Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my Media As blog. Throughout this blog you will see my journey of how I and the two production company's Get-Away Productions and Arrow Production created the opening title sequence of "Surviving", a zombie action movie. Throughout the blog you will see the process of making this movie opening including what research is needed.

Final Cut "Surviving"

There where some issues in the last final cut I uploaded such as "then" and "Now" had no significance so I removed them and there was a black space where there should have been a title. I have now fixed these proplems and here is my final cut for the opening title sequence of "Surviving"

Evaluation Q1: Convention and Representation

My Prezi on representation i talk about both why I choose to make this my character and have this time of narrative.



Talk show
For my first evaluation question I did a talk show where I interview myself and ask about conventions used and not used.



More
Looking at the narrative theorists in more detail, my movie in some ways follows Propps character theory but at the same time not fully. The main character is the Hero in the story but not in the sense that he saves the day but more that he is who the story evolves around. Later on there would be a villain, not just zombies, the reason for this is so the movie wouldn't be as dull and I could integrate some of Todorovs Equilibrium theory of how the movie starts of "normal" but escalates with a "villain". Levi-Strauss theory doesn't really apply as every one who has survived has done something bad and is in some ways seen as bad. So instead of having Good v Evil it is more like Evil V Evil like in "Deadpool" (2016). I do however follow Rolands enigma theory, the reason for this is because without it every one would already know every thing and not be bothered with what happens in the movie.

The reason for having more "main" British accents than american ones is 1 because they are usually cheaper and then will keep the budget lower. The 2nd is so the British audience can relate and know who these actors are and then want to see them on the screen. Another reason is, in america British people are seen as more posh and polite and I wanted to break this stereotype by having the British character be from the north or "hard parts" of England so to let the american audience know that Brits are tough, tough enough to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Evaluation Q2: Distribution and Audience

To talk about my audience I created a radio show.

A Vodcast where I talk about distribution of my media film.

I have looked at real distribution company's that might pick up my movie for distribution. When researching distribution company's I looked for company's that had previously distributed low-budget movies, horror movie, cinema releases worldwide. The distribution company that I think might agree to distribute my movie is Stage 6 Films. Stage 6 Films have distributed movies such as "The Boondock Saints 2" (2009), "Moon" (2009) and "Insidious: Chapter 3" (2015).

Stage 6 Films usually distributes in america but sometimes distributes worldwide in all media forms. These movies dont usually follow the gant rule even though some of these movies have some know actors such as Rose Byrne, Norman Reedus, and Kevin Spacey. Seeing as I have Chloe Moretz in my cast I think this is a good fit.

The chances of being picked up by someone like the Big 6 is very unlickly seeing as they usually distribute high budget movies with A,B list actors and well know directors, all though there has been exceptions such as "The Purge" (2013)(Universal Studios) and "Saw" (2004)(Warner Bros) which where both big box office successes and in the Horror genre. Iven so the chance of this happening is very small. 

Evaluation Q3: Production skills

A prezi of how my production skills have developed.

Evaluation Q4: Technology

A screen recording of Adobe Pro while I talk about the technology i´ve used.



I used convergence through this project when I used my phone and camera for filming as they are 2 different type of equipment.

TBC

Who wants to be a Millionaire
For my evaluation I created a fake "Who wants to be Millionaire", where its heavily media related.
I did this to illustrate the use of technology, and some of the questions are related to the research I did.



Evidence
of using links:

Links to Vodcasts:
Vodcast 1: Idents
Vodcast 2: Semiotics
Vodcast 3: Narrative

There is a list of other technology ive used such as screenshots, Facebook for contacting actor, Skype for radio show and other tweaks for the movie. Ive also used multiple 4GB USBs to store shots and voice overs.

In the post where I analysed the opening of John Wick I created a GIF using an online GIF creator. I also used VLC when I played the movie and recorded that to create the GIF.

I also use DaFont to download the fonts I used in the opening. I also used the features of Window 10 like Outlook Mail to contact people and Windows 10 calendar to make sure I was on schedule.

As you can see in my screen recording I used both Netflix and Amazon for information and screenshots.

