Target Audience

We have decided to appeal our film to young adults, from 15- 30. There are many themes within our film which would be inappropriate for anyone under the age of 15, namely the excessive violence. This violence will be done in a shocking, but not deprived way, this combined with the fact that our film does not contain any other adult themes (such as drugs or sex) is why I believe 15 is a fair rating for our film. I also believe that 30 is most likely the oldest person who is likely to enjoy our film, as the majority of our plot centres around violence and action, older audiences may feel that it is slightly immature, however there is a dramatic element to our film so perhaps this effect may be counteracted. A film which is similar to ours is 28 days later, this is an 18 film, however this is solely due to the nature of the zombies (intended to be terrifying) as all of the violence will be perpertrated by evil people rather than inhuman mosters, it is much more hard hitting but at the same time a lot less scary, therefore much more suitable for younger audiences (such as 15 year olds)

Director's influences

Guy Ritchie

Guy ritchie is a British director popularised by the films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Sherlock Holmes and Snatch. He is well known for his gritty style of directing which is personified by his films, which are normally filled with brutal violence combined with dark comedy. This combination adds a rugged element to the story which particularly compliments his chosen actors (such as Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt and Jason Statham) in a way that few other directors can match. We hope to adapt the light view of violence and gritty feel to our film, in order to give the film less of a serious feel to it, this will compliment the antagonist's insanity as he waves off violence as if it's nothing, it will also compliment the protagonist's ability to cope with a situation as he murders people without much regard. There are certain mistakes of  Guy Ritchie we hope to avoid, most prominently we hope to keep the element of drama in our film, many of Guy Ritchie's films (most prominently Snatch) deviate from the original story through the crazy subplots, which are entertaining but take away from the drama of the film, this worked for Snatch however we don't want to replicate this type of erratic story structure.

Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is an American director popularised by the films Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, Reservoir Dogs and many more. His films are well known for their copious amounts of violence and over the top blood and gore. Much of the dialogue within the film is over-zealous and dramatic, adding much emphasis and popularity to the characters (such as Jules from Pulp Fiction or Mr White from Reservoir Dogs) making them memorable characters from pop culture. We intend to replicate a certain amount from Quentin Tarantino, last year we modelled our piece primarily from Quentin Tarantino, it turned out well but this year we intend to do something different, the over grandeur doesn't particularly apply to our film genre as much as it did before. However we will use some techniques from Tarantino's films, our film will include copious amounts of violence, however we will get rid of the emphasis of it. 

Planning Targets

You need to have evidence of your planning and include video blogging to evidence work you've done in your group towards your final production.

Character bios (Chris Robinson)

I will be the main antagonist in the film, having a relatively small part in it I will be the unstable  psychopath which leads the main criminal faction within the wasteland. He will essentially be a sardonic mockery of a human being without any real sense of morals. At his side there will be many inferior thugs which can be used as pawns to him. he will wear clothes similar to many other criminals, bad, dirty jeans with a hoody/ T-shirt. All of them in a state of disrepair to give the character a sense of ruggedness.

The weapon will change depending on the situation, for example if he is performing an execution style shot to the back of the head then he will have a large, eye catching pistol (such as a revolver) whereas if he is in a fight he will use a compact sub machine gun or a similar, more readily available weapon. This variation will accentuate the unpredictability of the character. He will not really have a set objective, he will exist simply to hurt people for fun.

Character Bios (Will Squire)

Will is starring as the main character of our film, he will essentially be a normal person, with no special abilities or traits, perhaps a small amount of military training and a natural sense of intellect, but all of his abilities will be within the capabilities of most normal people. He will lead a small group of survivors which will essentially be the "good" faction of the film. His costume will consist of nothing special, basically just military surplus combined with casual clothes, practical but not so much so that he looks like a professional (such as a soldier or police officer) however it will be practical enough that he looks like he knows what he's doing.

His weapon will be a simple Colt .45 pistol, this is more for dramatic effect than anything else, it looks much better when everyone is fighting with rifles and shotguns while the main character chooses to use a big pistol, this has been shown in many different films and T.V shows (e.g The Walking Dead, Terminator)  His main objective throughout the film will be something that the average person can relate to, such as searching for a member of family or a friend or simply just to survive.

Final Title Decision

We have decided on using "Her Majesty's Wasteland" as the title for our film, I have already given our reasons for using this title as well as the possible problems, however I will briefly reiterate

Reasons for using it as our title
-Very dramatic and grand sounding: it immediately catches the eyes of our potential audience.

