Storyboard plan

1st frame = 10 seconds.
2nd frame = 5 seconds.
3rd frame = 15 seconds.
4th frame = 10-15 seconds.
5th frame = 5 seconds.
6th frame = 3 seconds.
7th frame = 25 - 30 seconds.
8th frame = 3 seconds.
9th frame = 3 seconds.

Film structure

relating your story to aspects and theories of narrative

The brothers – Nathan, possible hero, as he seeks to protect Joseph, then the baby. Joseph, possible helper, as he tries to protect Nathan and the baby by going into work hoping to not bring to attention that neither he nor Nathan are not “logged in”.

Unnamed baby – possible princess, not as a reward, but nevertheless needs protection from the villain – the officers – the hero looks after the baby.

Ruby – possible donor, as she gives Nathan the false I.Ds for him, the baby and Joseph.

Synopsis

The chaos of the apocalypse is shown by people running (this is evidence of a disequilibrium - Todorov), screaming – this is then mixed with news reports of warnings, political speeches and charts (this shows the cultural code - Barthes) that overall show a dangerously high increase of an “unknown” substance. There is then a blackout and a narrator talking about people being taken in and experimented on with radioactive and nuclear substances, the aims of these experiments, the controversy of the concepts etc etc (this shows a fusion of the enigma code and the cultural code - Barthes).

Shown to be six months after the apocalypse or “disaster” (this shows the enigma code, as the disaster remains anonymous - Barthes), the two brothers, Nathan and Joseph, are shown to be hiding in a WW2 bunker, as they would already have built in protection (this shows a new equilibrium from the disequilibrium of the anonymous disaster - Todorov). Tattoos are shown on their arms, which suggest that the brothers are part of a protester group (this shows an enigma code, as there is no further stated development of the tattoo - Barthes) – probably against the experiments that are suggested to be the cause of the apocalypse. Nathan is shown to be aware of what is happening around him, he constantly suggests leaving the bunker – this contrasts against Joseph, who is shown to still be very shaken by the apocalypse, nearing paranoia (possibly having post traumatic stress disorder).

Having been hiding in the bunker for six months, Nathan and Joseph have remained unaware about the creation of the work and life zones. The work zones are seen to be the debris left over from the apocalypse, it is seen to be the survivor’s job to clear it up to make for more life zones as there is a breeding program that has recently started. And so, the brothers do not know that their bunker, which is more or less in good condition, is part of the work zone and is planned to be destroyed.

A bulldozer starts to plough through the bunker’s thick exterior, the noise wakes up the brothers (this shows an action code - Barthes), who are then panicked because the bulldozer has cut off the electricity supply, therefore there is no lighting (to some extent, this may show a symbolic code, that the bulldozer may signify the effect that the apocalypse on the brothers - Barthes). They eventually find the door and escape, shocked to find nearly all the buildings that used to surround the bunker are now mostly turned to rubble. They hide for the night underneath an old bus shelter (this shows a slow resume to a new equilibrium from the disequilibrium of the bulldozer - Todorov). The next day, they see what seem to be workers walking into the wasteland, picking up rubble and taking pieces back to a pile – slowly clearing up the destruction.

Since they look to be wearing normal scruffy clothes, the brothers join them and successfully blend in (this further shows the new equilibrium - Todorov), copying the same actions as the workers. There, they notice the officers that watch the workers to make sure they behave appropriately e.g. not being rude to the officers (they constantly use the fact that they are being given a second chance to make things right, in their minds, this means a completely clean slate). Nathan and Joseph also notice that some who do not behave to the informally set rules are taken away for gossiped-about analysis (this shows the enigma code, as the analysis gives a strong, but mysterious, threat to all that have survived - Barthes), although the definition of the analysis is not said, there is a sense of fear and tension whenever this topic is raised amongst the workers and the officers (this suggests that there is a higher power than the officers and that the officers themselves are scared of the analysis).

A week later, keeping relatively quiet amongst the group of workers, sneaking out to stay at the bus shelter so the group of officers do not notice two extra people using precious supplies. The brothers hear crying from behind the bus shelter, similar to a baby’s (this shows the enigma code theory - Barthes). The brothers are initially cautious, as they think it could be a trick by one of the officers to catch any stray survivors for “analysis”. Eventually, the brothers find the source of the crying: a baby. It is wrapped in a blanket, the baby itself is relatively clean – Nathan suggests that this could mean that the baby wasn’t stranded too long ago, so maybe the baby’s parents are workers and/or officers.

Ruby, an officer, has been following the brothers for the past week, as she had recognised Joseph but not Nathan – she then bursts into the scene, pointing a gun at the brothers (this shows an action code - Barthes), revealing that she has the same tattoo as the brothers on her arm (this shows the symbolic code - Barthes), this suggests that she was in the same group as the brothers. She then sees the baby and puts the gun down, taking out a first aid kit from her jacket and seeing if the baby is hurt (this possibly shows a symbolic code - Barthes).

