How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to attract our audience we designed relatable characters, Melissa and Steve. Both characters were of similar age groups to our target audience of 15-25 therefore meaning the audience could connect with our characters on a personal level. In addition to this our characters featured costumes of similar clothing such as hoodies and crop tops. Oure audience feedback informed us that our characters were relatable. One person said 'I personally felt sympathy for the characters when they were attacked as I found them to be just like me'.

Our audience are also classified as being fans of the horror genre, specifically 'zombie' horrors. Therefore to attract our audience we featured a realistic zombie ccharacter. We conveyed the characters infected 'zombie' state through the use of makeup. One responder to our audience feedback told us 'The zombie looked very real, I loved the gore!'.

The audience feedback also told us that the film flowed well and included good continuity. This is thanks to the extensive planning of a shotlist within our production period.

1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film was set within the zombie genre, so to convey this we used horror iconography, For example the zombie and his makeup as well as other horror coneventions we found out through research. Inparticular the film Zombieland used plenty of makeup and especially gore based effects. Our costumes for the two actors were stereotypical of their age and gender

Other parts of iconography from within the horror genre was a fight scene, Our fight scene was between the Zombie and lead actor Steve, fight scenes are extremely common inside the horror genre as they add tension and offer more reasons to add extra gore. Not only does it fortify the other conventions it engages the audience as they fear for the protaganists survival.

We established our plot through strong foreshadowing as displayed in our news scene which utilised a green screen as well as some of Final cut's editing functionanlity.

Within our title sequence we used forms of typography to create a theme of destruction within the film. The font used was white, block capitals and appears to be damaged and worn. This holds connotations of destruction therefore conveying to the audience that the film features ruin and havoc- fitting with the post-apocalyptic horror genre.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Due to our media product being a horror it narrows down companies or people that would distribute our film. There are some excellent independent companies operating out of the UK and ditributing films worldwide. These include but are not limited to:

Hammer films:


Hammer films is one of the oldest films in the industry with successes ranging from "The Woman In Black", "The Mummy" and "The Curse Of Frankenstein" which have been some pivotal films in the horror genre and "The Mummy" even spawned multiple sequels. Due to them being around some long they have a rich history and have attempted multiple sub-genres of horror and many different approaches to making a horror film. I feel these would be our best choice for a distributor due to their astonishing success with many films.

Left films:

Left films are a company that operates within the UK serving independant producers with a platform to distribute their work through. They claim to offer a fresh approach to film marketing through social media and good audience engagement. I do not think these are a good choice for our product as they seem to specialise in horrors with a comedic story lines such as "Ninjas vs Vampires" and "Cowboys and Zombies".

7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at a our preliminary task we have learnt that continuity is harder to achieve than we initially anticipated with discrepancies across our film. Such as people that shouldn't be seen being present within the shot.

 From our preliminary excersize we have carried on with the use of match on actions and shot reverse shot. We feel these are strong points with us as they have worked well and effectively within our media product. We have gotten better at editing and our selection and variety of shot within our film.  

We have used several shots and techniques we didn't use during our preliminary exercise such as POV shots and post editing effects such as turning the screen red to further reinforce the illusion of the viewer seeing what the zombie is seeing. 

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We decided to use adobe final cut express as our editing suite as it offers great functionality and ease of use for amateurs like us. This programme was easily picked up by out group and we all did some editing together which benefitted us.

 We used a small camera with a range of attachments which was great for us as we were on the move with all our equipment at once. We used the same small camera throughout and ran into no problems with it as it greatly catered to our needs or we would've reconsidered our choice of camera.

Other technologies aided the success of our camera such as the tripod which allowed for smooth pans and a stable base to operate the camera from.

 One particular good use of final cut express were the zombie's POV shot in which we used red colour correction to further the zombie effect. Another great example of final cut express's functionality was our green screen footage in which we told the program to ignore the green screen which helped add to the illusion  of a newsroom.

We used blogger as our online platform to post our work and document all our progress within the process.

Who would be the audience for your media product? evaluation

Our target audience was older teenagers and young adults, this is due to many factors including violence within our film, the actors costume and our dialogue. We aimed our production towards people with an already existing interest in horror, especially the zombie genre. Their lifestyle would be very much rushed and spontaneous which makes us feel that this product would benefit hugely from being able to be streamed online as well as being shown in cinemas, physical copies and digital download. With young people having less disposable income than the older generation online streaming is the best way to get our product shown as cinemas can be quite expensive.

Our pre research consisted of asking peers and sending a review out among them to gauge the sensibility of the plot and the possible success of the film. We also did a few interviews with members of the public to gather opinions for our product.    

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Z-Bola Final Film

Preliminary Exercise

Shooting pack

What we need for the next time we film. 

Equipment:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Elastic band for smooth panning

Props:

• Makeup for the zombie
• Fake blood
• Plant pot 
• Clothes props 

Possible distributors

The UK has a whole host of independent films and distributors to boot, these successes range from dark comedies such as Four Lions and lovey dovey coming of age films such as Submarine. These both come from the same Yorkshire based company Warp films. 

