Possible distributors

Mainstream Distributors :

 Icon Film Distribution -
Found in 1999, Icon film distribution is one of the UK's leading independent film distributors generating in excess of £150m at the box office with a library of over 200 titles ranging from mainstream hits such as paranormal activity, 30 days of night and Transporter 3. These are quite like our films because some of them include zombies etc. This would be a good distributer for our film. Although this may not beneficial for us because they deal with mainstream and our film is more independent so we would not be benefit our film being showed too often.



Independent distributors :

The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video productions.

Founder: David Michael Latt

Founded: 1997
Films : Night of the dead

Possible Distributors

Mainstream Distributors

Warner Bros;

One of the biggest film distributors in the world, founded in 1923. It is a subsidiary of Time warner and has a huge list of films in which it has distributed. Some of these films are, the Harry Potter series and The Dark Knight. I would be happy to allow this company to distribute our film as I know it would do a professional job and that it would reach a large audience in its advertising. Although I would be happy to use this company, I don't think it would be the best suited to be used as the genre of film isn't really a genre that is going to meet a large range of audiences. Warner Bros don't really distribute films like the one we are producing as well. 

Possible distributors

20th century fox.
20th century fox is a huge production and distribution company. It has distributed many film and TV series that include; star wars, ice age, x-men and many more. This distributor has been around for many years now and has lots of experience with distributing films. If i was to use this as a distributor for our film i know that it could be trusted. However, the only film it has released within the same sort of genre as ours is alien, so i would be unsure as to whether people would be interested in our film if distributed by this company.







This is a film distributed by 20th century fox. Unlike the independent distributor, this company has lots of money to spend on distribution, but also because they have distributed more of these films, it doesn't take much to promote this film.











Axiom films.
This is an independent UK film distributor and production company. This company has produced many different films but as it is an independent producer and distributor these films may not be as well known. These films include; About Elly, A call girl, Any way the wind blows.

This film is called "About Elly". We can tell this is distributed and produced by a independent company as it has ratings on the posters and says that it is 'from the director of the oscar winning "A Separation"'

Possible Distributors

Paramount pictures

Paramount pictures distributed world war z which is a relatively similar film to ours. They have had a lot of experience and would guarantee that the film would be seen globally. However this is a mainstream distributor meaning it would be difficult to get and the benefits of having a global audience may not be that good to us as our audience is mainly british.

Rogue

Rogue pictures distributed shaun of the dead which once again similar to ours, from the other films they have distributed a vast amount of them are horror as you can see from the list below. It being a subsidiary of other companies like universal pictures also gives it some experience. The fact universal pictures is big distributor also ensures it gets good coverage.

Audience research.

We have decided that for our film the appropriate age rating would be 15. This is because some of the content of our film would not be suitable for people under this age. The reason we chose the 15 rating is because we believe that because our film includes zombies, it is quite a mature theme that may scare people of a younger age. Also, because of the zombies, the thing that is most common is that they would need to be killed so the film will include lots of violence and weapons. The age rating is appropriate as the themes throughout the film are too mature for anyone under the age of 15 and also that parents may not want to expose their children to these sort of things until they believe they are old enough. Our film would also have to be put at a 15 rating as it may include a large amount of strong language due to the nature of the film. Another reason that our film must be rated at a 15 is because people of a younger age may feel the need to copy things they see throughout the film which would be considered as wrong. We have decided that our target audience would be from 15 to 30 year olds. This is because people outside of our target range may not like this sort of thing as it is quite a modern idea and the older generation may not find it suitable or may not like to think about these sorts of things. We have decided that our film would be generally aimed at a British audience as it has been filmed in Britain. It would also be mainly aimed at people who are interested in apocalypses or films of a similar nature.

Zombie Films Research

Our final idea for our film is about Zombies. So I am going to research the genre 'Horror' and the sub-genre 'Zombie'.

Similar Films

28 weeks later




This film is a typical zombie-horror film that is about a virus that has spread through the city and caused people to turn into zombies. It is the sequel to the film 28 days later and carries on the same plot. I think the idea of a raging virus being the cause of the zombie apocalypse is something that we can definitely use within our idea for our film.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a TV series that is again to do with a zombie apocalypse. The cause of the zombie invasion is yet to be revealed as the series is still going on but the idea of a group being together in order to survive is something I like the idea of to use within our own.

