Thursday, 9 January 2014

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Makeup Artist Brief

We would like over-the-top gore, not unlike Tarantino’s style of blood. We’d like it red, gristly and the injuries preferably somewhat 3-D (using substances like tissue paper and Vaseline to create this effect, for example). In turn, we’ll provide you with the make-up needed and equipment you’ll require. We may need you to add some make-up to clothes (if there’s an injury on a character’s torso or arm, we may want the blood on the clothes). The deadline for the photo-shoot is 3 weeks after half term. We've yet to fix an exact date, but the filming of the scene is closer to the summer term. There will certainly be over ten zombies for the filming, so we expect you to work relatively quickly but still produce quality work. The photo-shoot will have 3 zombies and 2 main characters, so we will need the zombie makeup, and also makeup for the main characters, which will be spots of blood to show the struggle that they've been through.

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Altered Zombieland Review (Megan's)


Zombieland Review


When we think about films, a horror-comedy is the type of picture that can go either one way or the other, and, surprisingly, Zombieland has tipped the scales in its favour; just about. With its strong mix of characters, and reckless, adventurous nature rubbing up against a tale of romance and bout of comedy, it’s certainly a film that keeps the audience intrigued. Yes, some of the gags fall dead here and there, leaving us with a few limp chuckles, and some moments are gut-wrenchingly cliché, but, all in all, for what it is, it could have a been a disaster.      Within the opening scene of the film, you are immediately immersed into the post-apocalyptic world of the ‘Unites States of Zombieland’, and what you get is an immediate and comical zombie-fest of slow motion shots of undead vs. human fun. Unfortunately, the quality of the humour begins to plummet - it does, however, save itself by keeping you invested through the relationships forming between certain characters, and the peppering of a good zombie punch up here and there; with the blood gargling and rotten zombies being realistically nasty. Certain scenes stand out in particular, such as an unusual rollercoaster ride that would have you screaming in terror for all of the wrong reasons, and a gas guzzling mum running from her sweet, little, flesh eating angels within the first 5 minutes of the film.      The characters are generally likeable, with tough guy Woody Harrelson bringing the action, and Emma Stone’s fiery character adding onto this, whilst also playing as part of the romance sub-genre with weak nerd Jesse Eisenberg. Yet, although we’ve been given a colourful palette of characters to feast upon (pun intended), the greatest moment of the film lies in its much anticipated cameo. The cameo is introduced perfectly and their jokes hit you right in the funny bone, coming as a much needed boost to its comedy genre. Despite all of that, you can’t help but feel that the story sometimes gets lost within itself, skipping back onto the recurring ‘twinkie’ joke, and slipping in clichéd moments towards the predictable ‘finale’ which doesn’t go off with much of a heart shaking bang as it perhaps could have done. Don’t feel discouraged, it certainly does take you on a good ride through this post-apocalyptic world, but just doesn’t seem to bring anything new to its hybrid genre; making it, really, a throwaway film.      So, if you’re are looking for a cheap thrill movie that has a strong set up of characters and a good promise of laugh out loud fun, then Zombieland should be next on your list. It certainly doesn’t bring anything new to the Horror-Comedy table, but does enough to keep you entertained and fairly satisfied. My advice? Stick to Shaun of the Dead.

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Shaun of the Dead review

Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead, one of the most popular zombie comedy films out there. When you think cannibalistic comedy, you think Shaun of the Dead. The British humour sadly limits it somewhat (as different nations have different comedy), but for the average Englishman, its bound to have you in stitches. With exaggerated gore and delightfully stupid characters, it is a must-see.
The film is one of the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy, automatically catapulting the movie ahead of other films. Written by and starring Simon Pegg, he appears with his ever-present partner in crime, Nick Frost. Shaun (Pegg) is in a troubled relationship with Liz (Kate Ashfield). They split and, as if to punish them, the zombie apocalypse begins over night. Ed (Frost) is Shaun's dopey best friend who always seems to make things worse for them. Liz's best friends are Dianne (Lucy Davis), who is a 'failed actress', and David (Dylan Moran), who is in love with Liz but is in a relationship with Dianne because she 'knocked [him] back'. This, like Zombieland, revolves mostly around the characters and the bonds between them than the zombies, albeit the gore is over the top and used excessively. Since it's one of the BIC trilogy, it had a part for Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy, who appear in all of the films.
One of the most astounding things about Shaun of the Dead is that it was a remarkably low budget film, like its successors. Despite the fact that the film is shot in London, it's a remote part, and much of the film was shot on set since there is a lot of screening time for the pub, Shaun's house, Liz's apartment and Barbara's (Penelope Wilton) home. Obviously, Jaguars are expensive, but they seem to have no qualms with trashing it. The gore is very obviously faked and the pulling apart of a certain character (no spoilers!) is utterly unrealistic, but the film wasn't created to be realistic; it was created to make people laugh and scoff at the stupidity of the characters - all of them completely British.
Shaun of the Dead is certainly the best zombie comedy film that I've been fortunate to watch. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the co-writer, have crafted a genius piece of British comedy with a nice dose of zombies. Its script is brilliant and the casting is perfect. This movie, like The Blair Witch Project, confirms the fact that low budget films still have the potential to make a change to the typical horror genre.

