Letter

Script

Script

Appearing at house

Mia: "thank you for helping me today"
Jane: "anything for you"

Radio Report:

The disease is believed to have originated due to development on an old chemical plant, it is causing the cells to mutate keeping them alive even when the body is dead. So far the out break has claimed 830 lives but this is predicted to increase. We warn people to remain inside and lock the doors, do not.....

(report stopped, pop music beings to play)

Lights go out

Mia: What's wrong Jane?
Jane: Come here now!

On Phones

Jane: I can't get a signal

Strangers scene

Ben: are you infected??

Mia: no, what?

Richard: the dead are coming back to life, infecting and killing the living.

Richard: we've never seen you before

Mia: I'm visiting my fathers house

Ben: Here, have some food with us. 

Richard :We're heading to the church, few of the locals are heading the church. There should be food, blankets and weapons. It Should be safe.

Mia: we have no idea where we are.

Ben: Come with us then

Jane: is that ok?

When Jane starts to turn

Mia: What's wrong

Jane: it nothings

Richard: you got bitten, didn't you

jane: yes

Richard Attempts to kill Jane

Mia: stop you can't, she's my friend.

Jane Dying

jane: Leave me Mia, i won't hold it against you

mia: no!! I can't

Richard: it's time to go now

Heading towards the church

Richard: not far now 

Mia: we are going to be ok, right?

Locations

Locations from LucyA2Media

Draft of Plot

Main Characters
Protagonist: Mia
Boyfriend: Andrew
University Friend 1:Luke
University Friend 2:Jane

Plot summary
A couple move into a new house which they brought as Mia had inherited they house when her relatives pasted away. They move into a commuter village in a home county. To help them move in 2 of their university friends came over. Both of the university friends bicker with each other and don't appear to get along very well although Luke flirts with her constantly. During the day they move and unpack boxes into the house. On the radio you can hear a report about a mutated virus however this news report is cut short when Jane changes the channel to current pop music. In the evening The group are sat on the floor playing cards and drinking.

The power suddenly goes off so  Andrew goes to the fuse box and flip the switch. The lights come back on and the other 3 scream. There is a bloody hand print on the window. Screaming can be heard from the back garden. The group go to investigate the noise from the garden. They turn on the lights to the garden to see someone being eaten. The group are confused an start screaming alerting the zombie. The zombie head towards the house, the group try to lock the door but the zombie enters the house, the group freak out in the kitchen until  Mia kills the zombie with a kitchen knife. They lock up the house and go to call the police however Luke notices that the person who was being eaten started to move, about to unlock the door to go help them until they realise that the body is coming back to life and is acting like the dead zombie in the kitchen. The group barricade the doors and all sleep on the floor together in panic. Luke spooks the group by describing them as zombies.

The next day the group decide that the house isn't safe as multiple zombie try to enter the house. They hear smashing from the French doors and fear that the zombies have infiltrated the house. In a panic they pick up a couple of bats from on of the boxes and run out of the house and into the woods. after escaping from the zombies they check their mobile phones but cannot get a signal they plan a direction for the group to travel in and find a couple in the woods who appear unharmed. They meet and share some food with the couple. the couple describe how their friends are held up safely in the church and neighboring farmers and friends are meeting there. The couple offer the group to come with them. As the group pack up they are ambushed. The couple get killed and Jane gets bitten. The group flee with the bitten friend. They kill a zombie on the way but find running away is easier. The group head in the direction of the church. Jane starts feeling very ill and cannot run. Zombies are approaching from behind. Jane rests against a tree and tells the others to leave her. Luke said that he cannot leave her and hold her in his arms. Mia and Andrew have to decide whether to stay or go. However the decision is made for them when Jane turns into a zombie and bites Luke, killing him. The couple run as they see zombies approaching from behind. They run to a fork in the path and see zombies approaching from both in frond and behind. The run down a little path when they see up ahead a church. Zombies approach from the front so the couple kill their way through the zombies. They run up to the front of the church and are greeted by friendly survivors. The group all sit in a circle and decide what to do next. The protagonist turns to her partner and says "we will be okay"

Narrative Theory

After  my analysis  of narrative theory i found that  Todorov is the easiest to base my plot around however producing a zombie trailer makes the re-achieving equilibrium challenging as the zombies are not cured, instead it is creating a new equilibrium to live in a world with zombies. Although  in a trailer i will not have to show an ending as that would reveal to much of the plot which through audience research i found that most people like limited plot so the are enticed to watch the end.  Levi Struss is a easy narrative theory to place in as there is the contrast of human to zombies, similar to good and bad. In my trailer i want to play a twist on Propp's theory by having my protagonist as a female and a princess character remains female, to create interest in a modern  audience. I will also add characters such as the helper to aid the hero. In a trailer it is hard to show Bathes theory as that is a main feature and twist with in the film however this should not be revealed in the trailer as that twist is intended in the full film and including Barthes in the trailer runs the risk of revealing to much plot and content.