Arrow films


Arrow films is a UK based film distribution company that brings some of the best films from around the world to a UK based audience. They were first started in 1991 and claim to be at the cutting in British film distribution. Their major successes include:

Icon films

Formed in 1999 Icon film distribution is among the UK's leading film distributors generating in excess of £150 million at the box office, they have brought us successful films such as Paranormal activity, Transporter 3 and 30 days of night. 


Left wing films

Left films is a Uk based horror film distributor that specialises in horror films particularly, they bring their dedicated knowledge and expertise. They  bring a fresh approach to UK horror and offer fresh insight into the genre.  

Treatment: First two minutes.

"Z-bola" 

Duration: 2 mins
Audience:
Younger viewers with an already established interest into horror films particularly the sub genre zombie thriller.

Distributor: Hammer films.
They specialise in horror films and are a small independent company.

Synopsis of story:
A new virus breaks out which causes people to turn into flesh eating zombies, because of this a young girl is watching the news which spooks her because her boyfriend is running late. He eventually arrives and she questions his lateness and is shut down and called paranoid. Just after this altercation he ventures outside for a cigarette during his break he is ambushed by a zombie. A scuffle occurs where he eventually wins but is left with a bite mark.

Suggested elements.

The film be non linear because it will make use of flashbacks and make use of montage sequences.

Questionnaire:

Media Questionnaire:

1.     Do you understand the plot of the film?

2.     What do you think the genre of the film is?

3.     What age rating would you assume the film is?

4.     What is your favourite genre of film?

5.     Would you go to see the film?

6.     What is your favourite part of the plot?

7.     Is there anything you would add or change to the plot?

List of tricky shots.

List of tricky shots and effects.


The green screen shot of the news report will be tricky as it is a shot we have never produced before. We also think it will be challenging for us to act in a scene lacking props and an environment.

In addition to this the fight sequence will be tricky as it's quite difficult to achieve proper speed and tension when we are not trained actors. The shot is quite difficult as we discovered in our practice run. .

To fix the issue we have conducted research and found an instructional video to help when shooting. 

Potential production company logo

Research into title sequences.

 Title sequences.


For my analysis into similar intro sequence/film I have chosen to look at Dawn of the Dead, which is a story about a rag tag group of apocalypse survivors that take refuge in a huge shopping mall in America.

Intro

Dawn of the dead utilises a montage of seeming random news clips from around the world with what appears a government figure answering questions directly related to the film. The shots feature reduced quality and fuzziness to add to the apocalyptic feel the film is aiming to give off. The music is Johnny Cash who is renown for covering grim aspects of life which also adds to the dire situation the world seems to be in. During the intro there is a use of red text which has connotations of blood and danger which foreshadows the film.

Prop/ Costume list.

Props:
Fake leg
Fake blood














Liquid latex
News glasses

News paraphernalia:
Desk
Paper
Green screen
Chair
News mug







Costume:

News suit
Typical teenage boy, hoodie jeans.

Typical girly lounge wear.
Ripped shirt, tatty jeans vans novelty hat (zombie).

Inspiration for the 'Z-bola' virus, April Carr:

The news is currently reporting about the 'Ebola' outbreak.

"Ebola virus disease is a serious illness that originated in Africa, where there is currently an outbreak. But for people living in countries outside Africa, it continues to be a very low threat."

We took inspiration from current affairs to produce a cause for the zombie infestation. Within our film a disease named 'Z-bola' spreads throughout the country however, those who die from the disease come back to life. Our main inspiration came from a conspiracy image which was spread rapidly on social media.

(The image spread on social media)

The audience will be informed of the virus through a faux TV news report. For example the scene will be shot on a green screen and a news area will be displayed afterwards. In addition to this a banner will be placed at the bottom of the screen in post production to give the effect of a real news report, as shown below. The news logo will also be shown so it appears professional and realistic to the audience.

(A BBC news report we are using for inspiration within our film)

Audience Profile.

Our target audience is mostly teenagers and people in their early to mid 20's .
They will have a strong interest in horror films, especially the zombie sub genre.
They will be able to relate to our chosen characters in many ways such as; school life, social life and home life.

Research into similar film

Similar films. 

• Shaun of the dead- A man fights for his ex-girlfriend back amidst a zombie apocalypse, filled with minor horror and gore. Renown for it's comedy. 

• World war z- A man travels the world attempting to stop the zombie pandemic. 

• Warm bodies- A zombie and a human girl fall in love. 

• Zombieland- Zombie apocalypse survivors make pilgrimage to an amusement park across the country. 

• Dawn of the dead- A group of survivors take a final stand in a massive American shopping mall. 

• 28 days later- 4 weeks after a virus spreads through the UK a group of survivors find sanctuary. 

• Resident evil- A military unit attempts to end the zombie apocalypse created by scientists. 

• I am legend- After NY is wiped out by a plague a man and his dog search for a cure. 

All of these films involve zombies or a sort of weird monster like I am ledgend, a few of these films attempt humour and manage to pull it off quite well and comes across quite crudely in Zombieland with most of the laughs come from crude but well done humour that self references throughout the film.

We have drawn inspiration from particular films such as Shaun of the dead's new scene which we hope to have something similar to that and hope to pull off realistic looking gore like Zombieland.