Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Film Opening Plans!

Initial ideas for subject matters: 
> Zombies
>Supermarket shoot-out 
>Trivial showdown. (Fight scene over something trivial E.G. last cookie in cookie jar.) 
> ZOMBIE COWBOYS! :D 

In the end we chose to set our film (which will be comedic) in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and include western themes. We will use western music and extreme close-ups of eyes conventional of western films. 

Characters:
Hero: 
> Archetype of a hero
> Stereotypical Texan (Cowboy) 
> He has a horse.
> On a journey to find salvation because all of his family are dead. 
> He takes the little guy on as a "partner" because he misses the company and he secretly sees  
   a little of himself in him. (Although he doesn't show this and is quite standoffish) 
> He always wears a hat, and makes a point of not losing it despite their situation.
> He used to smoke, and is saving his last cigarette for in case he is in a situation he cannot 
   escape. 

Little guy:
> Stereotypical nerd (Obsessive over Warhammer and worked in Games Workshop)  
> Didn't have much of a life, he lost contact with his family, so there is still hope, but not much.
> He's been hiding out in Games Workshop with his nerdy Warhammer friends ever since the 
   apocalypse started. All of his workmates tried to barricade the shop, they held out for a while, 
   but in the end they too fell to the power of the zombies, only the little guy escaped.
> He is particularly good at strategy because of his years of playing Warhammer. 
> He is needy and weak despite his intellect. 
> He has a slight obsession with hygiene and therefore feels the need to wash all wounds with 
   surgical spirit or antiseptic of some sort. 

Story: (In 3 act structure.)
ACT 1: 
1. Opening: Intro to zombie apocalypse, hero saves little guy from zombies, they become 
     friends.
2. The little guy follows the hero to his hide-out, and they establish a fairly mutual partnership 
    where they can work together fairly well.

ACT 2: 
3. The little guy is injured, so begins cleaning out his wound with some surgical spirit. Although 
    they don't know this yet, the surgical spirit is what attracts the zombies to their hide-out, thus 
    there is a zombie invasion. 
4. After battling and escaping, the hero and the little guy run to the nearest hospital to find more 
   provisions.

ACT 3:
5. They search for surgical spirit, among other things, but all of the bottles are smashed and/or 
    empty. While searching they walk in on a room full of zombies smelling and ingesting surgical 
    spirit. 
6. The zombies chase them, and as they are running they talk about what they have just seen, 
    they realise, however ridiculous it may seem, the zombies are attracted to surgical spirit. 
    Eventually they are surrounded so they run into a cupboard which is the only option, it is full of 
    surgical spirit. 
7. The hero and the little guy run out of the cupboard poring surgical spirit over every zombie in  
     sight and over the whole hospital, when they have sufficiently covered it the hero lights a 
     cigarette, takes a drag and then throws it into the flammable chemicals. The hospital 
     explodes just as the pair leap out James Bond-esquely. (Note the use of the last-chance 
     cigarette, foreshadows his death! :D) 
8. When outside, the hero, who has never given the little guy his full respect, declares his 
     acceptance of him, and gives him his hat in a last gesture of approval before an unexpected  
     flaming zombie mauls him. From here-on the little guy takes on the roll of hero and fights off 
     the remaining zombies present, saving an even littler guy in the process. Thus allowing the 
     film to come full-circle, ending in the same way as the start. 

(Alternatively the Hero stays in the hospital, smokes and explodes the hospital with him inside it, in order to save the little guy. In this instance he gives the hat to the little guy, thus passing on his role as hero. The little guy does a solitary James Bond-jump. Outside he saves the littler guy from a flaming zombie, still allowing the film to come full circle.)

There is a narrative arc from the little guy being rescued to the little guy rescuing the littler guy.


The Opening:
1. The little guy is running through the zombie wasteland of a city. (Pay extra attention to zombie 
    warning posters and blood splatters in the scenery.) 
2. The little guy looks behind him just in time to run straight into a lamp-post and knock himself
    out. (Bird's eye view [or maybe reverse zoom?] shot)
3. 2 zombies step into the scene. (Crab shot, 1 zombie visible in the background, 1 steps into 
    the foreground, conventional of western films) 
4. Very high tension, loud escalating western music, lots of close-ups (eyes narrowing, hands 
     flexing [if applicable] etc.) 
5. Intense music and tension build up, breaks into only dietetic sound and zombie amble 
    towards each other in that charming way only a zombie can. 
6. Establishing shot to add humor. (Zombies ambling towards each other, little guy lying in the  
    middle for zombies to fight over.) 
7. Medium shot of 1 zombie, he stops, eyes widen, "Uuuuughhhh!" and collapses dead. He falls 
    to reveal the hero standing behind him, having stabbed him.
8. Pan and tilt upwards simultaneously into a low-angle shot of the hero, silhouetted slightly by 
    the sun. 
9. Hero takes off his hat, rubs his head, replaces the hat and says a very cool zombie-related 
    pun. (We're still working on the pun.) 

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