I used a program called DropBox to send the photos and videos I took on my phone to my computer as well as send files between my to Computers.

Surviving Final

The music is added, the song is "Don´t Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. I got a friend to play the music for me.



The "Then" and "Now" text didn't hold any significance and therefor I removed them. I had also left a black gape where the title should be so I will change that.

Behind the scenes

There is no sound as the wind was to strong and you couldn't hear any thing.

Bridget Jones Baby

Bridget Jones's Baby is distributed by Universal Picture. Universal is a big company and the movie took advantage of this through the distribution strategy. What they are doing is releasing the movie on the same day both in America and UK. This is risky as it increases the risk of piracy. We assume this movie wont follow the Gant rule because the movie is set in the UK and the characters are also British.

 

 

The movie is targeting an older audience as the can relate with having a baby. Unlike the other ones this one doesn't have the same male appeal as the title has baby in it and Renee Zellweger is older, the movie also doesn't have the same male comedy. The jokes used and the fact that there is swearing also anchors the target audience at an older age.

 

In the trailer you see Ed Sharon which is a marketing point to attract the younger teen audience, as that's his target audience.

There is also intersexuality of the original movie when she is sitting alone in her room with the same clothes and the same song is playing.

 

 

Surviving with VO or music

Voice over no music



Music no voice over

Notting Hill

Notting Hill (1999)

Genre: Rom-Com
Director: Roger Michell
Writer: Richard Curtis
Stars: Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts

Budget: $42Mill







I only found that the movie was shown in 12 country's but seeing as the movie was very popular it was most likely shown in more.

• IMDB
• Box Office Mojo:
• The-numbers

In the US it made $116Mil (3 October) and in the UK it made £30Mil (19 September)(now equivalent to $43mil)

The marketing focused mostly on Julia Roberts(evidenced by poster) seeing as she is the American star. The American actors are the ones that are heavily marketed as the distributes want the American audience to see a familiar face to sell more tickets in America another example of this is Bridget Jonas's Diary.

Even though they market it well in America most of these Working title Rom-coms don't follow the Gant rule as there main market is the British because they can relate and understand the British humor.

The movie got a 15 age rating from BBFC, which it is backed up on the imdb page. The movie got a lot of criticism form people because the movie is set in Notting Hill which is a place where there are many African American people but in the movie not one African American was seen.

 

It is very easy to identify Notting Hill as a Working Title film because it follows the WT Rom-Com conventions of the American girl and the clumsy British guy. It was also worked on by Richard Curtis who is now famous for making Working Title a lot of money by following this format. 

My Journey

In the start of the year we looked at general film openings and analyzed mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound. The film openings we looked at where  Les Miserable, Pride and Prejudice, Love Actually, Bridget Jones´s Diary, This is England and then a movie of our choice where I chose to do John Wick.

Then we started to learn about media language. We where given a sheet where we added media terminology as we went on. The reason for this was to expand our knowledge in terminology as its an important part of both our written exam and our blogs.

We then went on to create a pitch of what our media film opening. For the pitch we had to have a some what clear idea of what we wanted to do, this included: the genre, location, narrative, character, etc. After creating a post on the idea then we had to give a presentation to the class while being recorded, during the presentation we got questions from the class that we had to answer.

As a group we where assigned to create a micro-drama. Before we started planning the micro-drama we created a continuity sequence, this was so we got used to the cameras as well as know how to create a smooth continuity sequence. After we created the continuity sequence we started the pre-production stage of the micro-drama, this included, casting, script and storyboard writing and location scouting. Then we started the production stage, we all met up at the film locations and we started filming using the roles we had previously been set. After all the filming was done we started editing using the school computers and editing software. We then watched the final product in class and posted it on YouTube. This was a vary useful experiment as it got us ready for our pre-production and production stage.

Then when we knew what genre we wanted to follow we analysed movie openings in that genre. I wanted to do a Zombie movie so i looked at these movie openings: World War Z, Zombieland, Dead Snow, Dead Rising Watchtower, Resident Evil. All these movies are zombie genre but also have something that makes them different. World War Z is a big budget zombie movie with an A list actor which you don´t normally get in zombie movies. Zombieland is a comedy zombie movie. Dead Snow is a Norwegian gore zombie movie. Dead Rising Watchtower is based on a video game with no cinema release and Resident Evil is also based on a video game but was successful enough to spawned 5 more movies after the first one.