Resident Evil




In this relatively old Zombie based film, a laboratory experiment goes wrong and creates a virus that turns people into zombies. This virus begins to spread and causes mayhem across the city. A special military force do their best within the film to try stop and put an end to the raging virus. Again the idea of some kind of disease/virus is used within this film and from the research I have done, I am seeing a reoccurring theme with it. This is why we will probably use this idea within our own film as we want to make it seem as professional and similar to the other Zombie films as we can.

Characters found in Zombie films

From my research I have found that there are certain types of characters that are found in Zombie films. In most of the films I have researched, they have a group of survivors that work together to try and escape the flesh eating monsters. Within these groups you tend to find different kinds of people and personalities. You tend to see a dominant leader within the group, normally male, who makes crucial decisions to try and protect the group. This main leader is normally one of the people who have survived come the end of the film. There is usually a person with a disability within the group and these are perceived to be vulnerable. You are also likely to find a mother and a child that have been separated from the husband/father. These characters I have described are all found in the Walking Dead series.


Mise-en-scene

Settings- Many of the locations found within Zombie films are deserted towns that have been completely run down because of the Zombie apocalypse. The town is full of smashed up cars and windows, with lots of dead bodies dotted around. You often find a lot of forests in Zombie films as they are places that people can get lost in and then confront a number of zombies, with nowhere to escape.




Lighting

The lighting tends to be extremely dark within Zombie films to create a scary feel to them. The darkness also hides the zombies and creates suspense over the audience, who are waiting for one of them to jump out.

Clothing

The clothing tends to be very casual everyday clothes as the characters are just everyday people. The zombies are also wearing normal clothing as they were normal people before they turned into the zombie. Although the clothes are normal, they tend to be covered in blood and are a little dirty/torn. This is due to running away from and being attacked by the zombies. This means it will make it relatively easy to dress our characters within our film.

Make Up

This is a really important factor within Zombie films as it is the thing that makes zombies seem more realistic. The make up makes the faces of the zombies distorted, pale and covered in blood. Make up is also used in making the eyes of the zombies look like a different colour. In order to make our film look professional we will have to use make up on our zombie actors.


Props

You tend to find a number of weapons in Zombie films that the survivors use to fight against the zombies. These include a handgun, axe and other guns. Other props include smashed up cars, broken glass and most importantly, blood.

Iconography

This includes blood, guns, detached body parts, living dead (zombies), a killer virus and a 'safe haven' where all the survivors are trying to get to.

Film genre research

Our final film idea is a zombie film. I will be looking at the genre of horror with a sub-genre of zombie.

World war Z -

This is a film that focuses on one family but focusing more on Brad Pitt. It all starts off in a traffic jam mayhem where it is surrounded by police and helicopters etc. Then a loud bang and the area surrounded by zombies and then civilians run left, right and center and Brad Pitt finds away of dodging the zombies and with Brads previous job he has contacts that helps get out of trouble and in to a safe area with the sole task of finding an antidote. When the zombies bite a human the human turns into a zombie.
This will relate to us for the look of the zombies. We will try to create a zombie that looks like them as or as close as possible to them because they can be easily reconstructed with make-up. An example-

The crazies -

This is a film about the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. With Family, friends and neighbors killing each other.
This could relate to us because are thinking of using contaminated water supply of spreading the disease, with slightly changing the focus on bottled water.

Characters

From the research i have done, i have found that there are certain types of characters that are found in zombie films. In all zombie films there is always 1 group of people who survive and work together to escape the zombies, In this group there is always at least one male and one female and usually a couple of kids. The dominant leader of the group is always the male character and he usually leads to being the main character, which means he is the one that protects the group the best. The female character is usually who scares very easy and is the one always standing near the children, like the kids first line of protection.

Mise-en-scene

Settings - In all the zombie films the settings are usually ends up as a deserted town, which has been smashed up and riddled by zombies, Usually there are forests and places that are usually packed with people.

Lighting - Lighting is mainly dark which adds suspense are increases the scariness feeling. There is always flashes of light which gives you better view of the zombies, this makes the viewers jump and again add to the suspense.

Clothing - This is always just casual every day cloths because it needs to look natural and not pre-meditated. All clothing will usually have blood on the clothing.

Make up - In zombie films this is the biggest factor of making the film successful. This makes the zombies seem very realistic because it makes the faces of the zombies distorted, pale and with blood all over them.

Props - In every zombie film there is always guns, axes, knives, helicopters and cars.

Iconography

This includes blood, guns, detached body parts, living dead (zombies), a killer virus and a 'safe haven' where all the survivors are trying to get to.

