Preliminary Task

This is my Preliminary Task. I feel as though the beginning of the scene was easy to shoot and film, the tension and eeriness tone of the piece reflected through the setting as well as the music in the background. We spent a lot of time perfecting this scene and played around with the shots to find the best possible fits for the task. During editing, because there was no speaking I feel as though the editing and transition shots were easy to input. A lot of editing techniques were available to edit this however, I went with a natural if not eerie atmosphere to create the feeling of tension.

During the second scene, we had some problems when shooting; the camera saved the films as images even though I pressed the record button! This meant we had to quickly re-film resulting in it not being the best of our ability, however in the opening scene I will rectify this problem by being more prepared and using the camera correctly. Furthermore, a lot of people were included when shooting the second scene, causing some focusing issues (laughing). In the opening scene we will be more focused when shooting. 

28 Days Later - Opening Scene

In the opening scene of 28 days later naïve activists release a chimpanzee that's undergoing experiments, causing it to have a virus that causes immense rage. A man awakens 28 days later to find an abandoned world and zombie humans. The plot of a virus wiping out the human race shares many similarities in the Post apocalyptic world.
The film opens to a series of fuzzy broadcasts and news reports depicting destruction across the globe. Muffled cries and startled reporters accentuated the chaos. Erratic camera movements imply the danger in capturing the footage; there is a very real danger of getting infected. Locations shown range from third world to first world suggesting the whole world has been affected by this rather than just the UK.

As the camera pans out we are shown a research lab with chimpanzees hooked up to electrical machines with straps restraining it. Switching to an establishing shot we are then shown that there are several chimps in the same position. The lack of natural light suggests this is a top secret area, and that these experiments aren't natural to the audience. A close up shot of the chimpanzee shows the audience his frantic eyes and immediately get the idea that this is what caused the apocalyptic nature of the film and is likely to be part of the storyline because its included in the opening scene.
Even though they are warned the activists release the chimps and are immediately killed by the frntic chimps. Frantic camera movements and fast paced cuts increase the tension and action in the scene.
As the man wakes up 28 days later many different shots are used to establish that he is alone; establishing, panning, tracking, crane, long and mid shots. He is hooked up to a machine when he wakes suggesting someone tried to take care of him before the panic started. Naked? this leaves the audience extremely confused asking questions and eliciting creating intellectual puzzles the audience wish to solve. In this scene the lighting I just average everyday natural light showing everything is exactly the same except for the fact that everyone has now gone.

Websites

When film companies bring out a new film they use a website to promote the film. This is a cheap and effective method in getting an extra audience and to appease fans.


These are a few of the upcoming films with websites:
- Fantastic Beasts and where to find them
- Assassins Creed
- Rouge One (Star Wars)
- Justice League
- The Lego Batman Movie


All these films have huge followings, many of them being children's films. This could possibly be to entertain the children rather than have the boring information about the film that many of them will skip/ignore.
Many film companies cater to developed nations with access to the internet, it acts as further publicity for them. Also giving them some kind of reference to the film itself, e.g. for a murder mystery, there could be clues on the website for the fans to follow, acts as further expansion of the films fan base.

Examples:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
On this website there is a trailer, videos, gallery, maps where you can explore the sets, information about the beasts, a countdown to the opening date, a place to book tickets, shop and links to social media pages. They have tried to make the site as magical as possible to compliment the film of wizardry.

Justice League
This website opens with all the main characters' logos, informing the audience of them. It also contains comic con footage, first look, release date, and links to social media. This website doesn't contain a lot of information possibly because the release date is in 2017.

Codes and Conventions of Post apocalyptic genre

In the post apocalyptic genre there are many conventions seen throughout that appear in almost all films of this genre. When typed into google, these images (see right) are the first to show up and depict a barren, dying world with little to no life left.
These are a few of the codes and conventions:

Location
Area of abandonment; e.g. sandy, wiped out setting, derelict, barren forest.
In 'I am legend' a citywide abandonment was shown, where New York had become overgrown.
These settings show an almost unrecognisable world and emphasise that an apocalypse has occurred.
Danger may also be evident throughout.

Lighting
Low, dark lighting

Sound
Tense scores are common, for the fast, action filled moments of the film.
Slower, sadder songs are used to emphasise the loneliness of the main character, or when a tragic event occurs.
Sometimes, a tense build up is used to create suspense. This is used in the opening of 'Book of Eli' when Eli is about to shoot the cat.

Main Character
The main character is usually either the 'hero' trying to stop the crisis of the Post apocalyptic world, or just a regular human in the thick of it.
Usually male, the audience needs to see the character as dominant otherwise surviving in this world seems unrealistic.
Main themes however are that the character is usually alone physically or mentally and almost always a male.

Costume
Dirty, ragged clothes are usually worn to emphasise the lack of resources; including water.
In 'The Road' for example dirty clothes with holes, usually cast offs and in layers is the norm.

Women
Women are few and far between in this genre, probably due to the fact they are seen as the weaker sex by many people. In 'Book of Eli' Solara is made out to be sexual, wearing dresses and neatly brushed hair, both of which are usually uncommon in post apocalyptic worlds.

Challenges/Survival
Majority, if not all of the characters no longer have their old lives, many loosing loved ones to maximise the death and dangerous world.
Most have the challenge of returning somewhere, finding someone, fighting someone etc.
Death is a major theme throughout all of this genre. 'The Road' is a great example of this; images of families killing themselves, cannibalism or being brutally killed for supplies is featured.
Items of significance are also featured. Eg suncream, or sunglasses for a desert dystopia, boots and lots of clothes for a cold and wet climate.

Plot
Flashbacks of the old world, usually the main character remembering something from his past.
Zombies or people representing loss of hope are a common theme. Although zombies have lost all sense of humanity, people with a lack of hope could be considered to fall under this category of lost humanity with them being changed after the apocalypse.
Interestingly, the protagonist is usually presented with hope for the future whereas the antagonist isnt.