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Zombieland Review

Zombieland

Zombie horror is extremely popular now, its leading pictures including Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead. I'm glad (and almost astonished) to say that Zombieland has joined their majesty. Surprisingly, it was difficult to pass accurate and truthful judgement over it but on the whole, it was an impressive film with actually funny comedic scenes and a different take entirely on zombie films that we've seen so far.
Zombieland - starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin - tells us the story from Columbus' (Eisenberg) anxious point of view, with his list of rules and 'irritable bowel syndrome', automatically setting this character apart from any other. Columbus travels across the States with Tallahassee (Harrelson), badass hillbilly who loves his car and is on a never-ending search for the last Twinkie; while being a total kickass, we do discover a surprising past about Tallahassee that could change your mind about him - no spoilers! We meet the con-sisters Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) who are also pretty badass, but seemed to let the side down; Wichita managed to irritate me in almost every scene, though her sister was better.
What sets Zombieland apart from all other films in that genre is the character development and focus on them. Seldom do you see more than one characters' pasts in these sorts of movies and Rhet Reese and Paul Wernick wrote them beautifully. Whilst Columbus and Tallahassee have plenty of screen time and we uncover their past throughout the film, Wichita and Little Rock are rather underwritten, only giving us a small peek into their life pre-apocalypse. One of the nicest things about the character development and vastly different characters is that you get to watch them get comfortable with each other and become something akin to a zombie-exterminating family taking a road trip to an amusement park. The entire notion of the plot is completely ridiculous but still manages to make it a funny and somewhat endearing film.
So even though it deserves to be in the same top five list of zombie films for me, it didn't blow me away like Shaun of the Dead, but then again, nothing has managed to blow me like Shaun of the Dead, since there's really no competition. Zombieland was an enjoyable experience and had me laughing a lot throughout the film - good quality characters and a nice change to the serious zombie films focused on torturing the survivors.

Camera angles: Some of the camera angles would be achievable even by a no-budget film. For example, in the beginning, the camera shot is of the American flag seemingly standing proud but then it turns and reveals the flag on a car is sideways and the car is upside down. The camera angle would be easy, as it is merely turning it on its side, however, the car on its side would most certainly be difficult to do.
Budget: In order to attain the effect they desired (for the characters to be entirely alone), the creators would have had to close streets, whole halves of cities and close down a theme park simply for the set. This in itself would cost thousands of dollars. The price was increased by the need of props, special effect, vehicles and so on.

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Target Audience


 

Shaun of the Dead

·         Swear words

·         Casual acting

·         Cautiousness

·         Clothing

·         Food being eaten (Cornetto)

·         Dialect (‘You got a fag?’)                                                                               Middle/working class

·         Blood                                                                                                    Adult male primarily

·         Casual props (cartoon mug)

·         Messy apartment

·         Use of media

·         Tense music/atmosphere

·         Gender (all male)

·         Immaturity

·         Ages

Age: Adults primarily (characters are middle aged and are in a similar situation to other men)
Gender: Male (characters are male and very male jokes)
Culture: British (British comedy - set in London and British slang)
Class: Working/middle class (characters are working class – live together cannot afford to live alone; and dialect)
 
 
Zombieland
 
·         Woody Harrelson big Hollywood star
·         Teenagers
·         Characters – nervous teenager and hillbilly
·         Weapon – banjo, shears
·         Teamwork
·         Gore
·         Use of food – Twinkies
·         Comedy quotes – ‘just gonna take a little off the top’ ‘man, these poor fellas really let themselves go’
·         Age rating of 15
Age: Teenagers primarily as the majority of characters and humour appeals to them but Woody Harrelson appeals to adults.
Gender: Male (male jokes and relatable situations for men in college or university) but female characters appeal to both genders.
Culture: American as it is set in America and has a hillbilly as a main character.
Class: Middle class as they are educated but the hillbilly character appeals to those similar to him and in Southern states.
Evil Dead II