After doing some research into the genre we started to evolve our idea. We did this by going in more depth of how the costumes would look, what props would be needed and what camera angles to use. Then we created a storyboard to get an idea of what the filming world look like.

I created three vodcasts to begin with, where I discuses ideas that I would use through research in movies with the same genre. Doing these vodcasts gave me a clearer idea of who my target audience was and how to attract them. It also gave me more inside to Adobe Pro as I used technology I hadn't previously used.

As a class we then set out to create a swede of the movie Tyrannosaur. We started of in the pre-production stage like we did in the mirco-drama, after all the planning was done we then proceeded to start shooting. We shot everything on the school ground as this was meant to be a quick exercise. After the filming was done we gave each-other different editing roles so every one would work on editing. I edited the second sequence where I learnt a new technique "Slow motion".

My Final Edit Draft 2

This is my second edit for my film opening, I've changed a few shots around and I've added a voice over. There are still things I need to change which includes things such as a sound track, and the voice over isn't final.

Male Gaze

The male gaze is a theory from a feminist film critic "Laura Mulvey". It refers to how a text is created to please male viewers. Films aren't made with a male gaze as its seen as negative thing. If a movie has a lot of male gaze it will have a high chance of failing the bechdel test as woman are seen as objects and not a valuable part of the narrative.



The clip above is from Transformers (2007) where male gaze can be seen as Megan Fox is moving in unrealistic ways to show off her body. Another example of a movie where male gaze can be seen is in all the James Bond movies as the women are always portrayed as objects and end up dying without having any other significant purpose.

In this image you can see Roger Moore as James Bond and two Bond girls. This is a good example of where male gaze can be seen, the girls are wearing little clothes and hiding behind Bond because they are seen as weak and helpless. The fact that females in James Bond films have a the name "Bond Girls" instead of their actual names is anchors the fact that they don't hold any significance.

Representation of Sexuality

In class we looked at the clip above from the British TV show Torchwood and was asked to analyse the clip. Just from look at the first clip there is allot you can deconstruct, without thinking about sound or editing.

Starting off there is intertextuality to "Silence of the Lambs" with the glass wall, which for movie fans is a sort of Easter egg in the fact that if you don't watch movies it will seem as a coincidence.
This shot is a medium close up which is unusual for the opening because in movies they use extreme long shots to clearly identify the location and sometimes the time period. This medium close up creates a narrative enigma because the audience don't know where she is. They slightly follow the stereotype of a woman in the facts that she has long hair, and some make up. If this was a full stereotype she would be blond with red lip stick and have heavy make-up, but it doesn't challenge any conventions so it's not counter hegemonic, instead its normative because we assume that this is what a girl should look like (with long hair and make-up) because that's what the media has told us.

As the clip continuous you see that she is the central protagonist, this is anchored by the shot reverse shot flowing the 180 degree rule. Even though the action is happening in the cell the camera focuses on the protagonist so the audience can see what the protagonist is feeling. As the shot goes on it uses continuity editing to have a smooth feel to it.

When the victim is on the floor they use a countertype because it's a female that helps her in need to a handsome man. A "male gaze" is connoted as the girls start kissing, when this happens the non-diegetic music starts playing this clearly signifies a relationship. Then it cuts to a typical male stereotype in a chair watching. The stereotype is anchored by his body language.

They also use a false scare when she leans in to one of the cells, the non-diegetic and diegetic sound goes quite so when the monster screams it startles the audience, the editing pace also increases slightly to get more action and engage the audience.

Voice Over Draft #2

Zs, Zombies, Walker, Infected whatever you want to call them, their real. I’ve been walking among the Living dead now for about 2 years. Everyone I know is dead and I’ve learned to survive on my own.

People are still alive, there are settlements, or safe havens like I call them, scattered around mostly in rural areas. It’s a place to trade for ammo or food. 

I don`t take unnecessary risks. Destroying the brain is how you kill them.