She is hostile towards the brothers, as she is somewhat shaken by seeing Joseph (she does not reveal that she knows him, but glances between the two suggest as such). She then explains to the brothers that she had to look after her sister’s baby after the sister was killed during the apocalypse (this shows an enigma code - Barthes). She finally reveals her name and agrees with the brothers that she will look after the baby if the brothers tell her everything they can about the protesting group e.g. if any of the members are still alive, if they believe in the cause anymore etc. She tells them to look after the baby for one night whilst she gets supplies to keep in a compartment in her office, whilst she is saying this she deliberately avoids Joseph’s gaze. She then gives them her first aid kit and leaves the bus shelter.

The next night, Ruby comes back to the bus shelter, telling the brothers she has the supplies in her office and asks them to cover her whilst she takes the baby to her office. Halfway through the procedure, they are ambushed by some of the officers suspicious of Ruby, trying to shoot them (this shows an action code - Barthes). Nathan is shot in the leg, once they make it back to the office – Ruby and Joseph remove the bullets and clean the wound – Nathan is too weak to make it back to the bus shelter and so sleeps in the office with Ruby, Joseph and the baby.

The next day, Joseph goes to clear up the work zone with the workers and intentionally spreads the rumour of the protesting group making a comeback, word spreads and he is arrested and taken in for “analysis”. He is then knocked unconsciousness, seeing visions of operations and blood on operating tools. Ruby then comes into the vision, talking to one of the other officers, seemingly giving a reason to not be analysed. The analysis then stops immediately, being stitched up. He then wakes up to see one of the other officers at the end of his stretcher, asking him questions about what life was like before the apocalypse, for no apparent reason (this shows the symbolic code theory - Barthes). The unnamed officer is then called away from the stretcher and Joseph walks around the hospital camp, finding Ruby in a corner, emotionless. She starts to talk about her sister and how she left her child for one moment, not being able to say anything else about what happened to it – this suggests that the child died.   

Joseph then walks away, remembering Ruby never had a sister. Back to Nathan at the office, he watches the baby sleeping, talking to himself about Joseph being taken away, he seems to pretend that the baby is replying to his questions. The unnamed officer then bursts into the office (this shows a fusion of the enigma code and the action code theory - Barthes), it becomes clear that the officer was called away from Joseph’s stretcher because of Nathan being heard talking to himself. The officer then sees the baby and talks to Nathan about how the baby is the officer’s property (this possibly relates to Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites, whereas Nathan and Joseph feel morally obligated to care for the baby, the officer treats it coldly and says, essentially, that the baby is a piece of property), seeing as there has yet to be any answers about the baby’s biological parents.

Nathan then tells the officer that he’s Joseph’s brother – the officer then, without a word, walks him into his van, signalling to keep his head down past the armed officers who have been alerted about an unlogged person in the zone (this again uses a fusion of the enigma code and the action code - Barthes). The van is then stopped for checks, Ruby is the officer checking – she gives the all clear and a note to Nathan saying that Joseph has got supplies and is going to sneak into the life zones under another identity and that he has Nathan’s and the baby’s fake information with him, instructing Nathan to meet Joseph at the back of one of the life zone huts (this shows how Ruby is the donor in this story - Propp). The van drives on, going past some of the life zone huts, showing workers protesting against the officers, shouting the slogan shown in Nathan’s, Joseph’s and Ruby’s tattoo (this is another disequilibrium from the equilibrium of the work and life zones - Todorov).

Film pitch feedback

Hi guys,
I have just checked the number of views is 116! Thank you so much for reading my posts. It really a lot to me, even though I'm one of millions of voices.

Anyway, Clare I had to do a pitch for our film for our media class and afterwards we had to put up what feedback we got from our classmates so I'm going to answer those questions now.

Ok, here we go:
Question 1: Because your film is in so much detail and it's of something so extreme, aren't you considered it is going to have a really high budget?

Well, we are only planning to do like the first 2 minutes of the opening and the location we are planning to use is a field with additional news headlines. So no, we are not worried about this film having a high budget as it probably won't have one.

Question 2: Where are you going to film all of this?

Again, mainly in a field and we won't film the whole two hours (come on, that would take like a year!) In additional, we will probably have to film it early in the day because the idea is that no one else is around except from the characters, which is about 15 of them.

Question 3: Aren't you worried of what Derren Brown has done and what is already out there?

