Title research

We have discussed many different ideas for titles which coincide with the overall theme of our film, we have whittled our decisions into 3 final ideas:

Scorched Earth
This title originally stems from our initial idea to have England nuked rather than struck by chemical weaponry, however as we have drifted away from that idea we have also drifted away from this title. I feel this title is perhaps slightly tacky and does not quite roll off of the tongue.

Aftermath
Somewhat of a piggy back from "Scorched Earth"  this title is perhaps slightly more catchy however is not a particularly interesting title, as aftermath is quite a broad word it does not really peak the audience's interest. However it does give more of an accurate insight into the film's story, as Scorched Earth could be considered a title for a war movie or thriller ect, the word aftermath is generally used to describe the events taking place after a disaster which is more suitable for our film.

Endgame
This is my personal favourite of all our titles, it is catchy and dramatic, therefore peaking the viewers interest and looking good on a poster. It is somewhat similar to "Aftermath" however much more powerful, implying that the events in the film are much more important because they are humanities last actions.

Her Majesty's Wasteland
This title has a very grand, powerful sound to it, it also rolls off the tongue in quite a pleasant sounding way. The title stems from our film's relation to British culture along with the apocalyptic nature of our film. This is my second favourite name for our film my only issues with it are that it puts too much emphasis on the british theme of our film (as that is not the main focal point for our film, just one of our usp's) and that it could possibly be too long (however this is not a massive issue)

Influences

Influence 1: The main influence to our film is 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle, we chose this film because of the simple ruggedness of it. The way the film uses the crude camera angles and the dark, simplistic lighting gives the film a more realistic, British feel to it. We intend to replicate this to a certain extent, some of the shots are slightly shaky and not pleasing to the eye so we don't intend to overdo the "rugged" feeling to the extent that it is confusing and unpleasant. It should also be noted that while our film is a post apocalyptic thriller, we will not be featuring any zombies or anything that is particularly unrealistic.


Influence 2: Another influence to our style of film is Mad Max, this does not have the same type of shots or overall look that we want, however  it does have a similar theme to our film. A post apocalyptic wasteland with roaming gangs of psychopaths and one central highly competent protagonist. We will have certain things different to this film, for example we will have much less on screen violence, as well as a main character which does not display so much of the pseudo masculinity in which Mad Max does.

Questionnaire

How old are you?
under 10
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40 or over

What film Genre do you generally like?
Action
Romance
Comedy
Adventure
Sci -Fi
Fantasy
Horror
Other (please specify)

How often do you generally watch films?
Every day
Every 2-6 days
Every week
Every fortnight
Every Month
Every Year
Never

Have you ever seen a post apocalyptic film?

What is your view on the theme of post apocalypse?
Very good
Good
OK
I don't know
Bad
Very Bad

What catches your eye in the trailer of a film?



is there anything that may be in the trailer of a film that may deter you from watching the actual thing?

Film Brief

The premise for our film is a world war between Russia and the USA, Britain is caught in the middle of it and is struck with  deadly chemical warheads which wipe out a large majority of the population. The story is centred around the protagonist, a normal man thrown into a destroyed world, looking for his brother in the ruins of destroyed society. Many of our possible locations are abandoned buildings and old quarry sites, to give the film a sense of desolation and emptiness. Apart from our main protagonist, we will have many other "filler" characters who play no big part but have some monetary presence and help the film gain a certain atmosphere by going through events in the middle of the film which the protagonist is cannot without ruining the story (such as death or serious injury).

 In the opposite side we will have many faceless antagonists all behind one Central villain. Our main antagonist will be an unstable psychopath which will lead the gang of minor antagonist, he is taking advantage of the destruction to make his criminal faction powerful. He stops at nothing to achieve this goal and is not above killing his own men, all of this aided by the fact that he is certifiably insane. Apart from our main antagonist there will be many other criminals as his henchmen, these minor thugs help supplement the danger in which our main antagonist projects, these henchmen will be ultimately terrified by their leader and will visibly cower away from him, giving the main antagonist more power, this is also accentuated by the fact that all of the other criminals will be wearing cover for their faces, making them less significant and are basically just props for the main antagonist.