The currency used is battery’s, well here in America at least, I don’t know what they use in Canada, or the rest of the world.

You go on one holiday around the world and all hell breaks loose.

Luckily winter is almost over but I better get back on the road if I want to make it to the Canada before next winter.

My Final Edit Draft

Things to change:

• Start with a fade from black
• Start audio when the screen is black
• Stake the same audio on top to get a clearer sound
• In Flash backs don´t start from black
• Some shots are to short
• Titles: An "....." Production Film, In Association with "....."
• Staring first unless evidenced why not.
• When there is an unknown actor have "Introducing"
• In flash back have the bow shot one long shot not 2 split shots
• Make sure there is no shaky cam
• Try and use the same shots twice, go back to the original shot
• Try with sound track (best if created not already created) 

Warp Stabilizer

Editing my Media AS video I encountered some problems, one of them being shaky cam. It wasn't a big amount but enough to loss me marks. So to try and get ride of this I learned a new technique in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014. The effect is called Warp Stabilizer and is very effective is you have shaky footage.

All you need to do is search for it in the effects search bar and then drag it to the clip you want stabilized. After it has auto stabilized you can change a few more setting if needed but in my case it worked fine without doing anything to it.

Origin of my ideas

Through out my planning I looked at many different films in not only the zombie genre but also the post apocalypse genre. I also looked at TV shows to widen my idea, here are some images from movies that I took inspiration of:

The "Book of Eli" (2010) is a very well done post apocalypse movie. It follows a lone survivor 30 years after the earth was destroyed by war. The inspiration I took from this was the costumes and filter used. The costume in the movies is dark, brown, worn out. He also has a backpack on with a sawed off shotgun in the bag. What I did was give my character a big jacket which I added duck tape on to make it look worn out. My character also has a sniper connected to his backpack which tells the audience that its not the start of the apocalypse and more about the narrative.  

"I am Legend" (2007) is another post apocalypse movie that I took some ideas from. The ideas I took from "I am Legend" where mostly the mentality of the character. The fact that he is all alone and has to survive alone. In the movie he has a dog companion which helps keep him sane.

The scenery or location I got ideas from the "The Walking Dead" (2010-). Even though its not a movie the mise-en-scene is very applicable to what I am doing. A lot of the newest TWD episodes take place in the forest as it is 6 or so years into the zombie apocalypse. You don't often see bright green grass or tress in TWD which is the look I am going for with the filter.

Order of text and titles

Linking in with "Title Font and Size" i will look at the length and order of text and titles in these movie openings Cockneys Vs Zombies and The Walking Dead Pilot.

Cockneys Vs zombies Order of titles

1. Cockneys Vs Zombies
2. Rasmus Hardiker and Harry Treadaway
3. Michelle Ryan
4. Georgia King
5. Jack Doolan
6. Ashley Thomas
7. Tony Gardner
8. Tony Selby, Georgina Hale, Dudley Sutton
9. Richard Briers
10. With Honor Blackman
11. and Alan Ford
12. Casting Directors Gail Stevens & Colin Jones
13. Make up Designer Jenna Wrage | Special make up effects designer Paul Hyett
14. Costume Designer Matthew Price | Production Designer Matthew Button
15. Original Music Jody Jenkins
16. Editors John Palmer and Neil Farrell
17. Line Producer Mark Birmingham
18. Director of photography Daniel Bronks
19. Executive Producers Simon Crowe, Matthew Joynes, Deepak Nayar
20. Executive Producers Jenny Borgars, Will Clarke
21. Executive producers Micheal Henry, Chris Hunt, Anand Tewari, Joe mac Carthy
22. Written By James Moran, Lucas Roche
23. Based on an idea by Matthias Hoene
24. Producers James Harris, Mark Lane & Matthias Hoene
25. Directed By Matthias Hoene

The Walking Dead Pilot Order of Titles

1. AMC Presents
2. Andrew Lincoln
3. Jon Bernthal
4. Sarah Wayne Callies
5. Laurie Holden
6. Jeffrey DeMunn
7. Steven Yeun
8. Chandler Riggs
9. Executive Producers Robert Kirkman and David Alpert
10. Executive Producer Charles H.Eglee
11. Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd
12. Executive Producer Frank Darabont
13. Developed by Frank Darabont
14. Based on the series of graphic novels by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
15. The Walking Dead

I also had a quick look at World War Z because that was a big budget movie and the titles might have been in a different order. In World War Z it starts of with the company's then "A Marc Forster Film" then the main actors are named and because its a big budget there are more actors and the tittles after that is the casting director and then it follows the order of Cockneys Vs Zombies ending with the Director or Auteur Marc Forster then the title of the movie.

