Risk Assessment

After Completing my Location Recce, I decided to return back to the location and complete a risk assessment sheet, looking at all of the potential hazards in the location and how severe each hazard could be in a worst case scenario, also talking about who would be at risk and how likely the hazard would cause a problem alongside what measures would we put in place to reduce risk.

I started off dating the time when I completed the risk assessment and giving the location of where the risk assessment

Time and date of shoot: 12/01/2017  Location: Dartmoor Quarry

Description of what will be filmed : It will start out with a zombie on top of one of the characters, he will then

Hazard	Person/s at risk	Likelihood of hazard (1-5) 1= least likely	Severity of outcomes 1= lowest risk	Risk level Likelihood + severity ÷2	Measure to reduce risk	Final risk level acceptable?
Sharp Metal Objects, could cut people on location	Everyone on Location	1	4	2.5	Sharp objects have been carefully moved away from the filming area, just seen within the background of the shot. People will not be allowed near the sharp objects.	Yes
Rock Quarry rocks possibly falling onto people or equipment	Everyone on Location	1	5	3	The Rocks Have a very, very slim chance of falling. They have been there for years and have never fallen before, they are secure from falling randomly.	Yes
Trip Hazards like small rocks  and other small objects	Everyone on Location	4	2	3	Small, loose rocks have been moved from the filming area so we do not trip over them. Actors follow a path which has no tripping hazards so it is all safe.	yes
Rocky Environment lead to hurting feet	Everyone on Location	2	2	2	These rocky environments are only leading up to the filming area, there is a safer, more risk-free way of getting to the set.	yes
Slippery surfaces due to wet environments	Everyone on Location	5	2	3.5	Film only when it is dry otherwise there is a chance that the grass is slippery.	yes

After completing the risk assessment, I had a few people check it to see if they could find any faults with my assessment and if they thought of any other risks, nothing else was added. Next I asked someone to Countersign my risk assessment as confirmation that people have checked my risk assessment.

Location Recce

My next step was to find the perfect location to film my production, I wanted to use a place on the moorlands to film my movie, there was one specific place which I thought could be used for the entirety of the starting sequence, I ended up doing a location recce for a specific area near a Quarry in Dartmoor. I felt that it was perfect for my media production as I could show the passage of time and distance throughout the entire scene just by how diverse the specific location was.

Below I created a Location Recce for the specific requirements and drawbacks to using the area.

Description of the chosen location

Large Opening  near Dartmoor Quarry stacked with rocks, large enough for filming with diverse environments which give the sense of traveling a large distance although it is merely 30-40 metres away

Issue	What to look for	Notes
Access	Bus stops and train stations	There are no Bus Stops and Train Stations near the area so it would have to be accessed by car.
	Parking facilities	It is possible to park next to an inn that is close to the location.
	Lifts/stairs	No lifts and stairs required, although a walk up a rocking hill is required.
	Doorways (Width – consider equipment as well as people)	No Doorways to exterior shot.
Space	Enough room (for cast/contributors, crew and necessary equipment)	plenty of room for staff and the equipment required
	Immovable objects (Are there any that will get in the frame?)	There are certain terrain features yet they are not obstructive to the scenes.
	Set dressing requirements (esp. for dramatic production)	Nothing is required as there is scrap metal which dresses the scene well.
Lighting	Windows (Are there blinds/curtains to minimise changes in daylight during the shoot?)	There are no Windows as it is an exterior shot.
	Lighting appliances (Fluorescent/tungsten? Can they be switched on and off?)	Lighting equipment is needed as exterior shot at night.
	Plug points (If lighting kit is to be used)	None as it is exterior shot.
Issue	What to look for	Notes
Sound	Traffic noise	Traffic cannot be heard from the location of filming.
	Air conditioning (If yes, can it be switched off?)	No as exterior shot.
	Computers (These have a low level of hum that, if in use, will affect nearby audio recording)	No as exterior shot.
	Other people on location (Might people who live/work on location be disrupting the shoot?)	Possible hikers near location. Filming can be halted whilst waiting. People on location are rare.

Reason for the decision to use the chosen location:

The location near Dartmoor Quarry, large hills of rock give excellent nighttime backgrounds for the movie. Whole Film Shot here. Perfect location for every scene within the introduction sequence, giving us a range of views which can be used (Night time shots do not show much of the background, yet the layout of the area is perfect for film.

I looked at everything that would be essential for everyone to get to the location, addressing parking facilities, train and bus stops. I also looked at specific drawbacks that could end up ruining the production. These issues included Traffic noise, other people on location and other background noise that could potentially ruin the scenes.

In conclusion I used this specific location as there were no setbacks and the location only gave me the added benefit of filming the entire shot in one place. the specific location had ease of access, traffic could not be heard and there was a limited amount of people traveling to the set which helped increase the flow of the filming period.

Shift in Story

After part-way creating my storyboard I am realizing that my original Idea just wouldn't work for the time I actually have to create my 2 minute piece. I changed my story so that ("Character 2") is not killed of straight away from the get go so the audience start to have a connection towards the character, being the best friend of the main character. I feel that the end of the 2 minute piece should be his death, that puts the emphasis that this world they live in is dangerous and no one is safe.

My initial idea was for This character to die off straight away by having his throat bitten by a zombie as he tries to grab a rifle that was found with the body of the zombie. After this they would start speeding down the road trying to get the character help but they are apprehended by bandits. The (Character 2) would be shot in the head as he is turning and the other character would be knocked out. The main character would wake up in a base controlled by these bandits. He would escape with the use of zombies around the perimeter, being the end of the clip.