Firstly, I haven't even seen Derren Brown's version of an apocalypse and secondly yes, there are a lot of films out there that are like this.
However, like Clare said at the time, we want to expose raw emotions to the audience, especially with the use of handheld and Steadicam work (we got a lot of inspiration from Cloverfield) and also for the
audience to sympathise with Joseph, who suffers from manic depression. O course we are also planning to use mockumentary features which hardly any films from this genre have used, like ever.

Question 4: How would you make the film fit into its genre well?

Well, mise en scene will definitely help with that e.g. torn clothes maybe burned a little and the newsflashes about global warming and the whole thing about work and life zones (which is quite like Mockingjay) and also the government testing nuclear on humans seem to cover that. In a way it is very political.

Question 5: What age rating would you give it?

A 15 because it won't be too gruesome but there might be swear words (come on, we are teenagers full of angst) and a few shots of blood, especially when Nathan gets shot.

Question 6: How long is it?

About 2 hours, a lot happens so we would really need that amount of time.

Here is the pod cast of it:
http://pixiem95.podomatic.com/entry/2013-05-07T11_37_01-07_00

Alright peeps, see you soon!

Emily x

Title sequences-use of sound

Hi guys,
it's getting really cold now and the darkness is started to get seriously hardcore :L kinda sad but it's nearly christmas (end my birthday! the 23rd)
Anyway, I learnt about title sequences in class. I watched the Kung Fu Panda title sequence and wrote about each transition of sound.

In general, the music is very Asian orientated e.g. use of the pentatonic scale and sequences. Asian non-diegetic music starts to signify the genre of film.  Also, a gong is played when the Dreamworks logo appears and sound effects are used to accentuate the fight scene between the Po and the bar animals. Also, folly is used when Po swallows and when a bull bangs his fist onto the table.

Most importantly, a voiceover is layered on top of all this to narrate the story.

My scanner is not working because for some reason it does not like my Open World sound diagram so I will just have to write a written response. 

For our film, we are planning to use a fast tempo for one of the tracks at the start with a relatively low volume. We are going to use two tracks and layer them to create a clash when a flash comes up which would only last for half a second. In the middle of our opening, we will layer a few voices over each other which  they would read the same narration: one person says about the scientists' theory then that would fade into religion's theory then into what everyone else thinks. Then this would end with all of them saying 'Who is to blame?' Then the same track that is used at the beginning will then be used when the title says 'Open World.'

Film making is under way...

Hey guys,
Sorry I haven't posted in like a month even there is not many of you still I love you all for looking!

Anyway, here's me and my friend, Clare's film proposal. It's gonna be a post apocalyptic meets mockumentary film.
I can't wait to start filming!
Enjoy reading it and hope you guys have an amazing week!
E x

Media film proposal

Genre: Post-apocalyptic meets mockumentary.

Length: 2 hours (approximately)

Target audience: late teens to mid-fourties. Middle to higher class. Interested in philosophy and curiosity about structure of new societies.

Main Characters

Nathan – brother to Joseph, older than him.

Joseph – brother to Nathan, younger than him.

Unnamed baby – found by Nathan and Joseph in a secluded part of the work zone.

Ruby – officer of one of the work zones, looks after the baby whilst Nathan and Joseph are in the work zone.

Technique

Camerawork: a mix of handheld and Steadicam, this would give a documentary/homespun feel to the film. This would help to create a personal and realistic edge to the film, as the main benefit of using these techniques is that you nearly get point-of-view shots, not bird’s eye view shots.

Synopsis

The chaos of the apocalypse is shown by people running, screaming – this is then mixed with news reports of warnings, political speeches and charts that overall show a dangerously high increase of an “unknown” substance. There is then a blackout and a narrator talking about people being taken in and experimented on with radioactive and nuclear substances, the aims of these experiments, the controversy of the concepts etc etc.

Shown to be six months after the apocalypse or “disaster”, the two brothers, Nathan and Joseph, are shown to be hiding in a WW2 bunker, as they would already have built in protection. Tattoos are shown on their arms, which suggest that the brothers are part of a protester group – probably against the experiments that are suggested to be the cause of the apocalypse. Nathan is shown to be aware of what is happening around him, he constantly suggests leaving the bunker – this contrasts against Joseph, who is shown to still be very shaken by the apocalypse, nearing paranoia (possibly having post traumatic stress disorder).

Having been hiding in the bunker for six months, Nathan and Joseph have remained unaware about the creation of the work and life zones. The work zones are seen to be the debris left over from the apocalypse, it is seen to be the survivor’s job to clear it up to make for more life zones as there is a breeding program that has recently started. And so, the brothers do not know that their bunker, which is more or less in good condition, is part of the work zone and is planned to be destroyed.

