The Company Logos

The main company name was 'BMF Studios'.

We used a logo as we decided the company's background would be from Birmingham, like we are as a group. The word BMF originated from our college's name which is Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMC). So we decided to substitute the word college for films and the name for our studio was created. BMF Studios.

Originally the image we used was of an average picture of the Birmingham bull outside the Bullring with shoppers also in the shot. We then chose to edit the image so there was no distraction from the main and prominent image of the bull.

Another reason behind the choice of the bull is the fact bulls are seen as a strong animal which is the image we wanted to give our company.

This was the original image we used.

We then edited this image to create this logo for our film. We kept to the general colour of the Birmingham bull for this logo as it is an image most people will recognize and it made the letters BMF stand out more against it than if we had the bull red.

As a group we then decided to create another studio logo as many film have more than one studio working on a film at once. We continued with our bull theme and combined our last names (Sheasby, Owen and Slater) to create S.O.S Productions. There is a slight variation between the BMF Studios logo and this one as the bull is red here. The decision behind this was to set the scene of what type of film we were producing and what type of film this company would make which is horror.

After having similar logos we decided to create an image which would go between the two in a transition. For this image we decided to go with a simple black and white effect on the image of the bull.

Props, Makeup and Costume

Props

We used a basic selection of props and make up in our production.

The reason behind this is because we wanted to give our film a more stripped back feel and props didn't play a big part in the storyline.

One of our props was the use of fake blood. We decided to create our own fake blood opposed to buy it prepared as it gave us the chance to choice what type of consistency we wanted it to be.

To create the fake blood we used;

• Red food colouring
• Blue food colouring
• Golden syrup
• Water
• Flour

This was our end result, a product that was easy to make and looked like real blood.

Another prop we decided to make ourselves was guts for the dead person. These also were made simply. We made these guts from soaking rolled up kitchen tissue in fake blood.

Here is a picture of our home made fake guts on Jack who played the dead person.

Make up

Originally we intended to use more make up than in our final product than we actually did. 

The first time we filmed we had more make up on our zombies and they looked like this: 

This look was achieved by using tissue, glue and paint. The problem with this look was that the actresses couldn't move their face and make good facial expressions due to the amount of glue and tissue which was on their faces. Also the actresses identities weren't too distinguishable with this amount of makeup covering their faces. After we also decided the colour wasn't appropriate. We also thought as a group that the zombies didn't show up on camera as well as we wanted them too. After looking at all these disadvantages we decided to change the way we used make up on the actors who played the zombies.

It was then we decided to go for a more toned down make up look. In our final product our zombie looks like this:

With this look it gave more of a 'just dead' look which was more appropriate. Also this makeup look was easier for the actress to make facial expressions as this makeup look consisted of mineral powder and fake blood. The advantage of this makeup look was that it was more thought out compared to the first. Also with this look it was easy to apply to the actor who was playing the dead person. Just with the other actor the makeup was lighter so there was a link between the dead person and then the dead person becoming a zombie which is shown at the end of our opening.

Costume

For our choice of costume we decided to choose simple items which had good representations.

For one of the role of Kate we had the actress dressed in a white t shirt, with a red one over the top paired with jeans and converse shoes. These items each had connotations behind them. The white t shirt symbolised the character's purity, innocence and naivety. Whereas the red shirt which was placed over the white shirt symbolised impending danger and how she was the cause of this as it is her idea to go into the woods. The jeans were used to show her youthfulness as were the shoes.

The character of Leo's costume was also used in the same way. He wore a white t shirt which showed he was a pure and good character but when he later put on a black hoodie this also shown the danger which would unfold ahead.

When it came to the character of the zombie we decided to go with a very 'teenage' look by putting the actress in a costume consisting of a black hoodie with the word 'DEAD!' on it; which was also ironic as the character is dead; jeans and some plain shoes. The costume can be seen as one typical to be worn by a teenager.

For the character of the dead person we decided to choose a white shirt which was torn. This showed how his purity had been ripped away from him by the zombie. With the fake blood on the shirt also it showed danger and death.

Order of Titles

While editing we had to decide what order our titles would appear in.

For this we decided to follow the basic rules of film editing in what order they would go in. We decided this as if a different order was followed the audience could perhaps be left disorientated.

To start off our film we used our company logos as our studios.

Here is the order we had our titles in:

BMF Films
SOS Productions
Starring Faye Slater
Shaun Thompson
Written By Sarah Winnit
Camera Person Laura Sheasby
Music By Oscar Worthington
Produced By Jack Wright
Directed By Liam Owen

Role Allocation

For our role allocation we decided to use our best strengths to produce a decent production.