Zombie movie research

Zombieland

"A cowardly shut-in named Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is forced to join up with a seasoned zombie slayer named Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) in order to survive the zombie apocalypse. As Tallahassee sets out on a mission to find the last Twinkie on Earth, the duo meets up with Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), two young girls who have resorted to some rather unorthodox methods to survive amidst the chaos. Reluctant partners in the battle against the undead, all four soon begin to wonder if it might be better to simply take their chances alone. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi" -fandango.com

• 
  
• Shaun of the Dead

"Shaun is a 29-year-old with no real ambition in life, much to the consternation of his friends, family, and fed-up girlfriend. With only a loyalty to his lazy best friend Edgar, a dead-end job where his employees step on him, and the good-ol' days, Shaun isn't exactly putting his best foot forward. But when the flesh-hungry undead start to rise in numbers around modern-day London, Shaun must come to the rescue of his girlfriend and mother before all hell breaks loose. With loyal Edgar at his side to fight the good fight, the two will have to pave their way through zombie-ridden London as Shaun must take on the first real challenge in his life--with comical results.

• - Written by mystic80" -IMDb

In both of the above films a zombie apocalypse has began due to some sort of virus, these two do however differ from other zombie films as they both also include comedy. This aspect of them widens there audience, and the presence of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in shaun of the dead makes this genre clear as they are well know for comedy films. By adding a small amount of comedy into our film it could make it stand out from others like 28 weeks later or I am legend. In both of these films there is some horror iconography, theres blood and guns however there is a lot more iconography for the zombie horror genre. This includes blood, guns, detached body parts, living dead, a killer virus and a 'safe haven' were all the characters are trying to get to.  

Similar films
The two similar films to ours I have chosen are zombieland and shaun of the dead. In both of these the 'zombie apocalypse' has started from a virus, in ours this is almost immediately made clear by the main characters sick housemate. Throughout these films there is also a lot of strong violence as is a common theme in most zombie films, ours will also be no exception. Zombieland and shaun of the dead also have elements of comedy, I believe this may be a good idea for our film as it will make it stand out however it may be relatively difficult.

Storylines and Characters.
Like many zombie films zombieland and Shaun of the Dead follow the common storyline of trying to get to a place to find safety this however is usually not the case. The same kind of thing happens in our film once a group is established they try and get to a faraway safe village.

In zombieland the main character 'columbus' is very similar to what our will be starting off relatively alone and picking up more and more members of a group along the way.

Mise-en-Scene
Settings- many of the locations are completely deserted and run down with the occasional zombie. The majority of cars or other objects outside are broken just like this scene in shaun of the dead. Many of the locations we use will be deserted.

Lighting- Many zombie films are usually relatively however these two are more light with them both being rather comical. Zombieland however does have some darker scenes.

Costumes- Costumes in both of these films are just everyday clothes the same goes for the majority of zombie films ours will be no different. The zombies clothes are generally just torn everyday cloths with mud and blood on.
Make up- The zombies face and arms are also covered in mud and blood along with a pale face as shown in this screen shot from zombieland.

Props- a lot of weapons (house old objects or guns), there are also just every day items the majority broken or damaged. (Screenshot from zombieland)

Iconography

This includes blood, guns, detached body parts, living dead, a killer virus and a 'safe haven' where all the characters are trying to get to.

zombie movie research.

Our final idea for the film was a zombie film. For this i am going to look into the genre of horror, the sub-genre of zombie movies and iconography.

Horror genre.
-The horror genre its self is designed to make the viewer scared. They do this by using peoples fears throughout the films to make them frightened. The things that are usually used throughout horror films are things such as spiders, clowns, abandoned places, woods/forest and things are mainly dark. They tend to use the same sort of characters in the films. These characters are normally vulnerable, maybe a group with one person that seems like he isn't scared but ends up getting killed off first. Children are normally used as people find the films more scary as children are very vulnerable and cannot really fend for themselves.

Zombie movies.
-The zombie genre of films is generally designed around the future where some sort of disease or virus is let loose. The disease spreads and more and more people become infected causing a zombie apocalypse. Zombie films are a good example of horror films as they play on peoples fears. People are generally scared of death and illnesses which is what zombie films are based around. Typical things that you would see in these films are things such as blood and guts, weapons to defeat the zombies, people in groups.

28 days later.
- This film is very good at portraying the fact that it is a zombie film. These things include the fact that everything is abandoned and no one is about. It also includes lots of blood and gore which fits in with the fact that zombies bite to infect others. This film is a very good example of a zombie film and can easily help us when creating our own. This film is about a zombie apocalypse that has happened due to a mysterious virus. A group of survivors eventually get together to try find out what is going on.




