1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
The film 'Zombiequality' is a comedic zombie film. It challenges the conventions of most zombie films by being of the comedy genre. Most films featuring zombies are typically horror (Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, Return of the Living Dead) or action (World War Z, The Walking Dead).
Also zombie films usually focus on a human protagonist while our film chose to have a zombie protagonist. The zombie was portrayed as the hero while there was a human that was a villain. This is subverts the audiences expectations who would be familiar with zombies being portrayed as terrifying and grotesque monsters. The zombies are usually presented as an obstacle to a group of humans trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. However in our film the events take place in modern society and shows how zombies struggle to integrate into everyday life. The zombie 'Steve' is given a personality and is likeable as we see what a day in his life is like. We see him socialise and make jokes with the cameraman which is unlike most zombie films where the zombies are given no development and are mostly extras.
Also zombie films usually focus on a human protagonist while our film chose to have a zombie protagonist. The zombie was portrayed as the hero while there was a human that was a villain. This is subverts the audiences expectations who would be familiar with zombies being portrayed as terrifying and grotesque monsters. The zombies are usually presented as an obstacle to a group of humans trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. However in our film the events take place in modern society and shows how zombies struggle to integrate into everyday life. The zombie 'Steve' is given a personality and is likeable as we see what a day in his life is like. We see him socialise and make jokes with the cameraman which is unlike most zombie films where the zombies are given no development and are mostly extras.
The documentary style of our product was atypical of zombie films but is a convention seen in other comedy media products like The Office and Spinal Tap, where characters act like they are in a documentary and are aware that they are being filmed and even interact with the cameraman.
Our film uses the convention of a zombie character for the protagonist. He can not speak english and communicates in groans and intelligible noises. He is subtitled for comedic effect which is often seen in comedy films where a character is difficult to understand or make out.
2.What have you learned from your audience feed back?
After screening the film to a wide demogrpahic both young and old we discovered that teenagers (15-16) and people from 20-35 enjoyed and appreciated the films dark humour and plot some members within the demographic were familiar with zombie films and said it was a nice twist on the typical 'zombie formula' they had previously seen. Both males and females enjoyed the everyday perspective of the film and felt engaged with the documentary style filming. Males tended to find the zombie body humour funny while females felt the personality of zombie Steve was humourous.
However while the film was successful within this demographic(16-35) younger audience members were not as engaged. Many of the jokes in the film were lost on the them and they said they would have preferred an action/thriller type movie. We feel as though due to their young age that the dark humour style of the film was not appreciated by them as dark comedies like this which feature social commentary are usually more popular with older audience members
However while the film was successful within this demographic(16-35) younger audience members were not as engaged. Many of the jokes in the film were lost on the them and they said they would have preferred an action/thriller type movie. We feel as though due to their young age that the dark humour style of the film was not appreciated by them as dark comedies like this which feature social commentary are usually more popular with older audience members
3.How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the planning stages we used used Youtube to research tutorials on how to use the green screen we planned on using. We used a nixon camera to shoot test footage with the green screen to test out editing different footage into the background. We used final cut pro to edit in different footage to the background.
We also looked a tutorials online for the zombie make up and Pinterest for different zombie designs and makeup ideas.
The sound recording was one of the biggest challenges we faced when shooting our film since our film was low budget we did not have access to professional sound recording equipment so instead we had to find cheaper alternatives. The camera mics were used for the dialogue in the house and outside. Iphones were used to record the narrative voice overs and radio audio. The voice overs were recorded after the intial filming and added in post production using final cut pro.
One failure for the film was the green screen which was not utilised as intended by the intial script. We planned to use the green screen for backgrounds during the 'talking heads' sequence and also to display footage of riots to show the tension between the human and zombie groups in the film.
We also looked a tutorials online for the zombie make up and Pinterest for different zombie designs and makeup ideas.
The sound recording was one of the biggest challenges we faced when shooting our film since our film was low budget we did not have access to professional sound recording equipment so instead we had to find cheaper alternatives. The camera mics were used for the dialogue in the house and outside. Iphones were used to record the narrative voice overs and radio audio. The voice overs were recorded after the intial filming and added in post production using final cut pro.
One failure for the film was the green screen which was not utilised as intended by the intial script. We planned to use the green screen for backgrounds during the 'talking heads' sequence and also to display footage of riots to show the tension between the human and zombie groups in the film.
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