream. This is the base to the make up and also helps make the zombie look more like a human as well as pale.
We also found a step by step video on how to apply zombie make up successfully. This will help us to make a successful film as viewers will be more scared as the zombie will not look fake.
1. Liquid Latex from a costume shop, to create a flesh tone.
2. Toilet paper mixed with liquid latex and fake blood to create bloody wounds.
3. Multi-color make up kit to make the zombie more grim as well as creating a dead atmosphere.
4. White face cream. This is the base to the make up and also helps make the zombie look more like a human as well as pale.
We also found a step by step video on how to apply zombie make up successfully. This will help us to make a successful film as viewers will be more scared as the zombie will not look fake.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
you gotta give the people what they want!
After closely analysing these graphs and their contents I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people would like to share the cinematic experiance with their other half, and most people go to the cinemas to see horrors or thrillers and like to be excited by what they are watching. I feel we could closely link this in to our project as we are doing a zombie thriller, this means we could incorporate a lot of horror twists and turns within our film to keep them on the edge of their seat and excited, which according to our graphs is what the people want!
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Identifying The Target Audience- Arran Williams
All products need a target audience in order to produce a successful product. A target audience is defined using a number of conventions. We identify these conventions as:
GRASS
Gender
Race
Age
Socio-economic status.
As we are producing a zombie thriller, we identified our audience as being, of any gender and race, for an older audience, with the use of frightening scenes, such as 16-25, this age range is typical as it is the age which mostly goes to the cinema, proving to make the institution more money. As the age range is for young adults, the socio-economic status would be between lower working class and lower middle class as young adults are usually just starting their careers.
The first type of audience profiling to develop was Demographic Profiling which is used to group the audience into smaller groups depending on variables such as gender. Using the Socio-Economic scale, we distributed that our target audience would be either, C1- Skilled non- manual e.g sales assistants, D Semi- skilled e.g cleaners, or E unemployed.
Finally, Psychographic Profiling is also used. This is where the profiling presumes the audience to be complex. Young and Rubicam's devised a number of charactersitics such as Aspirers. In our opinion, our zombie thriller would be mainstreamers. This is 40% of the market, which is the largest section. Usually known to buy well- known brand names.
By Arran Williams
GRASS
Gender
Race
Age
Socio-economic status.
As we are producing a zombie thriller, we identified our audience as being, of any gender and race, for an older audience, with the use of frightening scenes, such as 16-25, this age range is typical as it is the age which mostly goes to the cinema, proving to make the institution more money. As the age range is for young adults, the socio-economic status would be between lower working class and lower middle class as young adults are usually just starting their careers.
The first type of audience profiling to develop was Demographic Profiling which is used to group the audience into smaller groups depending on variables such as gender. Using the Socio-Economic scale, we distributed that our target audience would be either, C1- Skilled non- manual e.g sales assistants, D Semi- skilled e.g cleaners, or E unemployed.
Finally, Psychographic Profiling is also used. This is where the profiling presumes the audience to be complex. Young and Rubicam's devised a number of charactersitics such as Aspirers. In our opinion, our zombie thriller would be mainstreamers. This is 40% of the market, which is the largest section. Usually known to buy well- known brand names.
By Arran Williams
identified insitution: film four
Our identified film institution is the british company Film Four launched in 1998 to finance, produce and broadcast British films for the British public, but now shows many Hollywood Blockbusters. Currently the companies message is "Great films for Free" this makes it a popular channel as it makes film seem more of an art form this is achieved through pre-film interviews with cast and crew. It has channels on freeview and the major broadcasting networks such as Sky and Virgin Media, but it's main source of finance is its own production company 'Film Four Productions', which over the years has financed many high grossing films such as; Slumdog Millionaire, This is England, Touching the Void.
I feel that this institution is more closely related to the filming we are going to be doing as it shows a much more independent cinema but makes it relevant in mainstream television hitting on cultural and social situations as well as showing international films such as; Battle Royale, City of God, Oldboy. As our genre of film is in the zombie sub-genre the Film Four company represents it with great respect as in 2007 when british zombie-horror 28 Weeks Later was released Film Four had a commited 'Zombie Week' which included interviews and showed classic and modern zombie films.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Questionnaire to Establish the Target Audience
Audience Questionaire.
Age:
Sex:
Ethnicity:
What is your favourite kind of film genre?
a. thriller
b. romance
c. action
Sex:
Ethnicity:
What is your favourite kind of film genre?
a. thriller
b. romance
c. action
d. sci-fi
e. horror
f. other.
With your chosen option, what reaction would you hope to achieve from this film?
When at the cinemas, what experience do you enjoy the most about a film?
e. horror
f. other.
With your chosen option, what reaction would you hope to achieve from this film?
When at the cinemas, what experience do you enjoy the most about a film?
a. cry
b. laugh,
c. scared,
d. happiness
e. thought provoking.
