Evaluation Video

Powerpoint Evaluation

Adam,Anna,Katie,Sarah

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Evaluation

Evaluation
1. Zombie Nation uses conventions of a horror film including zombies, blood, and guts. Also we challenged the conventions of the horror genre by shooting the opening sequence on the beach as well as in the daytime such as '28 Days Later'. This was also challenging as the setting still needed to look scary and abandoned however upon finding our location it was clear it held the best atmosphere than other settings we viewed.

2. The characters used, i.e. all female zombies, is purposefully used to subvert the gender stereotype and show women as stronger and more harmful instead of the classic 'damsel in distress' used in horror films. This will also shock the audience as the women are the aggressive types which is also seen in the film 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' and 'Teeth'.

3. The film, 'Zombie Nation', can be likened to other zombie horror films such as 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Zombie Land' which have been box office successes, ours could share the same success if there was a high budget and a lot of media adverts. We could also have merchandise for our movie including tee shirts quoting lines such as 'Where is everyone?' with pop art images of the characters. Our movie could be released as a straight to D.V.D. release if the project was made on a small budget and wasn't as well accepted as first thought.

4. The audience for our film would be aged between 15-19 but could also range further into young adults and other exceptions however the films attraction would be closer focused onto teenagers.

Editing and Screen Grabs

Here are some demonstrations of the editing, on the programs we've been using, iMovie and Final Cut Express HD

Character and Location Shots

Rough Cut and Analysis

The opening sequence above is the rough cut of our coursework piece. It is a opening title sequence of a horror film to which we then chose the sub-genre ‘zombie’.

The clips starts showing two back packers walking away from the camera in a pan shot, the location is uninhibited to show the viewer that the back packers are alone. This scene was inspired by the opening to ‘American werewolf in London’ in which two back packers are walking alone in the moors. It then cuts to a medium close-up of the main character ‘Carl’ and then back to ‘Percy’ as they briefly converse. We used a minimal amount of speech as most horror films aren’t overly speech reliant. The sound track here is inspired by ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ and ‘Zombieland’ which both use a heavily distorted guitar and bass line to add tension build up and increase the tempo of the scene, however we need to add more to the soundtrack for our final cut also altering and dubbing the voices in some scenes. We then see a low shot of the two characters climbing up a sand dune, we chose to film the opening sequence during the day as we were inspired by the film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ which was also filmed in day time and this subverts the horror stereotype yet is being used more and more often in modern horrors. The next shot is a over the shoulder shot showing two people kissing on a beach, the camera then zooms in to give the viewer a closer look. It then cuts to a match-on-action shot of the zombie grabbing the humans arm and then quickly cuts to the girl being pushed over onto the sand using a high shot to show her inferiority. The zombie is wearing regular clothing, again inspired by ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to show how quickly the virus can take over the body. The zombie then climbs on top of her and high pitched screaming can be heard, after which a zoom-out shot shows the zombie’s shadow moving out of shot and a body lying on the ground. We then cut to a scene in which the characters are breathing heavily to show their fear, cutting to the zombie climbing up the sand dune in front of them, the zombie’s face is very bloody and bruised as well as there being a maniacal look upon her face to emphasize the difference between human and zombie. A close-up of the zombie’s face is used to show the victim’s P.O.V. however we need to shorten this clip in our final cut as it is too long and distracts from the plot line. The next scene is of three other female zombies climbing over the other side of the sand dune showing the viewer the victims are now trapped between them, a popular association (can’t remember the right word but it begins with a ‘c’ not connotations) with horror films. We cut to the next shot showing ‘Carl’ and ‘Percy’ surrounded by another angle intensifying the scene. The next clip shows ‘Percy’ falling down a sand dune in his attempts to escape, with a second shot of him falling from another, lower angle – however this needs to be edited to show more consistency and will be altered to a ‘jump shot’. A high shot then shows ‘Percy’ cowering on the sand cutting to a medium close-up of ‘Carl’ as they panic. We cut to a pan shot showing the main zombie approaching ‘Percy’ and then dragging him slightly, then cutting to another pan shot showing the other zombies jumping from the sand dune to attack ‘Percy’. The sequence ends with a shot of ‘Carl’ running away and the title of the film, ‘Zombie Nation’, appearing on the screen in a blood red to accentuate the horror and zombie connotations.

Animatic

Preliminary Task

Shooting Schedule

DATE

SCENE NO

D/N

INT/EXT

LOCATION NAME/ ONE LINE DESCRIPTION

CAST

Monday 8th March 2010

Two back packers walk over an unpopulated area.

Day

External

Seaton Carew, Hartlepool

Adam and Paul

The two backpackers arrive at the sand dunes and see two people ‘kissing’ on the beach.

Day

External

Sand Dunes,Seaton Carew Beach, Hartlepool

Adam, Paul, Katie, Charlee, Sarah, Anna, Annie

The backpackers are on the beach, they see zombies and run away. (One of the backpackers dies)

Day

External

Seaton Carew Beach, Hartlepool

Adam, Paul, Katie, Charlee, Sarah, Anna, Annie

Script for Horror sequence

Script for Horror opening sequence

Carl- Adam

Perci – Paul

Foresty Area:

(After walking down the trail)

Paul: Where is everyone?

