"The Survivor" - Reflective Analysis by Michael Higgins

Our film sequence is called “The Survivor” and the genre we chose this film to be is an apocalyptic horror. We thought this choice of genre was good because of the research we had done into a similar film called “28 Days Later”, this meant we understood the conventions that we would have to include in our sequence. My role for the task was mainly as the editor but I did help produce the sequence as I edited the sound for the sequence. The overall plot for our film is about a group of survivors of this zombie apocalypse that has struck the UK all find each other in the woods, they travel and live together in order to stay safe but slowly they get picked off. The sequence shows the end of the film as the last survivor gets attacked by a lone zombie.

The overall aim of our sequence was to place the audience into the chase with the survivor and make the audience feel like they are running with the zombie and survivor, we also wanted to make the atmosphere quite unnerving using simple sounds and cinematography. A storyboard was used in order to organise and plan which camera shots were going to be used and when in order to create a certain audience response, we were also able to plan what sounds and music we would use to unnerve the audience and make them feel like they are in the scene. An example of how to do this could be using a point of view shot during a chase scene. The location of our film, an area of woodland, was chosen because it allows us to use the conventions of horror for our film as woodland is a common place for horror films.

Our main micro-feature was camerawork, this is because it is how we provoked major responses from the audience. From the feedback to our film sequence we gathered that our use of shots, such as point of view, long shot and a tracking camera, managed to make the audience feel as if they were in the scene and moving and running with the main character. This was wanted we had intended from the start of the project, we wanted the audience to feel connected to the film so that they are much more interested in it by making them feel as if they are a character themselves. The main way we accomplished this was through multiple point of view shots, which were very effective. However, the chase point of view shot was very shaky as the character is running. It made it very hard to tell what was going on, but this did make the chase look a lot more frantic, you could see the fear just from that one shot, which wasn’t intentional. Actors played their parts well which helped the overall feel of the film as the emotions that characters were feeling and so the audience should be feeling were conveyed much stronger.

We decided that the moment our last survivor gets attacked should be a flash back, this meant adding a white flash transition in order to convey to the audience in a way that they will understand that it’s a flashback. Also, fades to back were used a couple times in order to show a change in time, or to show that the time period has changed when entering or exiting a flashback. A good use of sound effects whenever needed also kept the audience up to speed as to what was happening in the sequence despite the use of a black screen in order to create enigmas for the audience. From the feedback we got the audience thought that the editing has continuity as so the entire sequence was understandable. The credits sequence rolls at the end as this sequence is meant to be the last one of the film, so this is where the credits would start after all the survivors are dead as there would be no more main characters. The ambience of a woodland is the only background music throughout as just hearing the diegetic sound makes you similar to the characters in the fact you hear what they do and see from similar angles to what they do, the near silence unnerves the audience.

Overall, I was pleased with the final outcome of the film sequence that we produced and the audience seemed to enjoy it as well, this is because we managed to achieve our aims to place the audience in the scene and make them feel on edge which we did. The editing, camerawork and sound all combined to create these feelings and emotions within the audience. In the future I would improve the quality of our sound effects so they sound more professional and get a bigger cast as a group of zombies is scarier than just one.

Word Count: 816

Reflective Analysis of "The survivors" (Freya Beck)

Roles: Producer, make-up artist, Cinematographer, music and sound effect.

Location:
We decided to locate the scene in the woods. The woods is a classical convention for a horror story, is quiet, isolated, and has an eerie feel to it. We also decided that this would move things away from the noise of the streets, making our audience believe that there is no civilisation. The woods also restrict an excessive amount of sunlight, giving the film that dull grey toned effect, suggesting that these are dark and horrible times. The woods are also open to slot of free space, with little chance of you running into anyone else, this created the "threat on humanity" image. With only one person running in the woods we give the audience that image of a lone survivor.

Make up:
I decided to keep the make up extremely natural. I evened out complections so there were no dark UN-wanted patches from the sun. I accentuated features such as eyes and gaw lines and cheek bones. This creates more of a masculine image on the character and highlighting areas like the eyes, really open up the face stopping them from looking like dots for eyes. I decided to keep any imperfections on the skin such as spots or scars because these are natural things that many people have. We decided not to do zombie make-up because the zombies face is not seen in a shot.