 Looking back at this, the audience wouldn't care about (Character 2) at all, it would just be a way to show that world is dangerous whereas I want the audience to feel a sense of loss of this character and the importance of this characters death as it takes a toll on the main character for the entirety of the movie. Due to this I have changed my story so it starts with my 2 characters showing their connection and how important they are to the narrative of the story and how there is this shift as (Character 2) dies, also giving this effect that the world is dangerous and no one is safe.

Storyboard Mockup

As a quick update to my movie I created a fast mock up of my storyboard.

I started to do a mock up of my movie as a quick test to and get a possible idea for how my film. I started off by making a quick template for my storyboard. After that I started from Scene 1: A and created a fast, makeshift scene, as I want the main characters car to pull up right in front of the camera and Character 2 gets out of the car, only showing his lower half to the camera. This is because I wanted to give the effect to show that this guy is suspicious yet well coordinated.After this scene there would be a fast cut to another shot which shows character 2 looking around looking for zombies or other dangers, as he prepares to go towards the zombie that is dead on the floor with a rifle on him.  After this, Character 2 walks towards the body, being cautious. He checks the body as he comes close and quickly grabs the gun, with a sigh of relief the zombie isn't alive, at least he thought. The zombie grabs him and bites him on the throat, The main character quickly shoots the zombie in the head as character 2 runs back to the car, holding his bleeding throat and the rifle.

 I feel like this would be a good way to start my film as it gives the introduction to the zombie universe and kills of a character very fast to show just how deadly this world full of zombies is. It puts an emphasis on who the main character of the production actually is as from the get go, you think it is someone else just for him to be killed off straight away.

I have moved on to making my actual storyboard and creating the script for my movie, fleshing out the characters and detailing the characters for my movie.

Audience Research

To further solidify my target audience research, I created a questionnaire in which could be used to either prove/disprove my research prior. Below is the results of my questions.

 From this Pie Chart, I can see that about 70% of the people who filled in my questionnaire were male whereas there were only 17 females who answered.

The next question asked for the ages of the people who answered my questionnaire and the decisive age group was between 15 and 18, with many above the age of 18 as well, leading me to believe that a 15 rating would be the most appropriate age.

My Next question asked which types of horror films do they prefer the most, The most predominant being the zombie category, followed by action horrors then Sci-Fi. This will help me when it comes to creating my script as I now know that I should try to add action and I could even add a little science fiction to the mix. 

The next question asked which is the audiences most favorite Horror movie. I had some varying answers which pointed more towards post-apocalyptic/dystopian movies alongside many Sci-Fi movies in the mix. From this I can tell that my audience sample love movies which reference the end of humanity, be it from aliens or zombies. This suggests that I should use more themes commonly seen within other horror sub-genres when I make my movie.

Another Question which had some notable answers was "What makes a zombie/horror movie good", I had many answers which could help in the long run when it comes to creating my opening sequence. One of the most common answers was realistic looking zombies. This suggested that I would need to use gore give off the effect that my zombies were realistic and were actually dead. Another recurring answer was that Jumpscares and tension-building music help to make my audience feel on edge and scared to live in a world similar to this.

Target Audience

The Next step to in the pre-production process was to explore my target audience, for this I created a basic Target Audience sheet to talk about the aspects of my audience and see research what exactly they want in a horror/ Zombie / Thriller movie.

After Research, I released that the majority of Zombie fans are above the age of 15, meaning that I can allow my movie the level of gore that can be seen within a 15 movie, this also suggests that I could use more mature themes within the final edit of my opening sequence.

Institutional Research

Who Could Distribute my movies

Looking at recent films in the zombie genre, I think that it would be either Paramount or Warner Brothers would distribute my film; if it was made to a blockbuster standard. Another route that could be explored is Universal Pictures (Universal Studios) as they have many great films under their belt but have no BIG zombie movies, a place which I feel they would like to explore, after distributing films like "Warcraft". Looking back at films, I think almost every one of the big six (Minus Disney) would consider distributing my film. This is because most of the big distribution companies have dabbled in the zombie genre with similar motifs as my own. Although I feel that many other distribution companies would consider distributing my movie, I feel like either Paramount or Warner brothers would be my best bet, as they have released previous films like "World War Z" and the up coming "The Girl with all the Gifts" Due to the films having similar Target Audiences I feel that Paramount And Warner know how to supply these types of films to the masses.

As for Production, I feel that as the big Distribution companies own many production companies, I feel that whichever company takes on my media text, they would bring their own production companies in. This is so these companies maximize their total income from the movie, something which is very common for these big companies to do. Certain actors own their own Production companies, these companies would also be used if specific actors are in films. For example Brad Pitt owns "Plan B Entertainment" and Adam Sandler owns "Happy Madison". Other than that I feel that A production company like "Legendary Entertainment" Would take on the task of producing my movie. "Legendary Entertainment"  have produced many big movies for instance  they produced "Warcraft" "300" "The Hangover" and "Interstellar."

I think Legendary Pictures would want to produce my media text because the last zombie movie they made (Dead Rising) was not really well received nor was really made as a "blockbuster" movie. Legendary Pictures would want to rebuild their reputation for zombie films by making a good one which would be more widely known.

The next step is how much would Paramount supply for the creation of the movie. For this I researched how much they usually supply to a movie to for their blockbuster movies. below is a list of movies and how much they cost to produce.

Interstellar (Jointly distributed with Warner brothers) - $165,000,000

World War Z - $125,000,000

Titanic - $200,000,000

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $200,000,000

Forrest Gump - $55,000,000

Star Trek - $150,000,000

War Of the Worlds - $132,000,000

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - $145,000,000

These numbers suggest that a brand new blockbuster could see a budget somewhere between $100-150 Million. This allows the director enough money to hire A-List celebrities alongside produce a high quality production that could span worldwide for incredible, realistic scenes alongside incredible Computer Generated Imagery.