Having looked at this i have a template in mind of how to order my titles starting with the company names then "A film by" followed up by the actors then leading to make up artists and costume designers, then producers to finally the director and the title of the movie.

Title Font and Size

Zombie movie titles have changed a lot over the years. In the beginning the title sequences where very plain using mostly red and black as the colors. In Dawn of the Dead (1978) for example the title sequence is very plan with some special affects. Its very common but then and now to have some sort of blood special effect.

If we look at a more modern title sequence such as Cockneys VS Zombies (2012) the special effects are more advents and have a comic book feel. The text is very bold like in most zombie movies and has a worn feel to it.

If you look at another zombie movie such as Resident Evil Extinction (2007) which isn't considered old or new has a very play title as the text is small and white which doesn't follow the convention of a zombie movie.

If you look at I am Legend (2007) which might not be classified as a zombie movie, the text is very similar to that of Zombieland (2009). Both the title sequences have the text integrated in the environment, by this i mean that the text produces shadows and in Zombieland the text moves around if someone hits it. Looking away from special effects the text itself is (in Zombieland) thin but bold and is a blood read with a white outline, the names are bigger then the "description" e.g. directed by. In I am Legend the text is bold and white but bigger then that in Resident Evil and 3D.

Importance of Music in Distrebution

Music could be a very important part when it comes to distributing a movie. If you take a Warp movie the soundtrack will most likely be created by someone not as well known because it won't make a big difference to the box office. Submarine which is a Warp film had there sound track created by Arctic Monkeys which at that time was less well known. Love actually on the other hand had there soundtrack be a marketing point. Songs such as Christmas Is All Around performed by Bill Nighy and All You Need Is Love are big songs that have over a million views on YouTube.



Company's try to use Horizontal Integration where possible, if the Parent company owns a record company they might include that band in creating a soundtrack or use their existing music.

Warp and Working Title

When it comes to production working title will make the decisions straight away. If the movie doesn't have well known actors then the movie will most likely not be made. If they have the actors they want then they might start to talk about the genre. If they have someone say its a romcom with Hugh Grant then it will most likely happen.
Warp on the other hand because of its low budget movies they don't mind if the actors are well known and they would take a risk with a genre such as social realist.

Working title are a lot more picky when it comes if they should produce the movie, the reason for this is because there is a lot more money at stake and therefor the movie will have to produce profit. Warps objective is still to make profit but because of there low budget and niche market they dont have the same standard that working title, because its niche market they can take chances in making social realist films.

Submarine

Setting and Character

The main character is a 15-year-old male named Oliver Tate.

Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate

Yasmin Paige as Jordana Bevan

Sally Hawkins as Jill Tate

Noah Taylor as Lloyd Tate

Paddy Considine as Graham Purvis

Because it’s a warp film they have taken a bigger risk with the characters, in a Working Title Film you would expect a 15 year old to be innocent. While in this Warp film he is trying to loose his virginity.

It is set in Whales which is also a risk Warp would take and not Working Title because the accents are hard to recognize and the American audience are not familiar with what whales looks like or feels like.

Ident #1 2

This is  my first ident Get-Away Production done the second time. I changed every thing except the name. The font I used is the Porsche font, I felt this fitted because the ident is suppose to indicate a speeding car getting away. The color I used is Ferrari red to again link with the speeding car. The background sound is of a person hot wiring a car and driving away while the police is chasing, which is what get away is indicating.

Extra Ideas

If i have more screening time when my title sequence and car sequence is done, a good way to fill in that time would be it cuts to him closing the diary at night. He might buy his way in (using battery) to a small group in front of a fire place. The fire place is very good for mise-en-scene and if I show him buying using battery's then it makes it less obvious then saying it in the VO. If i can get this done in the short amount of time then I think that would boost my marks.