Music and sound:
I was aware that a lot of films include music when creating a tense atmosphere. I decided to steer away from the normal conventions and try some thing I have seen very little off. I decided use normal sound effects, the sounds of birds chirping or a slight breeze. The normal and relaxing sounds in the background contrasts with the screeching of infected and heavy footsteps. The contrasts of sound confuses the audience making them unsure of how they feel and also it places them into the characters shoes, making you hear what they would usually hear.

Overall analysis:
In conclusion I am very happy with our piece. If I was to do anything differently I would of added extras to create an army of infected, I may of even tried to include music to trigger the audiences fear.

"The Survivors" Script - Toby Saddleton

Title : The Survivors 

*A shot of an injured Soldier walking through the woods*

Scene 1 
Ext - Woodland Area 

The soldier is walking through the woods with some sort of limp, holding his leg indicating where he is injured. The sounds of birds tweeting is heard and the sound of slight heavy breathing emphasising the injury.

Scene 2
Ext - Woodland Area

There is a fade to white to indicate that there is a flashback. In the flash back we see the an infected's perspective and we see him chasing after the soldier we see at the beginning. The soldier turns around and opens fire on the infected.

Scene 3

There is a fade to black and then we hear the sound of this infected growl to continue and the sound of the soldier beginning to scream as he is being bitten. The sound of a gun shot is heard and the screen does a fade to white in which it then fades back to a black screen.

Scene 4
Ext - Woodland Area 
We see the soldier pick up his gun and at this point he is sitting next to a tree indicating that he is struggling to walk with this injury caused by the infected. He loads his gun and then shoots himself in the head.

*Credits*   

Location

This is a panoramic shot of Darland Woods which is the location used in our main film. It is a large open area and when it is in the winter season, it is very muddy and there is more mist which means that shooting a horror genre film would be easier to film as the weather would make more conventions.

The Survivor - Film

Final edit of our two minute extract from a film called: The Survivor

Reflective Analysis of “The Survivors” - Toby Saddleton

Reflective Analysis of “The Survivors”  (Toby Saddleton)

Roles - Co-Writer, Director, Location Scout, Cinematographer

Location

When Filming for “The Survivors”, I liked having the location of the woods as it is a fairly open area and also it is means that there is less noise all around and you can hear the audio a lot easier. The best thing about filming in the woods, it also shows that there is an understanding of horror conventions as it is a common location that is used throughout horror films. One disadvantage of filming in the woods is that it means that you can have a lot of strangers walking in and out of your shots as the Darland Woods (the location we used) has a lot of dog walkers.

Camera Work

The camera work was a difficult challenge to perform as it was only myself and one other member of my group that actually showed up to film the footage that we needed.  Due to this, it meant that we lacked certain equipment, such as a tripod and in result of that we had to use the environment around us to balance the camera on as it then made the camera still and also gave us the shots that we wanted. When filming in First Person it was a bit risky as I was having to run with the camera and whereas the floor was so muddy, there was a few occasions where I nearly slipped over, however as the camera was already rather shaky, it gave a better affect than expected. The use of having First Person is to show the audience the infected’s perspective and it also allows the audience to hear that growl that you tend to hear infected give out. 

Mise – En Scene

For the Mise – En Scene, The Costumes were rather descriptive of each character. The costumes that were worn were good at representing the two characters that were seen in the film. The infected (myself) wearing a white t-shirt and a black hoodie and black skinny jeans and black shoes. This could show the audience about the darkness of this character and the black hoodie makes it harder for the soldier to identify who is actually chasing him, however the audience will understand that it is an infected person due to the fact that the person chasing him in making the infected type of growl. A prop that was quite important to the story was the gun that the soldier carried on him. The use of the blue paint on the gun is so that people know that this isn't a normal type of gun and that it is an air-soft gun; however it still has the same type of movement when fired like a normal gun., Which makes it slightly more believable.

