Our film is titled, 'Cataclysm'. It is a post-apocalyptic horror/action film and involves a radiation leak, which releases a toxic gas into the environment. This infects numerous civilians and they mutate into beast-like zombies (which begin to kill innocent civilians) .The protagonist is Sgt. Murray and throughout the film he and his army proceed towards destroying these creatures and preventing the radiation from affecting anyone else. Sgt. Murray prevails within the army and in the fight against the monsters.
Our opening sequence in particular involves a soldier + two forensics uncovering the cause for all these deaths. The sequence opens with the soldier walking ruthlessly through dead bodies and meeting with the forensics. He tells the forensic officers to check a particular body which appears to be massacred. This body is checked and after attempting to attract the soldier's attention the forensics get attacked by some sort of mysterious beast (the audience doesn't see this, they just hear screams). The soldier hears screams and cautiously walks towards the forensics. He sees that they are dead and out of nowhere a beast-like creature jumps at the soldier and kills him.
The Horror/Action genre our film uses is fairly rare; however we ensured that in the opening sequence there was both horror and action. The opening sequence involves massacred victims and killings, which are used in pretty much all horror films. The tough soldier feel and the ruthlessness are often seen in spy/war films and at first the sequence could be mistaken as an action film, however by the end we realise that the killing of innocent civilians and the destruction caused indicates Horror also.
Sound is a key factor in building tension and scaring the audience. Most horror films are not scary when muted, therefore we had to ensure that sound was particularly effective. It took a few searches, however in the end I found a scary and tension-building piece which involves quiet and loud aspects to create tension as is used in most horror films.
Freeplaymusic was used to find copyright free soundtracks, we ended up deciding on a track called Evil Eyes as it is very tense, while not being too epic.
Continuity is used to refine the discontinuity of the editing process and to establish an ordered coherence between shots. We had to involve the 180º rule in all shots and this proved difficult to get around. For the shots filmed outside the fence, the fence was the ‘invisible line’. We ensured that all shots were directed at the fence and not the street so to remove all elements of confusion from the audience. We also ensured that there were no jumps so we obeyed the 30 degree rule. One example of avoiding this error was when the S/R/S moved from the Forensics to the master shot and this was an error. To avoid this we moved the master shot towards the end of the conversation and cut from the Forensics to the Soldier instead. Another technique we frequently included is match-on-action. This is involved at various instances, for example when the Soldier removes his helmet and when he takes his gun at the montage towards the end of the sequence.
All films end up with some continuity errors, however we ensured that no errors were distracting to the audience. One error which we have noticed is illustrated below. It is quite a minor thing, however should've been avoided.
Aspects of ‘Cataclysm’ appear in ‘Green Zone’(Greengrass, 2010), which is a military-based action film. The uniform was inspired by films such as ‘Green Zone’ and the characteristics portrayed by our soldier are also inspired by such films. The natural lighting used for the most of ‘Green Zone’ was also an inspiration as it would’ve been extremely difficult to shoot in the dark (+ with unnatural lighting).
The battle aspect in our film is also very reminiscent in ‘Green Zone’ and it’s important to include similar features as successful/major films use.
Our Film could also be compared to '28 days later' (Boyle, 2002). It's a film which involves ''the breakdown of society following the accidental release of a highly contagious "rage" virus and focuses upon the struggle of four survivors to cope with the ruination of the life they once knew'' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later)
Our film involves a virus (radiation) as well, which spreads and mutates humans who feed on the other humans, gradually attempting to wipe out the population. The idea of coping with these problems and attempting to destroy/solve the mystery is used in both 'Cataclysm' and '28 days later' and this is an interesting idea, involving lots of enigma coding. We also both involve the idea of coping and adapting to these awkward changes and the breakdown of society is apparent as we see moments of selfishness, as certain un-infected humans try to use others in order to protect themselves, whereas our protagonist (Sgt. Murray) shows elements of hero-ism as he saves numerous people (possibly a child) from unfortunate deaths.