Production Schedule #5

There where some problems with getting the actor on Jan 30 and 31 so i had to push back the final shoot to Feb 14. After that i will need to see if any changes will have to be made.

Jan 9 (12 to 1 O'clock)	Zombie opening scene practice shoots. Shots 1-2 (DONE)
Jan 10 (12 to 4 O'clock)	Practice shoots every shot with main actor try costume. Shots 3-32 (DONE)
Jan 17 (12 to 5 O'clock)	Shoot title sequence where main character kills animal. (DONE)
Feb 14 (12 to 4 O’clock)	Film all shots with field and car.

 

Distribution

 Stages of creating a movie:

• Production
• Distribution
• Exhibition

A distributor is a company that partners up or buys the right to a movie so that they can get in contact with cinemas and distribute it around the world. They are also in charge of getting the movie on DVD and Blu-ray as well as getting deals with streaming services like Netflix. They will also do all the advertisement, and make all the decision that have to do with getting the movie around the world.

Everest (2015) was mostly distributed by Universal International Pictures (UIP). It had a theatrical release in 65 country's, the reason for this is because it had a star cast and the budget was $55mil. 

Sources: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=everest2015.htm 

              http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2719848/

The genre is also a big gamble, if you have a low budget with not well known actors and you making a horror than its easier to make a profit, then a sci-fi or action.

Tyrannosaur (2011) had a budget of £750k and was only distributed in 7 country's and the box office got $400k, the reason for this is because the cast isn't well know, the budget was low and the genre was a social realist. Almost all of the box office was from UK cinemas releases.

Source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=tyrannosaur.htm

             http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204340/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Most social realist films don´t become big because of its low budget and not well known casts. There are exceptions like Billy Elliot and Slumdog Millionaire, the reasons for this is because the follow features the american dream.

Self Distribution

A self distributor is a filmmaker who decides to cut out the middle man and distribute the movie yourself. In an article i read self distribution used to mean you went on a road trip and put posters up and go on radio shows to promote your film. According to the article the most successful self distributed film was Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001) with a budget of an estimate of £50k, the filmmaker is said to have made 10x as much.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311361/

This could apply to me if i couldn't get a deal with a distribution company or if i didn't ant to use money on paying a distribution company.

Props needed for shoot

List of props needed for final shoot, so I don't forget anything:

• Backpack with Sniper (prop gun) on it
• Diary
• AA Batteries
• Broken Glass
• Gloves
• Duct tape
• Big Knife
• Bow and Arrow
• White Sheet with blood stain
• Water Melon
• Jacket
• Ski Goggles
• Neck warmer
• The Walking Dead comic
• Boots
• Army trousers
• Car

These are some important props that I need for the shoot, some are essential to create mean in the opening scene.

Voice Over Draft #1

This is a draft of the voice over that will be playing  through the opening scene. I constructed the voice over with research of movies such as "Zombieland" and used intertextuality from other zombie texts.

Zs, Zombies, Walker, Infected whatever you want to call them, their real. I’ve been walking among the Living dead now for about 2 years. Everyone I know is dead and I’ve learned to survive on my own.

People are still alive, there are settlements, or safe havens like I call them, scattered around mostly in rural areas, like forests and land roads. It’s a place to trade for ammo or food. The currency used is battery’s, well here in America at least, I don’t know what they use in Canada, or the rest of the world.

You go on one holiday around the world and all hell breaks loss.

Luckily winter is almost over but I better get back on the road if I want to make it to the north west of Canada before next winter.

Ident #2 2

This is my final edit for my second ident Arrow Production. To grow my editing skills I used a green screen. The editing software I use is Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014.

Ident #2 2 (Construction)

This is a screen shot of what the finished final edit looked like on Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014. In the bottom left you can see the footage I filmed using the green screen as well as the non-diegetic sound, the background I used and the title text. The effect I used for the first time were Ultra Key and Eight-Point Garbage Matte.