Narrative

The use of having a Point of View shot is so that the audience can feel more intense and engaged with the film. If they see how close the infected person is to getting the soldier then the audience will be more on edge and also try and feel sorry for the soldier as he is trying to survive and is being hunted alive by another person. If he was to be eaten or infected (which happens) then even though the audience don’t know him they might sympathies for him as the soldier didn't deserve to die.  The point in having the long shot when the soldier shoots the infected is to give the viewer’s get that sense of safety and relief from the chase. It shows the gun being shot and the reaction of the infected as he falls over due to the impact of being shot.

Messages and Values

The messages and values that I wanted to give out as a director is that for anyone who feels like being a victim or being targeted, is that you should find the courage to stand your ground and stand up for yourself. In a way the chase in the short film could represent a child being bullied (the soldier being chased by someone who wants to inflict pain on him for no reason).  However sometimes standing up for yourself can also mean you get knocked down again (the infected being biting the soldier) and then you have the difficult situation on how you deal with it, some people overcome it but others let it affect them and then may cause pain on themselves because of it (The solider killing himself as he doesn't want to be infected)

Word Count: 742

Reflective analysis by Abdul Khan

Title: The Survivors

Gere: Horror

Synopsis: Zombie apocalypse survivor is chased by a zombie in the woods. After shooting the zombie once the survivor walks near to the corpse to reload his gun when the zombie wakes up and bites his leg. He instantly shoots the zombie in the head and begins to stagger to a tree. The survivor sits down, places the pistol in his mouth and kills himself. Before we went out to shoot our film we had aims for our film mainly to make the theme of horror greater by deciding what styles of cinematography could create a tense and vulnerable atmosphere for our survivors. We also wanted our film to be realistic so we decided on accurate props to fit the zombie apocalypse theme.

My roles: Story board artist, cinematographer and prop designer/costumes. 

Story Board

As a story board artist I had to draw out the different scenes of the film, however I drew them in the style of the shots that were going to be used when filming the scene. I tried to make sure that the story board was clear enough so I didn’t draw stick figures but instead made it look good by making small drawings of the soldier and the infected as well as filling in the back ground too. This was very important because I needed to paint a clear picture for my team to understand what was happening and I think I nailed it well.

By doing all of this it made it easier for filming our film as we had a clear understanding of how, what and where to use each camera shot. As well as this the story board was structured so that Michael (our editor) could easily edit it as it the story board was done in order of the how our films plot was going to play out.

Costume/Prop design

I was also a prop designer for our film, I didn’t design anything but I had a few items to be used for props and costumes. As stated in our pitch, I was meant to be playing a survivor with a military background so I wore a combat boots an olive green beanie, a CS95 smock, trousers and webbing as well as carrying a blue airsoft pistol to represent a gun. This made it clear to anyone viewing our film that this character was ex-military. As well as this the infected person in our film wore more casual civilian clothing such as a white t shirt , jeans and a hoodie which again was very helpful in our film because it helps to make it clearer on who the characters are in our film. The use of authentic looking props really helps with our short horror film because things that seem more realistic and believable is more scarier than something you know isn’t real and definitely having accurate props makes the film look like we took our time in making it something good to watch. Sadly the gun I used was slightly broken to which if I filled the magazine with gas , we could have had the gas blow back motion each time you pull the trigger but either way we managed to do it manually.

Cinematography

My final role was as a cinematographer for a few clips with the help of my friend who did most of the camera work. We used a small camera without a tripod which meant that a lot of the clips would be shaky, normally this would have been a bad thing but because our genre is horror the shakiness fits in as it sets a sense of vulnerability at all times. My story board helped with filming shots as it was essentially a plan of what shots we were going to use in each part of our film. As there were only two of us filming whilst acting at the same time, it meant that we had to use the environment to hold the camera for us while it was recording. For a few shots I was meant to be using a helmet camera, I did and would have had some really good clips of point of view shots with the gun in action but sadly every time I was pressing record I was pressing pause, and when I thought I was pressing pause it was recording so it kind of left us with slightly less clips.

Word count: 743

Story Board