When I was orignally coming up with my idea for a horror film, I was certain I wanted to do a zombie movie. My biggest influences were the 2003 remake of George A Romeros Dawn of the Dead, and 28 Days Later.
The camerawork in Dawn of the Dead is brilliant, and I wish to take this over into my idea. The use of handcam and shots not fully revealing each of the zombies are very good at building tension, and pumping more action into seuences. Another good thing about Dawn of the Dead is the zombies themselves. They are intelligent and fast moving, a quality I find particularly scary about zombies and wish to use in my film.
28 Days Later is a film with many similarities to mine. It is also set in the UK, and the zombies are much like I want mine to be; fast, intelligent and vicious. It also has some good exmaples of typical zombie film camerawork, such as some interesting POV shots.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Production Company Adminstration
Today we worked on some of the admin for our company. We came up with a logo, and a letterhead format for any emails or letters we send to people, to show how professional we are. I have included them below:
Pre - Production: The Beginning
We have now begun to start pre-production on our film. We have chosen my idea, and will begin to rework it. The film is entering production with a working title of "Dead Reckoning".
Our production company, 2+1 Productions comprises of the following members:
Alex Kohnert: Director
Kate Sullivan: Producer, Assistant Director
Lillie Ziegler-Pounds: Creative Artist
Our production company, 2+1 Productions comprises of the following members:
Alex Kohnert: Director
Kate Sullivan: Producer, Assistant Director
Lillie Ziegler-Pounds: Creative Artist
Pitching My Idea - The Presentation
Today I had to present my idea to the other members of my group, so we can choose which idea to develop for our Foundation Project. Here are the slides I used for my presentation, which I accompanied with an oral presentation as well.
Script
Here is the script for Foundation Project, which may be subject to changes by the time the final cut is finished. Unfortunately, as with any media technology, this blog has its limitations and so I cannot show the script to you in its original formatting.
Dead Reckoning - Script
EXT. Night – Football Pitch
THE MOON SHINES on a misty football pitch. It is covered in dark mud and bright green grass poking through. The pitch is well used, with fresh stud marks. Two goals, without nets are at either end, the posts have faded and cracking paint. It is surrounded by a mixture of Northern European tree types covered in Lichen on all sides.
AMY CHAPMAN is young and beautiful, with a look of innocence about her. Her clothes are covered in stains and mud, with rips all over. She crawls out from under the tree line, obviously injured. She is exhausted and breathing heavily, after running a long way. She drags her body using her arms, which are bare and covered in scratches and one of her legs, making her way slowly towards the centre circle of the pitch.
We have our first glance of THE INFECTED. They have skin peeling from their faces, and unnatural eyes. They are dressed in football kits and normal clothes, the attack obviously happened while a football match was being played.
Amy looks around frantically at the trees, searching for The Infected.
AMY
(Sobbing) We had more time... [Pause] Why?
The Infected begin to emerge from under the trees. Amy sees them and a look of blank terror crosses her face.
AMY
(Screams)
They are totally silent, the only sounds are of Amy’s sobs and The Infected’s running feet. They are running like humans, but not as confidently.
Amy collapses to the floor, completely defeated and begins to sob uncontrollably. As the infected close in from all around her she releases one final animal howl and
they engulf her.
FADE TO BLACK
TITLES – The title “Dead Reckoning” fades up onto a black background. Building orchestral music builds in the background.
CUT TO
INT. Day – Office Space
THE OFFICE is small and cramped. There are 4 desks, all very close together, each with a computer and piled high with paper. The office is slowly revealed to us. There are maps of England taped to the walls, certain areas such as London, are circled with red pen.
There are several MILITARY MEN within the office. They are wearing the remnants of military uniforms, but all dress such as tunics and hats are gone, they are just wearing shirts. The top buttons are undone, as are ties, the men are obviously
stressed.
As more of the room is revealed, we see pictures of the infected on the wall, some living, some dead. The phone rings and DANIEL BURGON picks it up. We see his face.
He is rugged, dark and handsome. His hair is short, military style but with his own flair. He is wearing jeans and a jacket, all non-military issue.
DANIEL
Hello?
He listens on the phone, intently, his face shows fear and doubt. He puts the phone down and looks to his men.
DANIEL
(Ominously)
It’s happened. Time to go.
END
Dead Reckoning - Script
EXT. Night – Football Pitch
THE MOON SHINES on a misty football pitch. It is covered in dark mud and bright green grass poking through. The pitch is well used, with fresh stud marks. Two goals, without nets are at either end, the posts have faded and cracking paint. It is surrounded by a mixture of Northern European tree types covered in Lichen on all sides.
AMY CHAPMAN is young and beautiful, with a look of innocence about her. Her clothes are covered in stains and mud, with rips all over. She crawls out from under the tree line, obviously injured. She is exhausted and breathing heavily, after running a long way. She drags her body using her arms, which are bare and covered in scratches and one of her legs, making her way slowly towards the centre circle of the pitch.
We have our first glance of THE INFECTED. They have skin peeling from their faces, and unnatural eyes. They are dressed in football kits and normal clothes, the attack obviously happened while a football match was being played.
Amy looks around frantically at the trees, searching for The Infected.
