Group: Animatic

This is the animatic we have made of our storyboard.
What is the purpose?
The purpose of creating an animatic was to test whether we will have the correct amount of footage so that the opening is an appropriate length. It was also a good opportunity to test out any effects we might want to use with our footage, such as experimenting with different lengths of takes and cutting rates  to create the most effective atmosphere for a horror opening.

What did you learn in this process?
This process was really useful in learning what lengths of takes and cutting rates work in our opening. We found that it was a combination of short and long takes that worked best; initially very fast for the establishing shots of the corpses to set the tense atmosphere, then slower to build tension as well as giving our protagonists prevalence so that the audience are positioned with them, then fast again during the chase scene to create a paced and suspenseful climax to the opening.

How useful is this exercise?
It is important to remember that our storyboards, although detailed, will not be exact for the footage that we end up filming. The shots may not be the same, or there may be a different number than suggested by this animatic. However, it was very useful to see that we have approximately the right number of shots for a two minute opening. This exercise has also enabled us to visualise our finished opening a little better, which will be useful when filming in our upcoming shoots.

Group: First Film Shoot

Schedule for first shoot
Saturday March 3rd 3:00-7:00
Arrive at location (Furzefield Farm): 3:00pm
Make-up and costumes: 3:00-4:00pm
Rehearsal: 4:00-5:00pm
Shooting: 5:30pm onwards

Actors
Sophie: Hatty Burton
Imogen: Heather Robbins
Alexis: Tatum O'Leary
Zombies: Freddie Allaway
Corpses: Adi Thorniley, Harry Bransby, Anna Burton, Jack Burton

Props

• Stuffed toy
• Gothic cross
• Two camcorders for the characters
• Non-perishable food for in the fridge

Costume
Alexis: Plain t-shirt, hoodie, ripped jeans, converses
Imogen: Vest top, leather jacket, denim shorts, ripped tights, plimsolls
Sophie: Button-up shirt, jeans, cardigan, trainers
Corpses and zombies: Ripped, bloody clothes

Planning Ahead
Corpse and zombie make-up tests: Friday March 2nd
Charity shop rummage for zombie clothes: Friday March 2nd

Group: Storyboards

Here are the final storyboards for our opening sequence.

Group: (27/2) Developing Concept

With the feedback from our pitch, as well as other difficulties we have faced when planning our shoot, we have made some changes to the concept for our opening sequence:

• Because of difficulties in organising actors and shooting dates, we have now changed the number of protagonists from four girls to three; the character of Emma has now been scrapped, leaving only Alexis, Sophie and Imogen.
• One concern from our pitch feedback was that they felt we had too much content to fit into a two minute opening, so we subsequently adapted our idea so that the story takes place over two locations rather than three; Sophie's death will now be shot in the graveyard rather than in a wooded area. This will not only reduce the length of our opening, but will decrease the number of shoots we need to do, meaning we can spend more time on editing and evaluating our opening.
• Another concern was that corpses, zombies and Sophie's death may be difficult to make look realistic. We have taken this into consideration, but still intend to keep all of these ideas. However, to keep our opening as believable as possible, we will use lots of disjointed shots with fast cutting rates, which will not only mask any flaws in the opening, but will create a tense and fast paced atmosphere.
• As well as this, we will experiment with colouring in post production to drain the colours and create are dark and muted mise-en-scene for our opening. This will work in addition to the make-up to make the corpses look more realistic, as well as creating a gloomy and ominous visual; convention for a horror opening.

Group: Audience Feedback

Approved ideas

• From our pitch, we found that our audience really liked the idea that the zombie apocalypse had already happened as this is a unique idea that had not been thought of.
• They liked the different shot ideas that we are going to use such as canted angles (to give a obscure view for the audience), jump cuts (to make the zombie chase scene disorientated) handicam shots from the female protagonists and the close up shot of the bloody hand print on the wall with a crucifix (this gives religious connotations which is often found in horror films)
• Our audience liked our establishing shot of the dead girl outside the house with bodies surrounding her because it throws our audience straight into the horror film. The young girl will make our audience more emotionally attached as she is innocent.

Points to reconsider

• Judging from our ideas, our audience said that we may to trying to pack an entire film into an opening sequence as there is a lot going on within the first scene, so we will probably stick with two locations, a house and a graveyard.
• Another flaw they found in our idea is that it will be difficult to make the dead bodies appear to be dead and for the zombies to look realistic. In order to do this, we have found some make up tutorials to give the right texture and to give a more eerie feel we will desaturate the colours and it will help to hide any artificial colours.
• As we are planning to use a mixture of handicam and normal shots, our audience felt that the shot transitions will be difficult to keep good continuity editing.

RA: Concept Development - Fonts

1. Art Post
2. Art Post black
3. Arvigo
4. Bones Bummer
5. Capture it 2
6. Cold Night for Alligators
7. Creepygirl
8. From Where You Are
9. gogozombie
10. Horror Hotel
11. Horrorfind
12. Skin & Bones
13. Skinny
14. Wet Arial

Group: The Pitch

Here is our final pitch which we presented to the class so as to get the green light for our film opening.

"GUTTED"
Genre: Teen Horror
Subgenre: Zombie

Gutted pitch View more presentations from rozzyandheather11