Who would you most want to watch a film with?
a. parents
Who would you most want to watch a film with?
a. parents
b. friends.
c. partner.
d. grandparents
e. yourself.
How often do you go to the cinemas?
a. every week
e. yourself.
How often do you go to the cinemas?
a. every week
b. once a foretnight
c. once a month
c. once a month
d. not very often
Through distributing this questionnaire through the public I hope to create a large research basis for our media project which can help us decide on the creative and direction wish to take our film in.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Opening title scenes- Arran Williams
Dawn Of The Dead.
During the title sequence of Dawn Of The Dead a number of techniques are used i order to make the genre of the movie apparent and create tension and suspense throughout. The use of sound is appropriate here as the screams of the zombies make the audience feel scared and curious as to why these people are screaming, the theme of thriller is automatically clearly shown. The use of the opening credits is effective as the red writing suggests blood giving the impression that this film is going to be scary as well as gory. The TV broadcasts connotes with the music of Johnny Cash, presenting religion. The use of camera techniques is also effective here, the handheld shots of fighting and people running gives the impression that it is real, presenting a strong theme of realism.
Se7en.
Within the opening sequence of Se7en, there are a number of elements which present a thriller genre. Firstly, starting with an open book then quickly skipping to a dark black background with bright white writing, shows confusion and the juxta position of black and white also presents purity as well as gothic opposites. The use of random images such as the black hand prints and the books, again suggests confusion, causing the audience to wonder what is going to happen next. The use of camera shots is also effective here, the shifty movements portrays the thriller genre as it creates a dark, scary atmosphere. The blurry scenes also forces the audience to get involved as they want to make out the images and try and understand what is happening, as well as realise the story line. In conclusion, all of the elements above, successfully present the thriller genre.
By Arran Williams
During the title sequence of Dawn Of The Dead a number of techniques are used i order to make the genre of the movie apparent and create tension and suspense throughout. The use of sound is appropriate here as the screams of the zombies make the audience feel scared and curious as to why these people are screaming, the theme of thriller is automatically clearly shown. The use of the opening credits is effective as the red writing suggests blood giving the impression that this film is going to be scary as well as gory. The TV broadcasts connotes with the music of Johnny Cash, presenting religion. The use of camera techniques is also effective here, the handheld shots of fighting and people running gives the impression that it is real, presenting a strong theme of realism.
Se7en.
Within the opening sequence of Se7en, there are a number of elements which present a thriller genre. Firstly, starting with an open book then quickly skipping to a dark black background with bright white writing, shows confusion and the juxta position of black and white also presents purity as well as gothic opposites. The use of random images such as the black hand prints and the books, again suggests confusion, causing the audience to wonder what is going to happen next. The use of camera shots is also effective here, the shifty movements portrays the thriller genre as it creates a dark, scary atmosphere. The blurry scenes also forces the audience to get involved as they want to make out the images and try and understand what is happening, as well as realise the story line. In conclusion, all of the elements above, successfully present the thriller genre.
By Arran Williams
Top Ten Thriller Films- Arran Williams
Thriller movies have proved to be one of the most popular genres of movies worldwide. This is due to the depiction of suspension and anticipating scenes which makes a thriller movie so successful. A survey by IMDB discovered the top ten thriller movies of all time:
1. Inception
2. The Dark Knight
3. Goodfella's
4. Fight Club
5. Rear Window
6. Psycho
7. The Usual Suspects
8. The Silence Of The Lambs
9. Elite Squad 2
10. Se7en.
This genre is widely used and produced as it easily hooks the audience into the movie and makes them want to watch on and find out what happens in the story line. This genre is suitable for young adults as well as the older generation and so appeals to a primary and a secondary audience. It is obvious why many movie makers use the thriller genre in order to produce a successful and popular movie. As well as Thriller, zombie genre is also popular. In our opinion a genre thriller movie would capture the eyes of a wider audience and will also prove to be a popular movie.
By Arran Williams
1. Inception
2. The Dark Knight
3. Goodfella's
4. Fight Club
5. Rear Window
6. Psycho
7. The Usual Suspects
8. The Silence Of The Lambs
9. Elite Squad 2
10. Se7en.
This genre is widely used and produced as it easily hooks the audience into the movie and makes them want to watch on and find out what happens in the story line. This genre is suitable for young adults as well as the older generation and so appeals to a primary and a secondary audience. It is obvious why many movie makers use the thriller genre in order to produce a successful and popular movie. As well as Thriller, zombie genre is also popular. In our opinion a genre thriller movie would capture the eyes of a wider audience and will also prove to be a popular movie.