Features of a trailer

Concept Zombie Art

concept art for the zombie makeup

Mood Board

There are many variations of zombies, in classic zombie movies the dead are reanimated, they rise from the dead which is where the idea of green rotting flesh comes from and hands coming from the ground. Where as modern zombies are linked to some form of infectious virus such as zombies from the game/comic, the last of us.

Zombie apocalypse film have a group of characters that we follow, The outfits the characters wear tend to be hard wearing such as shirts and jeans I films where the movie is set years into the apocalypse E.g. the last of us set 20 years after the apocalypse. However films set at the out break of the zombie apocalypse the characters tend to wear destroyed clothes/ casual clothing/pyjamas e.g. Shaun of the dead.   Burying the Ex is a zomcom (zombie comedy hybrid) but not based on an apocalypse but instead is based on a wish coming true and the female is brought back to life, so there is only one zombie, so looks at zombies in a different way than the other films,TV shows and games do. The small firefly symbol in the bottom right corner is a symbol that appears through out the game in the last of us, I like this idea of having a symbol appear through out the film similar to sinister.

Research into Location, Props and Characters

Research into Location, Props and Characters from LucyA2Media

Drafting Ideas

Target Audience

Target Audience:
My target audience is aged 15-19, a secondary school level education, so the film must not get side tracked by detailed knowledge in a specific knowledge area such as history or science. They would be fans of the horror genre leaning towards zombie sub genre. Form a zombie trailer they would expect to be shown some mild gore scenes, jump scares, an introduction to what the zombie looks like (possible cause of out break /zombie kill scenes.) and they would expect the location and protagonist and antagonist to be revealed. From the narrative of the film they would expect to see the common codes of a zombie film such as when a zombie bites a victim they turn into a zombie, they would also expect to see this fear of dying/ turning into a zombie to be present n the trailer. In the narrative of the film it should reveal the cause of the infection and how to kill the zombie. In the narrative of the trailer the audience is expecting to be introduced to a group/ protagonist going about their every day live and are happy, we are then introduced to the threat of zombies and the trailer suggests how the group or protagonist survive. In the narrative of the film it is expected that we are introduced to a character, someone they know dies due to a zombie and they join a group of survivors as they try to find safety in the dystopia. The film also link to ideas about how society lives and we learn more about the nature of the zombie. the film never goes back to the original utopia, instead the group must learn to adapt to the dystopia or create a new one.

Target Audience Research

Survey Findings

All of my candidates where of secondary school age, which means this is my target audience.
I found that 2/3 of people think that little of the plot should be revealed, the ideas and themes should be hinted at and genre/characters established. Where as 1/3 people thought that most of the plot should be revealed, however may don't agree with this as if all the best parts of a movie are in the trailer then the movie becomes under whelming.
2/3s of the candidates asked said that their favourite sub genre of movie was zombie horror, therefore I should produce a zombie horror as that is most desired by my target audience.
In terms of effects jump scares an gore came up the most. Jump scares were rated as the number 1 effect but gore was often repeated. A most favourite effect in horror movies by one candidate was plot twists and another was music that builds tension.
In terms of importance music and lighting was voted 100% very important, I my trailer I should focus on how lighting and music can create the desired mood or emotion for that scene. Camera shots and sound effects were rated 66.67% very important, so I should also include a wide range of camera shot appropriate to the setting and mood, but also sound effects. The mise en scene of the trailer had mixed level of importance ranging from very important to not very important, however more votes were on the important to very important side, so I will think carefully about any mise en scene features, as other features such as lighting and camera shots are less impressive if the mise en scene of the area is off.

Focus Group

My focus group was composed of my target audience, from this i found that my target audience found that jump scares and fade to black paired with fitting sound effects are effecting inn enticing an audience and make the story line enjoyable rather than a simple storytelling. i will use jump scares in my trailer as it is a key feature of a horror movie trailer and an expectation of the audience. sound effects are very important in make a film, if the sound effects work well with the imagery then it makes the scene serious, adding to the scare factor rather than a humorous disaster. I also found from my focus group that cut scenes are expected, this creates a fast pace which i useful in building up tension, i can also use cut scenes in jump scares.Slow music was preferred to build an eerie atmosphere, i should use similar music containing violins as it is an expected convention of the horror trailer. I also found a that an audience like third person perspective following shot as it makes the audience fear for the character as they are being watched or followed. My focus group also suggested to not reveal to much plot away in the trailer otherwise there is no point in watching the trailer therefore in my trailer i should avoid telling a short story and instead focus on using common features in a horror trailer. Another idea put forward by my focus group was having a hand slam against the glass, it is a common scare used in horror movies and it will be effective in  my zombie trailer.

