Evaluation of First Shoot and Edit

Strengths:




Improvements needed:

Evaluation Update

Harrison Lee:
Questions done: 1, 2, 4 & 5
Questions needed to do: 3

Ryan Hayes:
Questions Done: 1, 2, 4 & 5
Questions needed to do: 3

Reflective Evaluation, Question 1 (Harrison Lee)

Here I have made a compilation of images that I have taken influence from while making my horror film.
We have planned for our film to be a largely generic example of the zombie genre and to include many of the main convention of this sub-genre.


Logo:

For this logo the colours of the original Warner Bros. logo have been changed to red with a darkened background, this colour combination connotes fear, death and blood. I have chosen this logo because the colour scheme is concordant with our films theme.

                                                  Title:

This is a shot of the title from Dawn of the Dead, the title uses a dark background, which connotes evil/darkness and fear, to make the red coloured font of the title stand out more. The red font has been used probably due to it's connotations of blood. The words DAWN and DEAD are in larger fonts than the rest of the title, DEAD being the largest over all emphasising the zombie threat in the film, elements like this could be used in the making of our title to emphasize our sub-genre.

Existing Sub-genre:

This image shows zombies in a conventional 'undead horde', zombies are portrayed as gathering in this way in many zombie films as it increases the danger in the scene because it is harder to escape such a large threat. I our film we're going against this common convention as it begins with only one immediate threat, this shows how dangerous the threat can be even alone.

Establishing Character Shot:

The shot shows the main character with his weapon (a cricket bat) showing that he is a strong character also he is covered in blood which is one of the main connotations of the horror genre. The other characters are also holding weapons but are standing behind the main character showing that he is the leader. This picture advertises the effectivity of blunt objects and tools against zombies, characters seen without a means of defense are seen as allot weaker and more helpless.


Mise-en-scene:

This shot zooms out to show the destruction left by the zombies, common conventions of the zombie genre can be seen i.e. blood, abandoned streets etc. It builds the tension up to the zoom out, not showing much of the scene till the final shot of the film. The lighting is rather dull this could be to connote that apart from the main character there is no life visible in the scene and is reflecting this.

Key Images:

Film: 28 Days Later

This is one of the first scenes in the film, in this image the aftermath of the spread of infection can be seen. The character is alone in the shot and the abandoned bridge can be seen, the long road in the background enhances the feeling of loneliness in the scene.

This image is a scene later in the film during Jim's first encounter with the infected, his pursuers are then set alight by other survivors. This scene establishes the zombie threat to create fear as it portrays them as fast runners and are eventually only stopped by blowing up and entire fuelling station. This scene 'sets the bar' for the zombie element in the film, they're fast and they're hard to kill.

In this scene one of the characters is infected by the virus and begins to turn. He is subsequently shot by soldiers. What is important about this scene is that his daughter is left with a group of people she doesn't really know, and though they have been travelling together she now has to go through the death of her father relatively by herself. I feel that this contrasts with most films of this sub-genre as zombie horrors are usually more concerned with the gore and fear elements and so lack more emotional scenes like this.

This is an image of an infected persons eye's. The zombies in this film do not follow all the usual conventions of the genre, they're fast, they're nor all necessarily dead/undead and they even exhibit a level of intelligence. The biggest giveaway for the zombies in 28 days later is the eye's, all the infected have red eyes, sometimes 'crying' blood. On the other hand they do exhibit all the main qualities of horror zombies i.e. a hunger for flesh, covered in blood and can survive most mortal injuries.

Comparison to 9 Images from our film:

 This is the production logo from our film, We've used a font and image that reflect the genre and themes of our film in the same way the warner bros. logo used colours that related to the genre of the film.


 For for our title we used a red font to connote death and blood, similar to how the titles for dawn of the dead used colour to reflect the genre, and included the silhouette of the threat in the film to create fear and anticipation.

 This image establishes the sub-genre by show in the threat but not directly to build tension, the audience can tell they are zombies because of the human form but animalistic gestures made by the shadows.

 This shot establishes one of the possible victims in our film as his expression of fear can clearly be seen, this also makes the character look more vulnerable as he is hiding behind a wall.
 This image clearly establishes the mise en scene of our film giving a clear establishing shot of the environment in which it takes place.