To the left you see a zoomed in version of what the Ultra Key and Eight-Point Garbage Matte.
The Ultra Key is the effect used when changing the green screen to a solid colour or an image. The E-PGM is used to "clean up" green screen if the green screen is moving. It works by removing the parts where there is a green screen and placing them with the image the green screen is using. I used it because when the wind blow  the green screen moved and some parts turned darker in the editing software. After using the green screen I have expanded my practical media knowledge and for the first time I am very happy with the out come.

Production Schedule #4

Jan 9 (12 to 1 O'clock)	Zombie opening scene practice shoots. Shots 1-2 (DONE)
Jan 10 (12 to 4 O'clock)	Practice shoots every shot with main actor try costume. Shots 3-32 (DONE)
Jan 17 (12 to 5 O'clock)	Shoot title sequence where main character kills animal. (DONE)
Jan 30 (12 to 4 O’clock)	Film all shots with field and car.
Jan 31 (12 to 2 O’clock)	If needed film the rest of the needed shots.

Instead of filming on Jan 23 and 24 i will be filming on the 30 and 31. 

Opening title sequence draft (Construction)

I edited this using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014. When I edited these clips I learned a new skill which was how to lower the volume of one sound clip to make it feel like its further away increasing the immersion and realism because the ambient sound. I did this by lowering the Audio Gain until it sounded like real ambient sound.

Opening title sequence draft #1

This title sequence is very close to my final idea. The thing I need to change for my final one is the font and maybe color of the titles. I used allot of different sound to make it feel real and professional, I got most the non-diegetic sounds from different sources but the crunching snow I recorded my self. I did not add a filter this time as I would like to get feed back and know what I need to change, as well as change the titles/fonts to one I like and will use for my final cut.

Production Schedule #3

The changes i have made from last production schedule is that on Jan 17th i will not re shoot, instead i will shoot the title sequence. I will re shoot on the 23 and 24 if the snow is gone.

Jan 9 (12 to 1 O'clock)	Zombie opening scene practice shoots. Shots 1-2 (DONE)
Jan 10 (12 to 4 O'clock)	Practice shoots every shot with main actor try costume. Shots 3-32 (DONE)
Jan 17 (12 to 5 O'clock)	Shoot title sequence where main character kills animal. (DONE)
Jan 23-24 (12 to 2 O'clock)	Try and shoot final version with updated storyboard and hope the snow will be gone.

First film draft

This is my first draft for my "Zs for All" movie opening. There is a lot of work to be done, for example the costumes are only half done for the main character and nothing was done for the zombie in this draft. I created the draft to not only get a feel of how the final version will look like but also to know what i need to change or add for the final shot. A few other things to change is continuity like closing the door and making sure props are in the right place.

Sound is also a big issue, in this draft most of the sound is cut out because the wind was to strong, for the end i will record ambient sound and place it over.

Props and Costumes #2

Looking just at my main character i got most of the Costume ideas from Eli in the "The Book of Eli", like i mentioned in the previous post. Starting from the top of my characters costume:

I chose to have my main character wear a beanie, goggles and bandana neck-warmer because that would add some mystery to the character. The idea of covering the head i took from "The Road" in the movie one of the character is wearing a beanie and the other a hood, I was considering having him having a hood on but decided not to as it didn't look as practical. When deciding to have my character cover his eyes I tried both sun glasses and goggles. The idea came from "The Book of Eli" where most characters where sunglasses bud in the end i went for the goggles as it looked more intimidating.
The idea of using a bandana i got from one of the "The Walking Dead" characters Jesus as the first time you see him it adds narrative enigma.

Looking at the jacket, gloves, trousers, and shoes. Having a big coat was also from "The Book of Eli" but to make it more authentic I added duck tape patterns to make it more believable that its been in the zombie apocalypse. The gloves are just very common in apocalyptic movie so I added it but instead of having finger less or leather gloves like what is usually used the gloves look more military like making the character see more in control of the situation. The trousers are military trousers and seen in almost every apocalypse movie because they are practical. The shoes link in with the trousers as they are very common and seen as practical.