Horror Movie Survey

Create your own user feedback survey

Trailer Analysis: Findings

After analysing different horror trailer I learnt key skills and ideas from them to increase the horror and fear factor but also ideas for the narrative.

From Annabelle I realised that a key feature to a horror trailer is jump scares, or set up to jump scares but also scene that a scary as they are disturbing with out the need for a jump scare, for example in the Annabelle trailer a demon walks up to a crib whilst the mother a baby sleep, the eeriness is also built up by peaceful yet unsettling music and low key lighting. Lighting is also a key feature, darkness and low key lighting create a sense of danger which I needed to identify that this is a horror trailer, where as in Zombeavers the lighting wasn't the same as in Annabelle due to Zombeavers being a hybrid with comedy.

Zombeavers made me choose the sub genre I would like to follow for my trailer, zombies. In the zombie sub genre there are many codes an conventions which are easy to follow to identify that the movie is from that genre and which the influence from Annabelle and Sinister I can  increase the horror factor, which Zombeavers hinted at but changed to make it comedic. Zombeavers hints at gore in the trailer as well, Annabelle and sinister we not gory film and gore is often tamed down in a trailer as it can be unsettling and inappropriate however I would like to touch on the fact the plot of my movie would contain gore in a similar way to zombeavers.

Sinister like Annabelle focused on a clear distinction between good and evil. Sinister brought in the idea of corruption of innocence which created and uncanny feel to the trailer, increasing the scare factor in another way from a jump scare. Another idea I thought was cleaver was linking the villain to a symbol and through out the trailer have  the symbol appear, I like this idea to add to my trailer, a symbol or image repeated through out my trailer.

Sub Genre Research

Sinister

Trailer Analysis:Zombeavers

Zombeavers is a horror comedy surround a group of young friends. it was released in 2014. Some of the cast have starred in a mixture of horror movies and comedies. The director is not known for horror movie but has some work in comedy directing.

Zombeavers is a genre hybrid as it is a horror comedy. To highlight this in the trailer it follows conventions of a horror movie but adds a comedic twist.  The major convention that the trailer conforms to is the secluded location.  The trailer also includes dim lighting and some shaky handheld shots to add a layer of tension but notify the audience that this is a horror movie.  However it also plays a twist such as most gore/zombie movies will show kill scenes and gore, in the zombeavers trailer when one of the males gets his foot bitten off the special effects are low quality and the gore is humorous implying a humour element to the movie.  One of the titles shown says ‘from the producers of the ring and we’re the millers’, We’re the millers is a well-known comedy and some of the dialog is humorous and very similar to that rude sense of humour and over the top swearing.  A convention of both comedy and horror is teenagers who are over the top and seen as rather immoral. The way the movie is introduced in the trailer is as a teen movie, young females parting and in bikinis until a threat is introduced by a gun shot and birds flying away, from here the movie takes a darker tone suggesting it is a horror movie.  The movie follows the most common zombie convention of once the person is bitten they turn into a zombie however the trailer makes a twist on this for a humorous effect of making them turn into zombie beavers.

The trailer reveals the story line as 6 teens go to a secluded house and party however a threat is introduced, beavers. The beavers start attacking and it is revealed that they are zombie beavers. The group try to escape however things go wrong for all of them. At the end of the trailer it is revealed that once bitten the character turns into a zombie beaver. The trailer introduces a beginning and middle, enticing the audience to watch the film to discover how the group deals with the threat and what happens to all the character as in the trailer we can see that some character where bitten, the audience is left to question who survives.

The trailer doesn’t conform to the propp’s theory as there is no obvious protagonist and the trailer focuses on the group. Although the theory can be linked to male gaze, there are plenty of shots of the girls in limited clothing and bikinis as well as a mid-shot of one of the girls walking past the camera, not showing her face and focusing on her bottom, suggesting to the audience they should be focusing on the sexuality of the girls.

The two main character types being represented in the trailer are teens and females.   There are wide shots of the girls swimming and playing in the lake  showing them in bikinis and one girls is topless, connoting the idea that these girls are provocative and flirty, suggesting the idea that all young people are ‘wild’ and focus on their sexuality. The teens were see being loud, shouting in the lake and very unserious as they keep telling jokes, representing the teens as party animals and loud, which adults would disapprove. The teens are also seen as as rude due to the constant unnecessary swearing, further adding to the idea that young people are immoral so good targets for a horror movie as they have traits that most disapprove of. Teens/young people are also used because they are seen as relatable, to people currently that age, to those who are older and cast back to when that was them and also those who are young who almost look up to them. 

Trailer Analysis: Annabelle