4 key images:
 
 
From top left clockwise: The victims realizing their way out is locked, the victims hiding from the zombie, the zombie looking for it's prey, the zombie biting one of the victims.

I have chosen these images as they basically sum up the narrative of the film, the victims are trapped with the threat then one of them gets bitten and subsequently becomes a zombie too.

Skills Recap

Shot Reverse Shot:
Used in this clip to show the focus of the characters fear, this shot is good for this as it shows the character, their focus and their emotions/reactions. In our film we employ the use of the shot reverse shot when the survivors are being chased by the zombies and look back to see how close the threat is.

Position of Tripod:
Different camera angles are used to both change the focus of the shot and to show the characters vulnerability. In our film the survivors will be shot mainly with high angles to show their vulnerability in the scene.


Shot Length:
Longer shots help build tension in the scene as the audience expects something to happen during the shot, whereas shorter shots are used to create fear in the audience as they only get a glimpse at the threat. Our film begins with a long shot to build tension before the zombies appear. We will include short shots of the zombies to crete fear in the audience.


Shot Type:
Close ups can be used to show a characters emotions as the audience can see their expressions. In our film we use close ups to show our characters fear when being attacked by zombies.

Colour:
The victim is wearing white to show innocence, most of the house is also white connoting safety this could be to suggest to the audience even in a 'safe' place the threat will still be able to get to you. In our film we're mostly using clothing that contrasts with the colour red to emphasize the blood.

Lighting:
Dark lighting is used to enhance the atmosphere of fear in the scene, light from the TV screen is eerie and adds to this. Our film will be shot during day time to show that the victims aren't safe even during the day.

Reflective Evaluation Question 4 and 5 - Audience

The target audience for our film would be mainly males probably aged between 18-30 as the film could possibly be rated 15 because we wish to have a larger range of audience.
18 Rated Films
Dawn of the dead- Certificate/ User Ratings

Votes	Average
Males	74,147	7.4
Females	8,361	7.3
Aged under 18	1,082	7.8
Males under 18	907	7.8
Females under 18	169	7.6
Aged 18-29	49,845	7.5
Males Aged 18-29	44,398	7.5
Females Aged 18-29	5,215	7.3
Aged 30-44	27,943	7.4
Males Aged 30-44	25,211	7.4
Females Aged 30-44	2,488	7.3
Aged 45+	3,588	7.0
Males Aged 45+	3,126	7.0
Females Aged 45+	422	7.2
IMDb staff	11	7.2
Top 1000 voters	677	7.0
US users	27,808	7.5
Non-US users	52,129	7.4

28 Days Later Certficate/user ratings

Males	105,171	7.6
Females	15,704	7.8
Aged under 18	1,382	8.0
Males under 18	1,116	8.0
Females under 18	255	7.8
Aged 18-29	73,471	7.8
Males Aged 18-29	63,031	7.8
Females Aged 18-29	10,076	7.9
Aged 30-44	40,177	7.5
Males Aged 30-44	35,286	7.5
Females Aged 30-44	4,511	7.7
Aged 45+	5,795	7.1
Males Aged 45+	5,008	7.1
Females Aged 45+	722	7.3
IMDb staff	23	7.9
Top 1000 voters	749	7.3
US users	36,110	7.8
Non-US users	80,408	7.6

15 Rated Films

Resident Evil Certificate/ User ratings

	Votes	Average
Males	71,260	6.5
Females	9,210	6.9
Aged under 18	1,189	7.1
Males under 18	946	7.0
Females under 18	234	7.4
Aged 18-29	49,958	6.6
Males Aged 18-29	43,601	6.6
Females Aged 18-29	6,095	7.1
Aged 30-44	25,794	6.4
Males Aged 30-44	23,161	6.4
Females Aged 30-44	2,411	6.6
Aged 45+	3,499	6.3
Males Aged 45+	3,067	6.3
Females Aged 45+	397	6.4
IMDb staff	11	5.2
Top 1000 voters	679	6.0
US users	20,261	6.5
Non-US users	56,684	6.5