By Arran Williams
Top 20 box office films
These are the top 20 box office films of all time. As you can see There are quite a few thrillers within the top 20 films such as Jurassic Park, Spider man 3 and The Dark Knight, which is the second highest grossing thriller of all time, as recognised IMDb. This shows me that thrillers are one of the most popular genres amungst the general public, and generally apart from films such as Shrek many of the films have a thriller aspect within them. This leads me to the conclusion that our zombie thriller should go down very well with the audience and we should recieve very positive feedback about it.
Joshua Bray
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
The Top Ten Zombie Films - William Leather
The zombie film genre is recognizably one of the most highest grossing sub-genres within horror, it has some classic such as Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George.A.Romero to much more creative takes on the genre such as Braindead (1992) by Peter Jackson. The group have decided to get into this genre as many of the films are watched and adored by film fans all over the world.
I think this genre is the best to combine with a thriller genre as it enhances the fear and pumps the audiences adrenaline making the zombie genre one of the greatest and most well recognized part of the horror film industry.
William Leather
The zombie genre is also one of the most controvesial as it treads on underlying fears of infection, war, genetics and the most basic of human instincts the need to survive. For example the zombie blockbuster 28 Weeks Later connotes to the war in Iraq and the paranoia of invasion of the west.
The Top Ten Zombie Films:
- Braindead (1992) by Peter Jackson
- Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George. A. Romero
- Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness (1993) by Sam Raimi
- Dawn of the Dead (2004) by Zack Synder - Remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978) by George .A .Romero
- Zombie (1979) by Lucio Fulci
- Re-Animator (1985) by Stuart Gordon
- Cemetery Man a.k.a Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) by Michele Soavi
- Bio Zombie (1998) by Wilson Yip
- 28 Days Later (2002) by Danny Boyle
- Day of the Dead (1985) by George. A. Romero
This shows that the zombie-genre film culture is split between the straight forward zombie film such as Night of the Living Dead to very outlandish ones such as Peter Jackson's bloodbath Braindead.
Braindead (1992) by Peter Jackson:
Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George. A. Romero:
I think this genre is the best to combine with a thriller genre as it enhances the fear and pumps the audiences adrenaline making the zombie genre one of the greatest and most well recognized part of the horror film industry.
William Leather
The Preliminary Video
This is the groups preliminary video, it is a job interview which is acted out by Josh Bray and Arron Williams and was filmed by William Leather at St Marys along a corridor and in the editing suite of 408.
Even though the continuity of the film is quite good the group struggled with editing and we had to reshoot the opening sequence along the corridor. This short video was made to show what rules and techniques we have learnt to use such as the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse-shot, but we hope in our forth coming film to use a wider range of techniques.
William Leather
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Initial Ideas
Some of the inspiration for our two minute piece are as follows:
Possibly the main inspiration for our piece was the opening of the sequal '28 Weeks Later' , the film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. In this scene it opens on to a barn in rural England which contains a group of survivors who have hidden themselves from the highly infectious 'Rage' virus which turns it's victims into highly aggressive and cannibalistic 'zombies' or infected as they are referred to throughout the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE&feature=related
In this scene we realised the suspense built up by the sound of silence, also the use of point of view when looking out the barn door and the sudden extreme close-up of the infected eye combined with the scream of the victim a horrifying opening. Another part of the film which added to the inspiration of our piece is where the main character, 'Don' played by Robert Carlyle, leaves his wife 'Alice' played by Catherine McCormack trapped inside the house attached to the barn which has been overrun by the infected. We thought this part created the suspense through the use of handheld camera which follows the pair being chased around the house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pc17rXbC6c
William Leather
Possibly the main inspiration for our piece was the opening of the sequal '28 Weeks Later' , the film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. In this scene it opens on to a barn in rural England which contains a group of survivors who have hidden themselves from the highly infectious 'Rage' virus which turns it's victims into highly aggressive and cannibalistic 'zombies' or infected as they are referred to throughout the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE&feature=related
In this scene we realised the suspense built up by the sound of silence, also the use of point of view when looking out the barn door and the sudden extreme close-up of the infected eye combined with the scream of the victim a horrifying opening. Another part of the film which added to the inspiration of our piece is where the main character, 'Don' played by Robert Carlyle, leaves his wife 'Alice' played by Catherine McCormack trapped inside the house attached to the barn which has been overrun by the infected. We thought this part created the suspense through the use of handheld camera which follows the pair being chased around the house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pc17rXbC6c
William Leather
Opening Sequences and Narrative
After reviewing the process of producing and editing a film we decided any future production should establish:
Will, Josh + Arron.
- To create a time and place which the audience can notify and understand.
- Keeping the conventions of the film specific to the chosen genre.
- By creating a situation/situations the audience can enjoy and get into.
- To introduce the main character or the protagonist within the film.
- Include enigmas which may entice the audience and make them watch the film.
- To create an equilibrium which can later be disrupted.
- To perhaps link the film with a situation or ideology in the world.
Will, Josh + Arron.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)