Story Board for film opening

This week we worked on a story board showing our final idea for the film opening. The basic plot outline of the scene is that we see a teenage boy surviving in a deserted village. We learn through a newspaper headline that 'The Dead Continue To Rise', making us draw the conclusion that this is a zombie film. The teenage boy walks through a field when he comes to a wall with a dead body on it. He is then chased through the field by the 'undead' who have tracked him down. The scene ends with the boy tripping and falling to the ground, upon which the scene ends.


Here is a picture of the final story board

Film location

Today me and my partner Dan went to try and find a location to shoot our film opening. Unfortunately we could'nt look for as long as we wanted due to weather conditions however we did find somewhere that is suitable. The location had to be romote, away from busy roads and have open spaces for alot of movement. We first went to Glinton park but decided that this location would not be best as it is right next to a road and potentially have people there when we are trying to film.

Secondly we went a little way out of glinton down a public footpath with fields on either side. The location also has a small concreted area with a defaced wall on it, this could easily be worked into the scene. The public footpath is also very long, making it perfect for our 'chase'. Unfotunately the photos that we took of the location are not great quality as it was snowing/raining when we took them.

Existing zombie apocalypse film research - 28 days later and Shaun of the dead

To gain a better idea of how the zombie apocalypse genre works i bought the film 28 days later from http://www.amazon.com/. The film was directed by Danny Boyle and released in 2002. The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental outbreak of the highly contagious 'rage' virus and focuses on four individuals who struggle to survive against those infected with the 'rage' virus in a desolate and isolated Britain. The film focuses more on the troubles of those who are not infected with 'rage' rather than those who are; something i will keep in mind when creating the film opening. Another source of inspiration i took from the film is how the zombies or infected are shown. In classic zombie movies the creatures are sluggish and dim witted, wheras those in 28 days later appear to rely more on speed and overall anamalystic anger. The infected's appearance is similar to that of the humans except for alot of excess blood around the face and their eyes glow a bright red, making them appear menacing. Overall i enjoyed the film and feel enlightened alot more on the zombie apocalypse genre.

Another zombie film that i have recently watched is shaun of the dead. The film follows the basic principles of a zombie survival situation however incorparates the comedy genre into it. The two main characters Ed and Shaun find themselves in many comical situations involving zombies, however there is still a certain amount of menace to the scenes.

The zombies in the film act alot differently to thos in 28 weeks later. They are slower, dumber and only killed by removing the head or destroying the brain. Personally i prefer the faster, more lethal type of zombies that were used in 28 days later. Despite the film being a success and me fully enjoying it i dont think we will incorparate the comedy genre into our film opening. I feel that doing a traditional zombie apocalypse is the best way to go.

Zombie apocalypse

The Zombie apocalypse is a certain scenario of the Apocalypse fiction that usually fits into the horror/science fiction genre of film. In this scenario the world is usually taken over and ravaged by a race of infected beings, better known as zombies, who are undead and feed on the living. There are a number of ways that victims become zombies, ranging from being bitten by an existing zombie to breathing in an air born virus. In any scenario this generally leads to a 'zombie plague' that swamps civilisation and all society. In films like this there are usually a group of survivors who are immune or have avoided the zombie virus, who take it upon themselves to either rid the world of the zombie race or simply survive as long as possible.

Horror Genre

Me and my partner Dan have decided to base our movie opening around the horror genre. I will research different horror movie opening scenes for inspiration and ideas. Horror is mainly meant to scare or impose fear into the viewer. Horror films generally involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Horror films can be divided into different sub genres such as creature features (vampires, zombies etc), Paranormal, comedy, survival or slasher. Horror films can also incoporate other genres into them such as science/fiction, black comedy, mockumentary and thriller.

Some Horror films that i particularly like include:

Alien


Alien is a sci-fi/horror that is so affective due to how the monster is not revealed to the audience untill the end of the film. It moves the typical haunted house slasher into an even scarier setting; outer space. The alien creature spends the film picking off each member of the crew who have no weapons and are seemingly defenceless. The main character Ellen Ripley survives untill the end and remains a hugely popular heroin in the modern world of film.

Wolf Creek

Wolf creek is a slasher horror film however it differs from the traditional rules of a slasher. It tells th story of 3 british backpackers travelling in the outback of australia. I particularly like this film because of the location used, the outback is extremely remote and if you become lost then it is highly unlikely you will be found. This adds alot of tension to the film and adds a very creepy atmosphere to each scene. The film tends to focus on the fight for survival of the two girl characters against the sinister bad guy Mick Taylor. However it is the man character who survives the ordeal. The film doesnt show alot of gore, however when it does it is extremely realistic and gruesome. I think the film works well at being a horror film and includes many moments tat stick in your mind long after the film is over.

The Thing

The Thing is a classic horror movie that is set in an American Antarctic and depicts a group of men trying to fight an extra terrestrial organism that inhabits hosts bodies. The fact that the creature could be inside any of the survivors, meaning each character becomes more paraniod and less trustworthy as the film goes on. The clastraphobic feel of the antarctic location keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, and wondering where the creature is. The films strongest factor is the use of mechanics instead of CGI, making certain scenes scarier and more realistic.