This is a still shot from the movie 28 days later. This shows the main character in an abandoned area which is what you would typically see in movies such as this. It shows the fact that everything gets wiped out completely and the survivors are lucky.



This shot shows a man being chased by a zombie. This is typical of a zombie film and suggests that the living are not alone. The expression of the man in the shot shows that he is scared and clearly unaware of what is happening. This is what usually happens at the start of a horror film as zombies are new to them and they would have never had to encounter them.

The costumes seen throughout these films are very typical of a zombie movie. The hospital outfit is used as the main character has been in hospital and has woken up and is unaware about what has happened. Other costumes used are just everyday clothes that would have been worn when the apocalypse started. This shows that people were just getting on with their lives and they had no idea what was going to happen.

Typical zombie movie iconography is seen throughout the film. These things include; blood, guts, detached body parts, a lone person, a large group and a safe haven that everyone is trying to get to.


Quarantine 2 -This film is very different to a typical horror zombie film but still fits in with generic conventions of a zombie film. The film is based on an illness that was created and put into rats. The man that creates the illness takes the rats on a plane journey and they manage to break loose and spread the virus. A group of people from the flight have to take a massive journey to try and get free. This is useful to our film as it gives us many different ideas.

This shot from quarantine 2 is when the first two people have become infected but people are still unaware of what is happening. You can clearly see the fear on the peoples faces and the fact they are on an airplane is much more worrying.






This scene is towards the end of the movie when the people in lab suites come in to 'rescue' the people. This takes a turn for the worse due to the amount of zombies.





The costumes seen throughout this film are just generally what people would wear through everyday life as it is meant to seen as if everything is normal until the people turn. The people in the lab suites at the end may also be something which is generally seen in zombie movies as people believe it will prevent them from getting infected.

Plenty of zombie movie iconography is seen throughout this film. These include; dark, blood, groups of people, the biters, being in a secluded place and the safe haven.

 

Final group storyline (full)

The film opens in a forest by the main character running through it away from something, he trips and gets knocked out, he is in and out of consciousness and a zombie appears in his eye line. He awakens from the dream, and begins to explore his house finding zombies outside, an emergency broadcast on tv and his very sick flat mate. He tells his friend that he's taking him to the hospital and they have to fight their way out of the house. However feeling unsafe the main character actually takes him to the forest and kills him, however he gets chased by zombies, trips and gets knocked out just like in his dream, this time however when the zombie appears he is saved by a woman on horseback and is nursed back to health by her and her group. Stories are passed round the group of a cure and safe haven in a faraway village and the group decide to go there. Along the way they encounter many problems with zombies and other groups, experiencing many violent fights leading to a lot of deaths and injuries, members of the group are lost however people are added. They eventually reach this village but is deserted and there is no cure, they however make the village their own safe haven.

First 2 minutes of film

The film begins with Adam running through the woods in daylight. He is frantic and scared. He begins pinpoint details and listening for sounds. He sees a figure and runs faster, tripping over a log and hitting his head in the process. Face down in the mud, Adam begins to hear a groaning sound with twigs snapping. The noises get increasingly louder, he is in and out of consciousness until finally a zombie appears within his line of sight. At this point Adam awakens from a dream, startled, still with the groaning noise in his head, this time more distant with the additional banging. He gets up out of his bed and goes downstairs, shouting for his housemate. But there is no reply. In the background there is an emergency TV broadcast and the banging noise is louder now. He opens the curtain to a bright light and several figures at the window. He finally makes sense of the unusual situation and looks at the TV broadcast. He then hears a coughing from the settee, its his flatmate. Adam asks if he is okay, he replies 'yes' but then coughs up a small amount of blood.  

Final film idea.

We have decided as a group that we are going to do a horror film with the sub-genre of a zombie film. In the film we will include iconography of a zombie film such as blood, guts, weapons which would be used to destroy the zombies. Typical zombie groaning noises will also be included. We have also looked into similar films within our genre. These films include, zombieland, 28 days later, world war z and quarantine 2. These films will be useful to us as they are very similar to what we are wanting to achieve.

We have looked into similar films to give us an idea about how zombie movies work.
This film has lots of iconography of typical zombie films which we would also need to include in our film. This film includes a hospital which is quite a typical place for a zombie film seen as though it is usually some sort of disease outbreak that causes the zombies.

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Story line ideas.