We decided we didn't want a huge team. This reason behind this was the more people there were involved the more likely people would let the three of us down or cause more hassle than what was needed. Also the small team gave the feel of a low budget film, which essentially we were.

We all wanted to film a little so we decided that we could all take turns. We also had help off a friend of the group, Jack Wright. After the first time we filmed we then decided that the camera work was best done by both Liam and Jack so we decided to give the roles of camera people to them.

The make up for the first lot of filming was done by our friends Molly Glave and Sam Houseago, although I gave them the idea of how to do it from a video I saw on the internet. Another role adjustment which was made after the first lot of filming was those who did the make up. This was because the make up wasn't how we expected it to be when we watched the footage back. We then opted to go for a simpler style of make up which was done by both myself and Jack. Our new make up choice looked more real and as if the zombie was dead and unlike the first look it didn't look like we were trying to parody a zombie film.

Originally me and Jack were supposed to both act as the couple but this was changed on set as it didn't feel as if there was a believable chemistry going on. After talking about what we could do we decided to have Jack and Liam switch roles. With Liam acting as the boyfriend the chemistry was more believable.

We decided to cast Laura as the zombie as from the start we all wanted to have a small role in our production. We came up with the idea of all having a part in our film from famous directors like Wes Craven who sometimes has a cameo role in his films.

As a group we gave the role of the writer to Liam, this was because between the three of us he was the more creative when it came to that subject. This is also the reason we designated the role of being the composer to him as well.

With the editing we decided to split this role between us, this was because we could use  and combine our individual strengths at editing opposed to just having one person do all the work.

Here is an easy to read list of the final roles:

Faye Slater:            Actress,  Editor, Make Up Artist
Liam Owen:           Actor, Camera Person, Writer, Composer and Editor
Laura Sheasby:      Actress, Editor, Make Up Assistant
Jack Wright:           Actor, Camera Person, Make Up Artist

Finding The Location

It didn't take us long to find our location.

As shown in the storyboard we decided to film in a parklands area as this would give an eerier effect to our storyline.

As a group we researched areas we could film in before hand before making a decision. We looked at filming in Red House Park and Sutton Park. After consideration of the location in relation to our college we chose to film in Sutton Park. This was easier accessible for all of the team members and cast.

We also admired the nature and landscaping more which was found in Sutton Park compared to Red House Park. Sutton Park's landscaping provided more trees and grassy areas to film in compared to Red House Park. This was one of the key reasons into why we chose Sutton Park.

During one of our many trips to Sutton Park for location finding we recorded a video and discussed possible ideas.

The Storyboard

We created a storyboard as this would be an easy way to show our ideas visually before filming began.

In the storyboard we used this to give ourselves an outline of the story which would unfold in our opening sequence, also this gave us an idea of what type of shots we wanted to use in our final piece. The storyboard also became use as a guide to how we would edit our film as it gave us an outline of how the scenes would be put together in the final piece. The storyboard was also a basic guide to how we would shoot our film.

Although with all films our final product differs from the original storyboard, this is due to the fact we came up with better ideas at a later date and on set.

The Pitches

As a group we had to come up with a few pitches for film ideas. We had to create a pitch for each of the three genres.

During this we cast the roles with celebrities, this would then change when we decided to go through with one idea which would become our finished film opening.

 

Our idea for a rom-com was one which broke the conventions of the genre. The reason we decided to break conventions with our idea was because many film which break conventions can potentially be incredibly successful. For the lead roles we cast Colin Firth; an actor renown for his roles in various rom-coms; and Robert Pattinson; an up and coming actor in rom-com films. The story we decide to go with for our rom-com pitch was that the two lead men became a homosexual couple. We decided to make this pitch as many rom-coms only consist of heterosexual couples, which can be seen as odd as part of the target audience for rom-coms are gay men. The story we decided to pitch was that Daniel (Pattinson) is a young self made millionaire who hires a new experienced middle age assistant George (Firth) who's marriage is breaking down due to his sexuality and his life isn't going well either. After a few months working together the two men begin to realise their feelings for each other and fall in love.

The thriller pitch we came up with an idea which included the actresses Angelina Jolie and Anne Hathaway. This pitch was that Sarah (Jolie) traumatised by the death of her boyfriend becomes a psychopathic killer. Her sister Alexis (Hathaway) is the detective on the murder case trying to find the killer. But little does Alexis know that the killer is her own sister.

 

The horror pitch we came up with had the main roles played by Blake Lively and Malin Akerman. The story we went with is that an experiment made by young scientist Ava (Lively) goes terribly wrong. While Ava is trying to find a cure for Elena (Akerman) her experiment goes wrong and she creates a terrible disease which turns Elena into an undead zombie. The virus is leaked from the lab and starts to infect the residents near the lab.

