Audience feedback

After showing the product to a group of  friend they said:

'It's a clever, original idea. I didn't like the screen effect though, It made the scene more complaex than it needs to be. Aside from that I would be interested to see the full film.'

'Weird in a good way.'

'It looks rushed.'

'I liked the sence of panic in the camera work but the vido filter let it down.'

'There should have been more blood.'

Evaluation

   Creating the final product has been a long possess, lasting a number of weeks going through several stages and phases from researching the preliminary task to filming and editing the final product.

   The opening preliminary task asked me to create a short peace of film following three basic rules and while this small bit of film has nothing to do with the final product I gained valuable ideas as to what I wanted to achieve in my final work and if nothing else I knew I wanted to create a film entirely from the point of view of one character.

   I viewed the openings to several films including Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project and while I enjoyed the personal terror of each character that seemed to be felt by the subsequent audience particularly in Cloverfield I felt that there could have been more shock value in the realisation of what has happened. 

   In planning and scripting the film I had in mind something of a gore fest in the style of the crossed comic series, using complex character drama and brutal combat scenes. The opening two minutes would involve a group of survivors already in the midst of the apocalypse, gathering supplies. The survivors hear something from another part of the building and investigate, finding a bloody scene and a stranger standing on the other side of the door way. Only once the opening two minutes were scripted and planned the idea that would be eventually used for the final peace came to mind.

   I was on Youtube simply browsing for personal entertainment and on a whim searched: top 10 post apocalypse films, I found the following video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7WqX7dqjmE

   The video while somewhat immature and less than entertaining mentioned a film called The Road. Grabbed by the sound of this “realistic and gritty story” I wanted to watch the film. Even two and a half minutes into the film I knew that this is what I want to do, a gritty found video style film of f the daily struggles of survivors in a new world

   I thought through the whole idea again, I would only  use one other person. I also decide against using any blood, the reason being that I was filming in a relatively rural area, the outskirts of a city where it is only busy in the city centre. On the other hand if I had filmed within my home area or a larger city such as London or even Bristol I would have made the meis en scene a lot darker and more gritty as the fleeing population would have surely made more of an emendate effect on the abandoned area. Another reason for the lack of blood effects and other horror staples was the fact that I didn’t want to make it obvious within the first two minutes that the world had changed so dramatically.  Had I been given the chance to film the rest of the film I would have perhaps confirmed the end of the world fifteen minutes into the film with a gory spectacle such as the killing of a cannibal.  

   Finally I edited the production with Final Cut having been relatively pleased with my production after being somewhat unsure of how the final creation would turn out.

   In creating my media product I knew I wanted to challenge standard conventions. Having watched film like the Cloverfield and Blair Witch Project I knew how effective and potentially terrifying the fixed point of view can be as well as being more personal to the audience. I wanted to open with something unexpected, most horror films start with some form of prologue that creates the primary sense of fear within the audience that isn’t revisited until twenty minutes into the film and while the idea I had originally planned was along this idea I soon realised I wanted something different. The opening two minutes of the film are filmed in a kitchen and while there is a sense of urgency the audience is unaware of the situation as is uncommon in films where the audience and character have similar points of view to have such a gap in knowledge. In Cloverfield You know at the same time as the character that something has happened and in my opinion this almost softens the blow, what was so unexpected is suddenly not all that scary. I scrapped a tried and tested horror convention to create a more subtle horror that would come as a shock to the audience when they found out the full extent of what had happened.

13 Days

 The final production entitled 13 Days

Pre production story boards

 

These were originaly used to plan each shot of the pre production though some shots turned out differently due to the fact that they did not work in the way I had exspected while planning.
Excuse the primary school level drawing.

Change of plan

After examining the opening two minutes of films I ralised that the four extra people I had planned to use were to much, instead I would use one person.

Treatment

13 days

   The film opens in a kitchen; there is a heavy atmosphere in the room. The camera looks up at the ceiling, slowly moving down to the small group of survivors. They are gathering supplies. The camera cuts to a panoramic view from the window. The group gathers what they need and sits in a dark room.  The room has little decoration with white walls; two sofas and TV. The group consider their next move, where to go; what to do.   There is silence for a moment as one of the group stands to leave. Thirteen days after the world ended there is still power, but there is fear and hate, no one trusts anyone else. The group is made up of three friends around the same age, all dressed in basic clothes.



Survivors take shelter  at the end of a long day.



   There is a loud bump from another room; two of the survivors investigate a survivor. The survivors get to know each other sharing supplies and food. While sharing stories of the end of the world of the bombs and the fallout they hear more noise from another room. A man stands at the end of the hallway with wild, hungry eyes, his hands are covered in blood, the small group determines the man dangerous and probably insane or worse a cannibal. The group are forced to leave quickly and quietly, taking the stairs to the outside world.

   The group makes their way south, as far south as they can get. Days turn into week and they find themselves nearing a city, Bristol.  They arive at a house on the outskirts of the city, it looks like it was abandoned long before all "this" happened.



Main task Shot plan

   Low angle shoot, camera lying on the floor, moving slightly as each character talks. Within the same shot the camera moves to face the third survivor, who cleans the camera. The room is low lit, with two settees opposite each other; one of the survivors has a knife. Each survivor has a bag each containing different objects, some containing food.

   The bump at the door sends the others to their feet. The hallway is dark with only a little light filtering through at each end. The camera follows behind, stood between the two rooms, looking left and right, sometimes behind the group; all the while keeping low. The hallway is dark and empty. Throughout this shot the camera remains low, giving the audience a firsthand account of what is happening, the camera is slightly shaky with the operator constantly looking around even while moving forward.

   The camera moves in second, zooming in for a close up shot on the new survivors face, zooming out as the last survivor walks in. The room is a mess, with books, paper and other items, the room is lit naturally. Curtains a drawn partially  

   The camera swings to the source of the noise back into the hall way. There is a figure at the door, the face is shadowed. the shot goes black for a second  or two and then there is a hand print on the door, it looks like blood. The lights go out and as the camera approaches the door a hand slams against the glass as if someone is trying to pull themselves out of a deep pit.