A girl moves house and now has to walk to school every day past the old oak tree, every day it draws her attention more and more, she begins to dream about the tree and its history. Picturing a girl about her age hanging from the tree by a rope around her neck. It gets worse and worse day by day she begins to visualise this girl when she walks past it, it begins to drive her mad. Stranger things happen day by day until she snaps, and attacks the tree trying to make it snap and fall! Nothing changes and then one day, she does not walk all the way to school, now she is the girl hanging from the old oak tree.


A man has been ill and bed bound for the last few days and hasn't left his room. He awakens one morning to find his house seemingly deserted, as well as his village. He begins to explore, along his way he finds others, they look unwell, so he stays well away. He eventually finds others like him but things have changed they have weapons, they explain to him that the world has been hit by an epidemic, the dead are now well undead. Stories are shared and there group gets bigger, news of a possible cure and safe haven reaches them and the group tries to reach it. This journey is not completed without loss many of the group are lost to the undead, the group do however eventually reach the save haven, however the cure is not yet found. One of the group becomes very sick towards the end and the film is left on a cliff hangar, basically is he a zombie or not? Leaving room for a sequel.

My story line ideas.

Horror
A group of friends take a walk through the woods on halloween night. To fit in with the theme they tell 'spooky' stories. Not scared by the stories one of the friends takes it into his own hands to go and try scare the others by hiding and making out he's gone missing.  After half an hour of looking for him the friends start panicking. After trying every way possible to find him they decide they need to leave the woods. Due to the panic of not being able to find their friend, they cannot find their way out. The friends start hearing crunching of twigs and leaves behind them. They notice a figure in the distance. One by one the friends start disappearing. One of the friends manages to escape the woods to contact the police and try to find her friends. Weeks went by without hearing anything back from the police. Eventually, three weeks after halloween night, she hears a knock on the door. She opens the door and the film dramatically ends.

Mystery/adventure
A man walks his dog though the woods everyday at the same time around 4.00pm. One day his dog discovers something poking out of the mud. Curious, the man decides to go take a look at it. They dig up a small wooden box and decide to take it home to take a closer look. Once the box is open, the man takes a look inside. He finds many notes to a woman named 'Julie'. The notes give out some sort of clues to find a specific something which is not known. The man decides to take it upon himself to take the adventure to find the unknown object with his dog. The journey takes him all across the world to different places to meet more people and see more things which tells him the final destination in which the unknown object is placed. The man ends up in Germany in what seems to be some sort of spare land which looks like houses could have possibly been there. The man digs a hole under a sign which his last clue brought him to which reveals another box. The box contains £5 million pounds.

Horror

Jake and Adam wake up feeling dazed and confused as to what has happened to them. They are tied up and are in a small dark room.
FLASHBACK to them getting kidnapped...
Hooded figure enters the room and orders the boys to follow him. Both of them attempt to do so whilst shaking in fear, but fall over due to the bindings around their legs. The hooded figure laughs and leaves the room for the time being.

Middle of film;
Jake and Adam try many ways to try and escape, whilst the hooded figure uses torture as a punishment each time they try.

End of film;
Jake and Adam escape

Horror

Jake and Adam take a walk in the park on their home from a stressful college day. Adam sees a distorted figure in the trees and immediately tells Jake. But when Jake looks in the direction of the trees, but the figure was no longer there. They both just decide to agree that Adam must be seeing things.

Both of the boys arrive at Jakes house to work on some college coursework. They are the only two in as everyone is out at work. A loud barking sound emerges from the garden of the house, so the boys walk upto the window of the bedroom to see what it is. They see Jakes dog barking towards the end of the garden, which turns their attention towards it. They see the distorted figure and it begins to walk towards the house...

Film ends and the titles appear.

Story line ideas

Crime / detective
The murder is a man who jogs through the woods
The look is from the vision of two non uniform police men and how they look at the evidence to the murder.                                                                                                                                    
Evidence - he took a different route than what he had done for the last 2 years, Small chat with the old man who has a stall at the beginning of the woods who he never usually talks to, a hole in the tree that looks mysteriously like its be done deliberately, handmade, a piece of cloth in the tree.
The best clips of the two officers - like on Starsky and Hutch.
An example is - New tricks.


Drama
This is a student who has just started A levels and has started to feel the pressure os assignments, homework, tests, one to one, money etc.
Shots of failed pieces of work, U's in tests and with the pressure of the parents pushing to do well.
This is how the student turned things around but was it all correctly / politically on board.
An example of one that is kind of close - Social network.