Paranormal activity

Paranormal activity is a much more recently released horror film, that was made on a very small budget. The film follows the story of a couple who are being haunted by a demon. As the film progresses we see the haunting get worse. It was filmed mainly with a hand held camera, however does feature alot of footage using a stationary camera when filming the night time scenes. The film is scary due to its realistic appearance and use of sound, for example at night the couple are woken by loud noises caused by the demon.

I would also like to research into the particular horror sub-genre of zombies/post apocalyptic to get ideas for my film opening. To do this i will watch openings from films such as I am legend
and 28 days later. This will give me inspiration for the film opening.

'Edward Scissorhands' opening scene analysis

An Opening scene should outline key characters and narrative in the Film. It should also use mise en scene, sound and lighting to set the genre of the film.

At the start of my A-level media course we took a long time
looking and analyising different film openings. I wrote two seperate peices of work on the opening of Dirty Harry and Edward scissorhands. The point of doing this was to get a better understand how film makers use sound, lighting, mise-en-scene, genre and camera angles/shots. Here is the opening extract from my essay on Edward Scissorhands, the question was How does Tim Burton Convey romance, fairytale, gothic and horror in the opening scene of 'Edward Scissorhands'?

"The opening scene of Tim Burton's 'Edward Scissorhands' conveys many conventions of the horror genre, however these are mixed with elements of fairytale and romance. The first image puts across the aspect of horror straight away as we associate an old, creepy statue covered in cobwebs as a scary image. The images of machinery appears cold and heartless untill we notice the machines resemble childlike toys, thus changing the mood of the scene. This miseen-scene begins to combine the genres of horror, fairytale and romance as we see elements of each genre in these images. Aspects of fairytale are continued throughout the scene as we see shapes of hearts, stars etc falling, creating a magical and childlike atmosphere which contrasts with the images of horror seen earlier. The image of the house sitting solitary at the top of the hill reminds the audiance of a haunted and spooky house. The fact that it appears surrounded by nothing reflects the character of Edward and how isolated he is form the outside world."

As you can see i have analysed the mise-en scene of the opening few seconds of the film to cleary show how different genres are combined in the scene.

New York Media Trip

Last week on the 3rd February i went to New York with my media class as part of a school trip. Whilst on the trip we attended a four hour masterclass on how to produce film. We not only learnt alot about how to film and edit shots but also had a brief lesson on how to act. I feel like this will benifit us greatly when filming our film openings. On the trip we also took a three hour coach tour around Manhatton, in which we saw and learnt about many famous locations where scenes from movies and television programmes have been shot in the past. Such movies and programmes include Cloverfield, Friends, Spiderman and I am Legend. Not only that but we also saw just how magical New York City is and have certainly taken inspiration from the trip.

Preliminary task evaluation

The Preliminary task was a pilot scene to test and experiment with different camera angles and shots. The end result has helped us to get a better idea of how to produce a movie opening scene. Me and my project partner Dan asked our friend Samuel Pepper to take part as one of the actors in the scene, due to the limitations of working in a group of two. We need one of us to act and the other to shoot the scene using a video camera, thus it makes sense to recruit a friend or fellow student to act for us.

The scene starts with still shot of an old abondoned looking hallway, with a character (Dan) entering from behind the camera and walking down the hallway. The shot cuts to a high angle shot from the ceiling looking down on Dan walking round the corner and past the camera. The next camera shot comes a little further down the hallway, seeing Dan walk past from a low angle and walking towards a classroom about to open the door. Next we see a close up shot of the door handle opening from the inside. It then cuts to a long shot behind Dan entering the room and closing the door behind him, the shot carrys on untill the door fully closes for dramatic effect. Next we see a Perspective shot of inside the room through the eyes Dan, we see another character (sam) sitting down on a chair at a table, who then exchanges brief dialogue, "alright?". A Medium two shot follows as we see Dan sitting down at the table opposite Sam and dialogue continues. This cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Sam talking to Dan, we have stuck to the 180 degree rule for this. Another over the shoulder shot now shows Dan, who appears to show frustration and anger as he gets up suddenly in a threatoning way.

My Personal favourite shot from the scene is the low angle shot of behind dan as he approaches the classroom door, as i feel it is stylish and interesting. I would definately like to use a low angle shot in our Movie opening. I think one thing that i have learnt not to use in the main movie opening is a perspective shot, as it is difficult to move the camera in a realistic way so it appears the audiance is seeing the shot through the eyes of the character. It can easily become to shaky and thus appear rushed and unrealistic. Another aspect of the scene that i would change is when we see Sam over the shoulder of Dan. Sam looks briefly at the camera and so the shot seems unrealistic and breaks the line between film and reality.

Overall i am happy with the outcome of the preliminary task video as it shows a wide wide range of camera shots, angles and rules of film.

Preliminary Task Video