-Describes a lot of the main themes of our film: for a title this gives a lot of information. It immediately reveals that it is a post apocalyptic film with the word "wasteland" it also gives a hint towards the British nature of our film, one of our main USP's.

- The combination of the former government (Her majesty's) and the implication of total destruction "wasteland" provides a nice contrast between law and order: This is somewhat of an ironic statement, having a dramatic, twisted effect to our film.

Problems with the title
Hints too heavily towards the British theme: this is a problem because, although one of our usp's is the nationality of our film , it is meant to be a subtle effect, as there will be no actual references to Britain, just British culture.

Long for a title: This is not a massive problem, however it is still an issue, as the title is longer, it does not roll off the tongue, this would hinder any word-of-mouth advertising for our film, it also makes the whole film seem slightly less attractive (however the grand nature of the title does make up for this)

Location Research (Weybridge gravel pit)

Weybridge is an abandoned old gravel pit, this site gives another source of desolate imagery to our film, similar to Wisley. Unlike Wisley, this site has an interior as well as a large structure around it, this means we could possibly have some action scenes, or at least possibly something more interesting than dramatic shots of Will. The site provides many different opportunities for our film, being an abandoned industrial shell of a building, it has a very strong post apocalyptic feeling around it and with the large monolithic structure, it adds a creepy  for any number of scenes. We have many possible ideas for this location such as a large scavenging site for the main survivors, a site for a shoot out between the protagonists and the antagonists, the hide out for the main antagonists or simply just another scenic environment. What cannot be seen in these pictures are the surrounding gravel mounds that make up the majority of the location, these are relatively grim monolithic features to the landscape which adds an interesting, dramatic effect. We plan to possibly shoot  the scene of Will being beaten up in the shadow of the gravel mounds.

Location Research (Wisley Airfield)

Wisley airfield is an old, abandoned airstrip just off of the A3. We have chosen it as a location primarily because of the overgrown and empty feeling around it, since it was abandoned, there has been no real upkeep of the site, therefore weeds grow through the tarmac and much of the old pavement is cracked and ruined. It has a very good post apocalyptic look due to it's state of abandonment and emptiness, however we don't intend to have many action scenes in this area because it is somewhat unrealistic to have more than one group or person, also the lack of any real hiding places restricts any element of surprise or suspense as any enemy would be easily seen. We may or may not choose to do some sort of sniper scene but for the time being we will keep this area simply for scenic atmosphere and dramatic shots of our main character

Questionnaire pie charts

Title inspirations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhBfVSHWQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-08UWLxrKec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJlEpLxQi6g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trqNDYmKJ5s&list=PL2D5A60B1708E2EA4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt0WUW3gKrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc-2vvX5B0o

I believe all of these title sequences would be appropriate for our film, however my personal favourite is the first one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnhBfVSHWQ4)  it has a very intriguing effect which would captivate anyone watching. It also relates to the theme of our film, as society has been destroyed, the black dust being wistfully blown away is good symbolism for this. However, we might change the speed in which the text appears and disappears, as the current speed seems to be leaning more towards an adventure film rather than a dramatic thriller. We will also make it moderately shorter, perhaps only one slide, as the sequence loses it's effect somewhat after a few seconds. We will probably use it in a similar way as in the video, with the same sort of start and ending however we may add some of our own aspects to the title sequence such as zooming slowly out of the paper until the sequence is finished. Or have the paper burn after all of the text has been shown, both of these would add dramatic effect to the sequence

Questionnaire results

How old are you?
This was generally answered with 15-19, which shows that many of the people who answered this questionaire were part of our target audience.

What film Genre do you generally like?
Action and horror were among the favourites here, this bodes well for us as our film is mainly an action.

How often do you generally watch films?
This was answered primarily with weekly/2-6 days this is a useful insight into the film habits of our target audience.

Have you ever seen a post apocalyptic film?
Many people said no however much less than what I expected, it shows that this kind of film is relatively recognisable

What is your view on the theme of post apocalypse?
Most people seemed to think the post apocalyptic theme was a good concept, which shows there is still much public interest over our type of film

What catches your eye in the trailer of a film?
The general trend for our answers was the effects, actors, amount of action and generally how the entire trailer catches the audience's eye. We will take this into account while making our trailer.


is there anything that may be in the trailer of a film that may deter you from watching the actual thing?
many people talked about corny acting, boring/generic scenes, cheesy effects and basically any indicator that the film is generic or dull. This is relatively useful as we have always been trying to aim to make our film one of a kind and interesting from the first look.