A bulldozer starts to plough through the bunker’s thick exterior, the noise wakes up the brothers, who are then panicked because the bulldozer has cut off the electricity supply, therefore there is no lighting. They eventually find the door and escape, shocked to find nearly all the buildings that used to surround the bunker are now mostly turned to rubble. They hide for the night underneath an old bus shelter. The next day, they see what seem to be workers walking into the wasteland, picking up rubble and taking pieces back to a pile – slowly clearing up the destruction.

Since they look to be wearing normal scruffy clothes, the brothers join them and successfully blend in, copying the same actions as the workers. There, they notice the officers that watch the workers to make sure they behave appropriately e.g. not being rude to the officers (they constantly use the fact that they are being given a second chance to make things right, in their minds, this means a completely clean slate). Nathan and Joseph also notice that some who do not behave to the informally set rules are taken away for gossiped-about analysis, although the definition of the analysis is not said, there is a sense of fear and tension whenever this topic is raised amongst the workers and the officers (this suggests that there is a higher power than the officers and that the officers themselves are scared of the analysis).

A week later, keeping relatively quiet amongst the group of workers, sneaking out to stay at the bus shelter so the group of officers do not notice two extra people using precious supplies. The brothers hear crying from behind the bus shelter, similar to a baby’s. The brothers are initially cautious, as they think it could be a trick by one of the officers to catch any stray survivors for “analysis”. Eventually, the brothers find the source of the crying: a baby. It is wrapped in a blanket, the baby itself is relatively clean – Nathan suggests that this could mean that the baby wasn’t stranded too long ago, so maybe the baby’s parents are workers and/or officers.

Ruby, an officer, has been following the brothers for the past week, as she had recognised Joseph but not Nathan – she then bursts into the scene, pointing a gun at the brothers, revealing that she has the same tattoo as the brothers on her arm, this suggests that she was in the same group as the brothers. She then sees the baby and puts the gun down, taking out a first aid kit from her jacket and seeing if the baby is hurt.

She is hostile towards the brothers, as she is somewhat shaken by seeing Joseph (she does not reveal that she knows him, but glances between the two suggest as such). She then explains to the brothers that she had to look after her sister’s baby after the sister was killed during the apocalypse. She finally reveals her name and agrees with the brothers that she will look after the baby if the brothers tell her everything they can about the protesting group e.g. if any of the members are still alive, if they believe in the cause anymore etc. She tells them to look after the baby for one night whilst she gets supplies to keep in a compartment in her office, whilst she is saying this she deliberately avoids Joseph’s gaze. She then gives them her first aid kit and leaves the bus shelter.

The next night, Ruby comes back to the bus shelter, telling the brothers she has the supplies in her office and asks them to cover her whilst she takes the baby to her office. Halfway through the procedure, they are ambushed by some of the officers suspicious of Ruby, trying to shoot them. Nathan is shot in the leg, once they make it back to the office – Ruby and Joseph remove the bullets and clean the wound – Nathan is too weak to make it back to the bus shelter and so sleeps in the office with Ruby, Joseph and the baby.

The next day, Joseph goes to clear up the work zone with the workers and intentionally spreads the rumour of the protesting group making a comeback, word spreads and he is arrested and taken in for “analysis”. He is then knocked unconsciousness, seeing visions of operations and blood on operating tools. Ruby then comes into the vision, talking to one of the other officers, seemingly giving a reason to not be analysed. The analysis then stops immediately, being stitched up. He then wakes up to see one of the other officers at the end of his stretcher, asking him questions about what life was like before the apocalypse, for no apparent reason. The unnamed officer is then called away from the stretcher and Joseph walks around the hospital camp, finding Ruby in a corner, emotionless. She starts to talk about her sister and how she left her child for one moment, not being able to say anything else about what happened to it – this suggests that the child died.   

Joseph then walks away, remembering Ruby never had a sister. Back to Nathan at the office, he watches the baby sleeping, talking to himself about Joseph being taken away, he seems to pretend that the baby is replying to his questions. The unnamed officer then bursts into the office, it becomes clear that the officer was called away from Joseph’s stretcher because of Nathan being heard talking to himself. The officer then sees the baby and talks to Nathan about how the baby is the officer’s property, seeing as there has yet to be any answers about the baby’s biological parents.

Nathan then tells the officer that he’s Joseph’s brother – the officer then, without a word, walks him into his van, signalling to keep his head down past the armed officers who have been alerted about an unlogged person in the zone. The van is then stopped for checks, Ruby is the officer checking – she gives the all clear and a note to Nathan saying that Joseph has got supplies and is going to sneak into the life zones under another identity and that he has Nathan’s and the baby’s fake information with him, instructing Nathan to meet Joseph at the back of one of the life zone huts. The van drives on, going past some of the life zone huts, showing workers protesting against the officers, shouting the slogan shown in Nathan’s, Joseph’s and Ruby’s tattoo.