Research

UK cinema admissions for the first six months of 2010 were 80.1m, down 4% on the first half of 2009 (Table 1). This represents the second highest first half admissions of the last five years.


Average weekly admissions were 3.3 million in March, up from 2.7 million in March 2009. By contrast, average weekly admissions in June fell to 2 million.

Table 1: Monthly admissions, January – June 2009-2010
Month 2009 (million) 2010 (million) % +/- on 2009
January 14.5 14.6 +0.5
February 15.0 14.9 - 0.5
March 11.9 14.5 +21.7
April 13.8 14.7 +6.0
May 15.8 12.8 - 18.8
June 12.5 8.7 -30.1
Total 83.5 80.1 - 4.0
Source: CAA, Rentrak EDI
Figures may not add to totals due to rounding

Box office results for the top 20 films released in the UK, January-June 2010
Rank, Title, Country of Origin, Gross box office (£m), Opening cinemas, Opening weekend (£m), Distributor

1 Alice in Wonderland USA, 42.54, 533, 10.56, Disney
2 Sex and the City 2* USA, 21.61, 530, 6.14, Warner Bros
3 Iron Man 2* USA, 21.17, 521, 7.66, Paramount
4 Clash of the Titans UK/USA 20.20, 446, 5.68, Warner Bros
5 How to Train your Dragon* USA, 17.17, 471, 4.85, Paramount
6 Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang* UK/USA, 16.43, 512, 2.59, Universal
7 Robin Hood* UK/USA, 15.43, 537, 5.75, Universal
8 Streetdance 3D* UK, 11.60, 412, 2.49, Vertigo
9 Kick-Ass UK/USA, 11.60, 402, 3.88, Universal
10 The Princess and the Frog USA, 11.14, 1, 0.02, Disney
11 Shutter Island USA, 10.75, 416, 2.25, Paramount
12 Valentine's Day USA, 10.21, 432, 3.73, Warner Bros
13 It's Complicated USA, 9.31, 434, 1.10, Universal
14 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time* UK/USA, 8.84, 468, 1.37, Disney
15 Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief USA, 7.45, 454, 1.50, 20th Century Fox
16 Get him to the Greek* USA, 6.81, 389, 1.57, Universal
17 Up in the Air USA, 6.51, 325, 1.30, Paramount
18 The Lovely Bones USA, 6.37, 420, 1.64, Paramount
19 The Blind Side USA, 6.22, 371, 1.31, Warner Bros
20 Bounty Hunter USA 6.20, 394, 2.06, Sony Pictures
Source: Rentrak EDI, RSU analysis
Gross box office gross = cumulative total up to 25 July 2010
Films with an asterisk (*) were still being exhibited on 25 July 2010




http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/media/pdf/0/a/2010_H1_Box_Office_Report-05Aug10.pdf



Codes and Conventions

In this genre the film tries to create fear and tension in viewer’s feelings by turning everyday situations into horrific events.

They often start with a general introduction into the protagonist’s life.
Type of bizarre murder/death – killer maybe known or unknown
Credits follow horror theme – creepy font, title movement, image eg pumpkin, weapon, etc
Main characters introduced – young/ youthful
Teenage kids – easy target also vulnerable – home alone
Teenagers usually a couple – football jock boyfriend and cheerleader blonde bimbo girlfriend.
Mysterious phone calls – dubbed sinister voice “Who’s There…?”
Family ties broken
Sometimes unsuccessful acts of heroism
Victim unprotected
Superhuman killer

Christian Metz's Genre Development Theory

The Metz theory was made by Christian Metz who explored genre development. In his theory he suggested that each genre passes through 4 stages.
These stages are;
1) The experimental
2) The classic
3) The parody
4) The deconstruction

These stages are most easily recognized in the horror genre.

The experimental stage is about the first films made in a genre. During this stage films are more experimental so different narratives and themes are explored. This experimentation helps develop and formalize the basic conventions.
Examples of films from this stage in the horror genre are:

• Nosferatu
• The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

The classic stage is the phase in which a film genre has well established the general conventions. It also normally the stage in which the genre is at its most successful and defining period of time.
Examples of films from this stage in the horror genre are:

• Frankenstein
• Dracula

The parody stage is when other films mimic the conventions normally in a comedic way.
Examples of films from this stage in the horror genre are:

• Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein
• Beetlejuice

The deconstruction stage is when films take different parts which are normally the generic elements and amalgamate them into dividing sub genres.
Examples of films from this stage in the horror genre are:

• Se7en
• The Blair Witch Project