Sunday, 27 September 2009
Production Meeting - 27/09/09
Today we finished our Initial Ideas and Introduction, we also printed some storyboard sheets off and have started to draw rough copies of them up. We have also discussed our casting and synopsis ideas.
Synopsis
Our short film, Forsaken, is set in various abandoned and derelict locations around Hull and for the most part is centred around the protagonist.
The narrative follows the story line of The Quest.
19 year old James Woodlock returns home from sea to find that the human race has been wiped out by a deadly virus.He sets out to look for any survivors and to get a deeper insight into the catastrophe.
As he looks around the derelict town were he used to live many of his memories come flooding back to him at several different locations.
There is a series of flashbacks showing our protagonist in several locations with friends and family.
After James finds his brothers football in the park he heads home and this is when he finally realizes his brother is dead. He succumbs to the inner demons that have been haunting him throughout the film and puts a gun to his head and kills himself.
The narrative follows the story line of The Quest.
19 year old James Woodlock returns home from sea to find that the human race has been wiped out by a deadly virus.He sets out to look for any survivors and to get a deeper insight into the catastrophe.
As he looks around the derelict town were he used to live many of his memories come flooding back to him at several different locations.
There is a series of flashbacks showing our protagonist in several locations with friends and family.
After James finds his brothers football in the park he heads home and this is when he finally realizes his brother is dead. He succumbs to the inner demons that have been haunting him throughout the film and puts a gun to his head and kills himself.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Initial Ideas
Our proposed film idea takes inspiration from such films as 28 Days Later, Mad Max, I am Legend and other films of the sort, in which mankind has faced a Global Disaster and the survivor faces and overcomes many problems. Our initial idea was to shoot a Zombie Thriller/Horror style film but both Ben and I decided that make-up, props and location would be to time consuming to film, and therefore switched to a virus outbreak. This is obviously easier to film, and if made in the right way, could be a lot more effective. My idea for the main character is a man who returns home from work (not specified where yet) but has had no contact with the outside world for a few months, whilst the virus has spread, and finds everyone to have dissapeared or be dead.Our short film will focus on the scenes where he first returns, and is coming to terms with the loss of family and friends.
Genre Research.
Genre Conventions – Post Apocalytpic Thriller.
Any film Genre always has a set of rules, or conventions. For our proposed production we are using the Thriller Genre.Firstly I am going to discuss the Location in which Thrillers are usually located, normally in exotic locations, or places which are not normally used in other Genre’s of films, such as Foreign Cities, or a good example to use is Phone Booth (Joel Schumacher, 2003) where most of the film takes place in a Phone booth.Next, I am going to discuss the characters in Thrillers. The protagonists are the strong, silent underdog type, who face a stronger opposition or villain and learns from this experience. Binary Opposition plays a major part in thrillers and they are very character driven. In our project the Protagonist will be the survivor and the opposition will not take a physical form but the problems he has to overcome, emotionally and mentally. The females in thrillers usually take the place of a femme fatale or a damsel in distress, for example, Selma Hayek in Desperado (Robert Rodriguez, 1995) is a perfect example of a character who starts as a damsel in distress but as the film progresses, we as the audience see her become a femme fatale.The events in a thriller are usually on a large scale, for example, if it is a Crime Thriller, there wont be just one murder committed, there is usually a mass murderer or serial killer at large and the person who is committing the crimes is usually known from the beginning. In a Disaster Thriller the problem or threat is known about from the beginning, and after failed attempts at averting it, the characters have to survive, and then deal with the aftermath, for example The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich, 2004) In which Global Warming and Global Cooling threaten to wipe mankind off the face of the earth. Our intended project will be similair to this as it deals with the problems that mankind may have to face one day and how it solves them. Plot twists and the pace of the film play a crucial part in the making of a successful thriller film. There is nearly always an unexpected twist or turn to throw the audience off track. This keeps the audience entertained and therefore “thrilled”. The pace of the film has to be brisk to make it successful, if the film moves too slow or nothing major happens to keep the audience entertained, they will lose interest very quickly.In conclusion a thriller is the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace.Word Count: 461
Any film Genre always has a set of rules, or conventions. For our proposed production we are using the Thriller Genre.Firstly I am going to discuss the Location in which Thrillers are usually located, normally in exotic locations, or places which are not normally used in other Genre’s of films, such as Foreign Cities, or a good example to use is Phone Booth (Joel Schumacher, 2003) where most of the film takes place in a Phone booth.Next, I am going to discuss the characters in Thrillers. The protagonists are the strong, silent underdog type, who face a stronger opposition or villain and learns from this experience. Binary Opposition plays a major part in thrillers and they are very character driven. In our project the Protagonist will be the survivor and the opposition will not take a physical form but the problems he has to overcome, emotionally and mentally. The females in thrillers usually take the place of a femme fatale or a damsel in distress, for example, Selma Hayek in Desperado (Robert Rodriguez, 1995) is a perfect example of a character who starts as a damsel in distress but as the film progresses, we as the audience see her become a femme fatale.The events in a thriller are usually on a large scale, for example, if it is a Crime Thriller, there wont be just one murder committed, there is usually a mass murderer or serial killer at large and the person who is committing the crimes is usually known from the beginning. In a Disaster Thriller the problem or threat is known about from the beginning, and after failed attempts at averting it, the characters have to survive, and then deal with the aftermath, for example The Day After Tomorrow (Roland Emmerich, 2004) In which Global Warming and Global Cooling threaten to wipe mankind off the face of the earth. Our intended project will be similair to this as it deals with the problems that mankind may have to face one day and how it solves them. Plot twists and the pace of the film play a crucial part in the making of a successful thriller film. There is nearly always an unexpected twist or turn to throw the audience off track. This keeps the audience entertained and therefore “thrilled”. The pace of the film has to be brisk to make it successful, if the film moves too slow or nothing major happens to keep the audience entertained, they will lose interest very quickly.In conclusion a thriller is the sudden rush of emotions, the excitement, sense of suspense, apprehension, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace.Word Count: 461
Here are some Concept Pictures i found of Post-Apocalyptic settings which have influenced our film ideas:
This picture is an initial concept art from the film I Robot 
This Picture is an initial concept art from the film I Am Legend 
This Picture is an initial concept art from the video game Fallout 3Introduction to Film Project
I believe this Film Project will be far more interesting and enjoyable than last years project as it allows us to be a lot more creative and more expressive with our work, whereas last year it was just 25 pictures on a piece of paper, we've been given the chance this year to shoot a short film. I understand the amount of work and time i will need to put into this film but I think in the long run, it will pay off. My group consists of Myself and Ben Underwood, we will each be taking various roles, I am going to be Director and Lighting Manager and Ben will be Cinematography and Sound manager and we will be sharing the task of editing.
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