The story will centre around the protagonist group searching for supplies/family while trying to combat the dangers presented by the new world.

Certificate Research

Symbol
	Universal- All audiences, nothing unsuitable for children
	Parental Guidance- All ages are acceptable but some scenes may be unsuitable for children
	12A- 12A means anyone under 12 must be accompanied by an adult, may contain brief sexual references and mild violence
	12- No one under 12 can see it, whether accompanied by an adult or not. may have violence and sexual references
	15- Strong violence is acceptable, accompanied with brief nudity, swearing is acceptable past "f*ck", drugs are acceptable as long as they are not promoted
	18- Any amount of swearing, large scenes of nudity, any amount of violence, We intend for our film to be a 15, as our audience is primarily 15-30 year olds, therefore we do not restrict who is able to see our film while at the same time allowing a suitable amount of violence to satisfy older viewers. As an action does not need an excessive amount of violence we are able to keep the age certificate lower while not diminishing the effect of the film. This

Research Targets

Excellent effort Chris - a great stasrt to this year's coursework portfolio! To improve your research further aim to revisit posts and make sure all of the following areas have been addressed: Genre Target Audience Characters Narrative Engimas Titles Camera Composition Sound Mise En Scene Unique Selling Points Pace of editing Make sure you are delegating planning responsibilities effectively from now on. A really good start - well done!

Mood Board

1.  Our film is following the theme of post apocalyptic action, the main characters being survivors of a cataclysmic earth shattering event. This is very similar to the TV series "Survivors" therefore our characters will all follow the same setting as ordinary people trying to cope with the new world order. As a result we will not have our characters particularly flashy with jewelry or hair cuts, they will be normal, run of the mill people with no spectacular features.

2. The setting for our film is a post apocalyptic wasteland, a shell of the modern world. Features such as old, abandoned buildings and featureless spots of landscape will be the primary locations to our film. This setting is obviously very common within our chosen film type as many people would associate the apocalypse with nuclear winter.

3. Our film is set in England, where weapons are heavily controlled by the government. As a result of these regulations, the weapons in our film will be primarily be centred around melee weapons fashioned or found from around the house items such as cricket bats, baseball bats, hatchets and crowbars. This is somewhat typical for many British films, the lack of any actual military weaponry adds a gritty realism to the film.

4. The costume for our main character will be that of a prepared, competent survivor. While the rest of the characters will be wearing normal, possibly tattered clothing, our main character will be wearing military surplus clothing, outfitted with practical shoes and other accessories. he will be armed to the teeth with all of the sort of weapons a survivor could find. This type of strong, ridiculously over the top survivor can be seen in many post apocalyptic films (such as Mad Max, The Book of Eli, Zombieland ect)

5. We haven't entirely decided what or main antagonist/s will be, whether it will be a lone psychopath or a group of thugs, however we have decided that they will follow a similar appearance to the typical looter that plagues any disaster, with the typical criminal attair of hoody and a balaclava/ scarf. This will shroud the identity of the antagonists, making them covered in mystery, while at the same time making them a lesser part of the film. On the other hand, if we wish the antagonist to have more of an impact on the audience, to play a bigger part in the overall film, we might give him more of a personality. with an uncovered face, suitably armed with brutal looking weapons and a cold, detached, psycopathic smile (such as Toecutter from Mad Max or Alex from The Clockwork Orange)

6.  These are the sort of guns we plan to use in our film (specifically the shotgun, pistol and possibly the Mac-10) these guns are all relatively low tech, this is because it is very unlikely that a group of ordinary people would be able to get high tech weapons. Guns such as these would be uncommon in England but not unheard of. Shotguns and hunting rifles can be found in certain farmers houses, illegal weapons such as the pistols/Mac-10  could possibly found in a drug dealer or gangster's house. The guns must have very little appearance and cannot be shown in the hands of everyone, perhaps 1 hunting rifle in the hands of the protaginist, possibly another one in the hands of another capable "good" survivor and around half of the antagonists should have guns such as pistols or micro sub machine guns.