I use multiple props like weapons, batteries, backpack. Starting with the weapons, the main character has two main weapons that he uses and than one for show. The idea of using a bow I got from "The Walking Dead" all though the character in "The Walking Dead" used a crossbow. I used a bow because it is very practical in a zombie apocalypse as it is silent and you can retrieve the arrows, using a bow is also a skill which tells the audience that the character is talented. I also looked at it from a producers point of view seeing as bows are very popular in media now, from "The Hunger Games" to hawk-eye in "The Avengers" and even in TV shows like "Arrow". The character also uses a knife which is very often seen in "The Walking Dead" when dealing with zombies up close.

The idea of having a backpack was also one i got from "The book of Eli" that including having a gun strapped to the backpack but instead of having a shotgun its a sniper, the reason I used a sniper was because it looks more intimidating and also needs skill to handle. The batteries used as currency was taken from the video games series "Fallout" where bottle caps are used as currency and "Metro Last Light" where ammo is used as currency, but i felt using batteries would be more reasonable as it tells the audience electricity is valuable.

When it comes to the Zombie i had the zombie costume look like a business man because it seemed unorthodox having a suited zombie in the middle of no where far away from the city. This tells the audience that the apocalypse has been awhile as a zombie with a missing arm and a limp got so far in the middle of no where. The idea of a ripped suit i got from "28 days Later".

Ident #2

This is my first draft of the "Arrow Productions". The original idea is to have a real arrow hit a target and then have the text appear. When i get to the final ident if the idea doesn't work i think this clip is a good replacement, and i could make the arrow wobble.




This is the 2nd version of Arrow productions where i used real footage.

Production Schedule #2

Jan 9 (12 to 1 O'clock)	Zombie opening scene practice shoots. Shots 1-2 (DONE)
Jan 10 (12 to 4 O'clock)	Practice shoots every shot with main actor try costume. Shots 3-32 (DONE)
Jan 17 (12 to 5 O'clock)	Film shots 1-32 . Start with shots 1-3 then 4-7,28-32 finally shots 8-27(Postpone if snow. If snow then film some shots in the snow)
Jan 23-24 (12 to 2 O'clock)	Shoot any thing missing or that needs to be re shot

Bechdel Test

The Bechdel test is a test that should be taking into account when creating a movie. The test takes into account that in a movie there should be 2 women with names, that have a conversation about something other then a man. There are a lot of big Hollywood films that fail this test but that doesn't mean that the movie is band.

Working Titles

I am creating a zombie genre and there for i am thinking of names that when the audience read them they will know straight away what genre it is. Here are some of my working titles:

• Zs for All
• A stroll through Hell
• When every thing Stops
• Surviving
• 1 v All
• Bow Hunter
• Zombies VS Survivors
• No more
• Not too Young to Die
• Brain Hunter

These are some of the ones i have at the moment as time goes on i will expand this list.

Ident #1

Get-Away Production is the first ident i created. I wanted to create an ident where a car is doing a wheel spin but its very difficult to do so i recorded a car accelerating on dirt. I will be creating a second ident because there is rarely a movie with one ident.

Things to improve:

Use tripod or something to stabilize the camera. Don't just have the font appear, make it interact with the image somehow. Use better footage of the car "getting away".

Props and Costumes #1

Idea:

My idea was to create a survivor that looks like Eli in the "The Book of Eli" but more for winter weather. My character will be wearing a big jacket, a beanie, neck warmer, goggles, big winter, and some sort of cargo pants.
I also looked at other zombie movies and some TV shows to get more an idea of what a post apocalyptic costume looks like.

Practice shoot Costume/Props: 

This is what my actor was wearing for the practice shoot. In the final shoot the actor will be wearing a different pair of pants, and maybe different shoes. The costume will also be dirty. I tried to create a worn feel for the costume so i used duck tape on the jacket. To create a bit of a mystery and to stick with the winter feel i covered my character face up with ski goggles, a neck warmer, and a beanie. It also makes him look intimidating which helps with the genre.
I used props to backup the zombie genre as well as its every one for themselves. My character is holing a bow and has a few arrows in his backpack. Strapt to the backpack is also sniper rifle which i will slightly modify with a silencer to get ride of the orange tip. He also has a big knife which is shown when he stabs a corps.

List of Props needed for shoot.