cast

My cast, for various reasons, inly consists of 2 actors. The person on the left is Lewis Hodson and the one on the right is Peter Dodds. Peter plays the main character and focus of the film. Lewis plays a person Peter meets on his journey and who decides to travel with. I chose peter to star in my film as i know him, am easily able to contact him and because he took a course in drama, making him an ideal "actor". I chose Lewis, also because he is easy to contact, but also because he has starred in one of my previous films and knows my filming style, reducing the time needed to explain things and making the filming process more efficient.

My genre and its conventions

My film is going to be a zombie film, which in most situations would be considered a part of the horror genre. However, the uniqueness of my film comes from the fact that you never see a zombie. Therefore I would say my film will lean more towards the thriller/suspense genre as the constant expectation of zombies builds suspense and atmosphere. It may even be considered a psychological thriller as my film focuses on two people who have survived a zombie apocalypse, how they are surviving now and how it is affecting them. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as a high level of anticipation, expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, and terror.

The conventions of a thriller/suspense film may include:

·         Primary target audience – male, 16-24

·         12 or 15 Certification

·         Extensive use of Narrative enigmas

·         Exploration of Narrative Themes

·         Slow pace of Editing, builds tension. Long takes

·         Predictable narrative content 

·         Clear binary oppositions e.g. good v evil

·         Use of low key lighting

·         Young/teenage characters

·         Use of hand-held camera

·         Point of view shots

·         Low angle shots

I intend to follow a few of these conventions, like the hand held camera and young/teenage characters as I think they match and will work well for the film idea I have. However I do also intend to challenge some of them, such as the low key lighting as I believe my film will be better without it.

original idea and new idea

My original film idea was to make a detective style film noir. I had a few ideas and concepts. I also had a good storyline however due to practical issues such as locations and actors I had to cancel this idea. As a back up, I am now doing a zombie film as it is much easier to find filming locations and I have a script all ready to use.

My new idea is film set after the world has ended. the film will take place in a time when the world has ended and lie on the planet is all but gone. the story will centre around a single person who believes himself to be the  only survivor, only to later find out there are more. on his way to an apparent "safe zone" he meets another and the 2 decide to travel together.

brief problems

When looking at the 13 different brief options, I immediately wanted to make the first level of a video game, having a prior knowledge of game making. However the program I made games with creates games as an .exe file. According to the brief, this game had to be a flash file or for a current console, neither of which were within my capabilities. Therefore I have been forced to change my ideas. After talking to friends and possible associates, I have chosen to make a short film after the world has "ended".

Brief

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• a poster for the film
• a radio trailer for the film;
• a film magazine review page featuring the film.