Zombie Land Certificate/ User Ratings

Votes	Average
Males	119,756	7.8
Females	17,948	7.9
Aged under 18	4,595	8.4
Males under 18	3,552	8.4
Females under 18	998	8.3
Aged 18-29	92,331	7.9
Males Aged 18-29	79,249	7.9
Females Aged 18-29	12,665	8.0
Aged 30-44	35,720	7.5
Males Aged 30-44	31,948	7.5
Females Aged 30-44	3,491	7.6
Aged 45+	5,152	7.1
Males Aged 45+	4,429	7.1
Females Aged 45+	666	7.2
IMDb staff	26	7.7
Top 1000 voters	612	7.1
US users	40,489	8.0
Non-US users	88,597	7.7

Shaun of The Dead User Ratings

Votes	Average
Males	138,246	8.0
Females	21,802	8.0
Aged under 18	2,945	8.5
Males under 18	2,413	8.5
Females under 18	513	8.3
Aged 18-29	101,990	8.2
Males Aged 18-29	87,481	8.1
Females Aged 18-29	14,067	8.2
Aged 30-44	47,429	7.9
Males Aged 30-44	41,421	7.9
Females Aged 30-44	5,640	8.1
Aged 45+	7,593	7.1
Males Aged 45+	6,101	7.3
Females Aged 45+	1,406	6.1
IMDb staff	37	8.1
Top 1000 voters	782	7.5
US users	51,419	8.2
Non-US users	102,761	7.9

These ratings all show that more males watch he zombie genre then female and that most of them are aged between 18-29 even on the 15 rated films which shows that making our film an 18 certificate would suit the genre as it attracts the audience we want and it is mainly people in this age range who would be attracted to the film as the user ratings clearly show these are the ages we should target for our film.

Certificate Research (BBFC)

This films are allowed to show a reasonable amount of violence and gore as well as  strong language being allowed but not consistently , how ever they should not represent easily accessible weapons. The violence in the film should also not dwell on pain of the infliction of it for too long.

18s are allowed to include the most extreme scenes of violence and gore and do not have limits on the amount of strong language allowed ect

This research shows that although we could make a 18 film our plans would suit a 15 certificate much better especially seeing as we want a large range of target audience and want people to be able to relate to all our characters from any age or gender, also our scene do include gore/violence but not to the extent outlined in the 18 guidelines and so it would be fine to produce our film as a 15 and allowing us to attract larger audiences and wider interest.


28 Days Later- How It Represents Age/Gender/Class Ect
28 Days later follows many stereotypical approaches especially in age and gender, as throughout the film many of the main male characters risk there lives to save the women who are portrayed as weak and vulnerable and possibly the main victims throughout, however there is one female who does have traditional male traits and does save the main male character but she is saved by him a number of times later on and so gives the usual feeling of men being stronger than women. The film also represents age by showing the older characters has more intelligent and commanding then the younger ones who are portrayed as more rash and sometime stupid, however it is the younger characters who survive even without the leadership of the oldest character and so helps younger people relate to the film better and possibly hinting at the target audience this film had been aiming for.


The representation in the film suggests that the target audience is probably older males 15+ or possibly 18+ as although there are a number of important female characters , they are mainly portrayed as "victims" and needing to be rescued by a male. This would help there target audience to identify with the main character , they would also identify more with him because he is of a similar age to the possible target audience and so they could relate to him more.




Question 5
We planned our film to engage our target audience in a number of ways , firstly most of the characters are of a similar age to that of our target audience and so makes it easier for them to relate to the characters within the film on a more personal level. they will enjoy the gore and violence throughout the film as well as the scenes that help build the tension up towards these violent parts. They will be expecting a large amount of gore as well as a lot of violent scenes and so we hope to make the film to suit there expectations by providing this throughout the film without going over the top.


We targeted a particular age and gender based on the user reviews of different films( Shown in this post) this research helped us to pick an accurate target audience for our film and so ensuring that we will attract a large audience because we have targeted the correct age and gender.


Our location is in an abandoned urban area and our main props are fake blood and tore up clothing, this will engage the target audience because the setting is easy for them to imagine but it is shown in a different light to what they would expect and so provides a bigger sense of fear as they could easily picture themselves in the film. This conforms to conventions because many zombie horror films such as zombie land and 28 days later are set in abandoned urban area's and these always help to portray vulnerability and create a sense of fear.