(theatrical release poster)
Aspects of our film are very similar to Francis Lawrence's 'I am Legend'. I am Legend involves a fight against monsters who hide in the shadows (use link above as an example), much like our film. The Binary Opposites (Levi-Strauss) are also very similar:
- Humans vs. Monsters
- Dark vs. Light
- Guns vs. Claws
- Tech vs. Strength
- Life vs. Death
- Normal
- Quiet vs. Loud
It is important for all films to involve Binary Opposites to appeal to the audience and the use of conflicting factors make films exciting and tense. The only main difference between our film and 'I am Legend' is we use a residential film whereas 'I am Legend' is located in a much more urban location. This is because it was much easier/more unique for us to film at a house.
We also have similar Equilibrium patterns. Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium where any potentially opposing forces are in balance.This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction.
1. Normal Life
2. Chemical Attack
3. Recovery/War
4. Creatures are defeated
IMG[1] 2. Chemical Attack
3. Recovery/War
4. Creatures are defeated
We also used a variety of narrative techniques in our sequence. It was filmed completely in real time, so the events are portrayed at the same rate that the audience experiences them. This is important to keep action flowing and to make it seem realistic and smooth. We also used cross cutting to establish multiple actions at the same time, for example the camera cuts between the forensics checking the body and the Soldier on his radio to base.
Roland Barthes invented a theory involving 5 codes:
- Enigma Code: Elements of a film which are a mystery at first, however are slowly revealed as the film progresses
- Action Code: This applies to any action that implies a further narrative, it is closely related to the text's narrative structure
- Semiotic Code: Mainly to do with 'connotation'
- Cultural Code: The points at which the text refers to common bodies of knowledge
- Symbolic Code: It exists to describe the complexities of an element of the text
Although our sequence is only 2 minutes long, we attempted to involve coding as much as possible. An example of enigma code is the ‘beast’. We are not clear as to what the beast is, we just see a POV attack and this is a mystery at first which will be solved/revealed as the film progresses. Action Code is often used to create suspense for example when the Soldier draws his gun and makes his way towards the best the audience wonders what the resolution will be; will the soldier solve this mystery? Semiotic Code is used on numerous occasions, for example the soldier leaning on the fence indicates him being tired; we are not physically told that he is tired, but his actions indicate this. Cultural Coding is illustrated when the Soldier speaks. He has a fairly rough
Vladimir Propp created a theory which entails that all films should have 8 character types which are Villain, Hero, Donor, Helper, Princess, Father, Dispatcher and False Hero. These character types are used to move the narrative along and appeal to the audience. Our film covers all of them:
Villain: Radiation/Creatures
Hero: Army Sergeant
Donor: Weapons Expert
Helper: Sergeant's assistant
Princess: Female who meets Sergeant during recovery
Father: Captain who promotes Sergeant
Dispatcher: General
False Hero: Soldier in opening sequence
All opening sequences need to both interest the audience and give them an idea as to what is going to happen, while also create an atmosphere to lead the film (while using genre conventions). Our sequence is immediately interesting with lots of unique shots (e.g. forward track at foot level) and the unknown element keeps the audience interested, as the soldier could easily be mistaken as the film's protagonist. The quiet/slow start is immediately destroyed when the soldier blows a half-dead bodies head into smithereens.
The music used is very simple and calm, which is important as we are introducing the film to the audience, so if we were to use epic music this could potentially overwhelm the audience. We also allow the audience to take in the sequence before introducing dialogue (after 50 seconds) and we also considered completely removing dialogue in order to increase tension and the unknown factor, however it’s important for the audience to vaguely understand what they’re watching in an opening sequence, again because we need to set the scene.
It is also important for opening sequences to revolve around the protagonist of the sequence and give them more screen time, and we illustrated this particularly in the first 50 seconds, however also during the duration of the opening sequence. His death is also emphasised as the audience sees the moments leading to his death, whereas we only hear screams at the time of the forensics’ deaths.
We also ensured that the titles conveyed a suitable image, however we ensured that they were not too clichéd or extravagant. Therefore we used simple, but bold running titles, and we used quite an epic end title which involves an exciting effect + drum combo, this creates a mysterious crime-esque effect.
The 'Bourne Ultimatum' (Greengrass), which is an action film uses similar features with a dark background and a plain and dull coloured font.
No comments:
Post a Comment