Adam: Yeah I know, this town is pretty dead.

(Continue on their journey)

(See them walking in various places)

(Get To Seaton (or Crimdon))

(See two people ‘necking on’’ on the beach)

Adam: Well there’s the first life we’ve seen since we got here!

(Hear a scream and turn around)

(They turn back and a zombie is standing in front of them)

Adam and Paul: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH(look at each other, still screaming, then look back)

(Start to run away)

(Zombie chases them)

Paul: Carl! I can’t go on!

Adam: You have to Perci! She’ll kill you if she catches you!

Paul: NOOOOOOO (falls down)

(Zombie catches up to him and starts dragging him away, Carl watches helplessly)

(Blood-curdling screams come from behind the dune, ripping sounds)

(Close up of Carl looking scared, then he turns and runs)

End.

Actors, Location, Costumes, Props

Actor/Character List:

Paul Hegarty and Adam Strickland - 2 male backpackers; Carl and Perci

Zombies - Sarah Lester, Katie Devine, Charlee Draper


Location List:

Burn Valley, quiet street.

The beach (Seaton)


Costumes and Prop List:

Backpackers – backpacks
Zombies - Normal casual clothes, ripped and covered in fake blood, make-up.

Plan of Ideas for Horror Movie

Top Ten Slasher Horror Movies

Rank	Title(click to view)	Studio	Lifetime Gross/Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	Scream	Dim.	$103,046,663	1,994	$6,354,586	1,413	12/20/96
2	Scream 2	Dim.	$101,363,301	2,688	$32,926,342	2,663	12/12/97
3	Scream 3	Dim.	$89,143,175	3,467	$34,713,342	3,467	2/4/00
4	Freddy Vs. Jason	NL	$82,622,655	3,014	$36,428,066	3,014	8/15/03
5	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	NL	$80,571,655	3,018	$28,094,014	3,016	10/17/03
6	I Know What You Did Last Summer	Sony	$72,586,134	2,524	$15,818,645	2,524	10/17/97
7	Friday the 13th (2009)	WB (NL)	$65,002,019	3,105	$40,570,365	3,105	2/13/09
8	Halloween (2007)	MGM/W	$58,272,029	3,475	$26,362,367	3,472	8/31/07
9	Halloween: H20	Dim.	$55,041,738	2,669	$16,187,724	2,607	8/7/98
10	My Bloody Valentine 3-D	LGF	$51,545,952	2,534	$21,241,456	2,534	1/16/09

When looking at this table we can see that the Scream franchise has had a huge success and we would like to incorporate elements from this film into our own opening sequence.

The History of Horror

HORROR

• noun 1) an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

2) a thing causing such a feeling.

3) intense dismay.

4)informal a bad or mischievous person, especially a child.

— ORIGIN Latin, from horrere ‘shudder, (of hair) stand on end’

The Gothic Origins

Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto, initialised the term 'horror' as it was full of supernatural surprises. Many people imitated this and today it's called the Gothic Genre. Later on in 1818 the first great horror classic was written by Mary Shelley - Frankenstein.

Nineteenth Century Writers

Many novelists tried to write horror fiction such as Emily Bronte writing Wuthering Heights and Charles Dickens with The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Edgar Allen Poe is also another celebrated author of the gothic genre and has written literary classics such as 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'The Raven' - both of which have been parodied in the Simpsons.

Later in the century Sigmund Freud continued Poe's work however advanced the topics including psychological terms with madness and insanity becoming key genres in this new mode of writing. Popular gothic novels included The Turn of The Screw in 1898, and The Yellow Wallpaper 1899. Another revelation in the horror novel genre was Dracula in 1897 which included sexual themes as well as the psychological and horror.

The First Horror Movies

These previous novels have been transformed into the early classic horror films such as Frankenstein which has had many modern adaptations. Other first horror films include:

• The Golem 1915/1920
• The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1919
• Nosferatu 1922

Horror films of the 1930's include Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, King Kong and The Bride of Frankenstein.

Contemporary Horror - The Noughties

Due to horrific terrorist attacks such as 9/11 the world's perspective of what is terrifying altered and horror films became reborn with these new fears. There was even calls to ban horror movies for world peace, but in 2005 the horror genre became as popular as ever. The classic monsters have been replaced with paranormal activities such as 'death' in the final destination franchise, which is seen as an unstoppable force as appose to a disfigured beings.

Horror films of the noughties include:

• Final Destination (2000)
• 28 Days Later (2002)
• Dog Soldiers (2002)
• Death Watch (2002)
• The Grudge (2004)
• Hostel (2005)
• Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
• Wolf Creek (2005)
• Slither (2006)

Also in this time a new phenomenon is Asian horror films which are slower paced, heavy thrills and draw heavily on the spirit instead of a material world focusing on ghosts and curses. They do not have so much of a logical plot which creates an aura of strangeness adding to there appeal. Although not popular yet with a mass audience this sub-genre is steadily growing.

As for the future who knows? Only time can tell...