AMY
(Sobbing) We had more time... [Pause] Why?
The Infected begin to emerge from under the trees. Amy sees them and a look of blank terror crosses her face.
AMY
(Screams)
They are totally silent, the only sounds are of Amy’s sobs and The Infected’s running feet. They are running like humans, but not as confidently.
Amy collapses to the floor, completely defeated and begins to sob uncontrollably. As the infected close in from all around her she releases one final animal howl and
they engulf her.
FADE TO BLACK
TITLES – The title “Dead Reckoning” fades up onto a black background. Building orchestral music builds in the background.
CUT TO
INT. Day – Office Space
THE OFFICE is small and cramped. There are 4 desks, all very close together, each with a computer and piled high with paper. The office is slowly revealed to us. There are maps of England taped to the walls, certain areas such as London, are circled with red pen.
There are several MILITARY MEN within the office. They are wearing the remnants of military uniforms, but all dress such as tunics and hats are gone, they are just wearing shirts. The top buttons are undone, as are ties, the men are obviously
stressed.
As more of the room is revealed, we see pictures of the infected on the wall, some living, some dead. The phone rings and DANIEL BURGON picks it up. We see his face.
He is rugged, dark and handsome. His hair is short, military style but with his own flair. He is wearing jeans and a jacket, all non-military issue.
DANIEL
Hello?
He listens on the phone, intently, his face shows fear and doubt. He puts the phone down and looks to his men.
DANIEL
(Ominously)
It’s happened. Time to go.
END
Treatment - Act 3
Below is Act 3:
Scene 1: The protagonist arrives in Liverpool, and drives the streets, covered in rubble and abandoned cars; no-one is in sight. He sees a sign draped from an office which reads “Survivors head to the Royal Liver Building”. He heads towards the port, but we see several of the infected following him from the shadows.
Scene 1: The protagonist arrives in Liverpool, and drives the streets, covered in rubble and abandoned cars; no-one is in sight. He sees a sign draped from an office which reads “Survivors head to the Royal Liver Building”. He heads towards the port, but we see several of the infected following him from the shadows.
Scene 2: The protagonist arrives at the Royal Liver Building, and meets up with a group of other survivors. They describe to him all that has happened since the attack by the Russians. They reveal that there are small pockets of survivors all over the country. They have been in contact over radio to military forces, who have asked for their position to enable their rescue.
Scene 3: The infected have forced their way into the building. As the survivors fight floor to floor to keep their stronghold safe, the military say they are inbound. The survivors are asked to identify themselves by firing a flare into the sky, which they do. As the survivors hear the sounds of jet engines they think salvation has arrived. The plane banks over and heads out to back o a nearby aircraft carrier below, we see several infected, swimming out after it.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Treatment - Act 2
Below is Act 2:
Act 2:
Scene 1: The protagonist is driving down a deserted motorway. A military helicopter appears and he is escorted to a military base. His weapons and vehicle are taken from him, he is held prisoner.
Scene 2: An officer interrogates the protagonist about what he knows, which is very little. He says that the rest of the world does not yet know the full extent of what has happened. He says there is a pocket of survivors in Liverpool who are going to be rounded up, to prevent them from contacting a nearby American carrier battle group.
Scene 3: Tests on the gas used in the attack to try and find the cure are happening in the base. A canister of the gas breaks and infects the scientists. They begin to run amok within the base, infecting everyone. During the confusion, the protagonist manages to escape using a commandeered vehicle.
Treatment - Act 1
Below is the first act of the treatment for my film idea, with a working title of "Dead Reckoning"
Act 1:
Scene 1: A football pitch. Night. A girl is screaming, crawling towards a clubhouse. She is beautiful. She is dragging herself using
only her arms and her clothes are bloodied and ripped. She crawls away from the tree line, towards the centre circle. Infected people emerge from the woods; they are the opposing teams, at all sides and silently run towards her. She collapses in the centre circle, and begins to sob, rocking. As we see them reach her from every direction, she screams.
Scene 1: A football pitch. Night. A girl is screaming, crawling towards a clubhouse. She is beautiful. She is dragging herself using
only her arms and her clothes are bloodied and ripped. She crawls away from the tree line, towards the centre circle. Infected people emerge from the woods; they are the opposing teams, at all sides and silently run towards her. She collapses in the centre circle, and begins to sob, rocking. As we see them reach her from every direction, she screams. Scene 2: Titles. Present day, a room. Room is an office full of hastily pinned up pictures and maps, with red rings around certain areas, including London. There are several men sitting in the room, they are military and obviously stressed. As the others type away on computers, a man picks up a phone. He is our protagonist; he is handsome yet appears relatively normal with a look of quick-wittedness about him. As he puts the phone down, he tells the other men that they have to leave.
Scene 3: A rural area. Night. A convoy of minibuses and vans drives along a road, no lights are on. The occupants are a ragged bunch of unwashed people, they are carrying a variety of small arms. An infected smashes through the windscreen of the first minibus and wreaks havoc inside. The convoy grinds to a halt and infected smash into most of the other vehicles, pulling occupants from inside. The protagonist manages to fight his way out of the carnage. He drives away alone in a van, loaded with supplies, leaving the rest of his comrades to their fates.
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