ZOMBIE CHASE SCENE

Improved ZOMBIE CHASE REVIEW BY MICHAEL C. BUNGAY

 

I was working with my assigned team for Horror Week, consisting of myself, Zhane, Scott, Sam and Robyn. We were assigned to put together a zombie chase scene to serve as preparation for Horror Week. We were given a list of roles, each of which one of us had to assume and then we had to compose a list of the required shots and storyboards. We went out to the gardens opposite Oaklands to meet the Performing Arts and Make-up students to collaborate with them. This meant having to wait for them to get their costumes and make-up sorted out before we could start filming. We were unable to start editing immediately as the filming took up the whole morning so we had to wait until our study period on Monday. Further delays completing the editing meant we did not manage to get our footage onto all our hard drives until Thursday.

Communications went relatively well except when we were trying decide who should take on which role. Zhane for one told me I should not be the director as I had already assumed that role for Horror Week and I should not do the acting either as I am not a Performing Arts student as well. To a certain degree, I could understand Zhane’s reasoning but that did rather hurt my feelings as I have done Performing Arts at College in the North-East. I have since managed to clear the air with my group and the rest of the class in general by talking to them during Tutorial.   

The photographing of the Performing Arts and Make-up students went very well even if it did get tedious after a while to the point that I got more absorbed in it than I should have done and nearly delayed the start of the filming process. The filming process went particularly well even if my group and I tended to get impatient with each other. The editing was eventually completed on Monday during study period.

Assigning each other with roles to play went particularly badly as the other members of my group were just generally indecisive and unwilling. They kept trying to place me in particular roles when I had already made up my mind that I was going to be responsible for the Boom mike since my group seemed determined to not let me do anything else. I generally felt my group did not really want to work with me even though we had no choice. This also rather delayed composing the shot-list and storyboards.  

I learned mainly how to set up and handle a boom mike properly and also that I need to be prepared for filming when the rest of my group is and to not get too distracted taking photographs of the Performing Arts and Make-up students.

Next time, I will try not to get too absorbed in photographing the Performing Arts and Make-up students so that I can be ready for filming when the rest of my group is. I will also try to be patient with my peers whatever happens.

We used a Canon XF100 Camcorder, a tripod and a Boom Mike provided by the Media Department for filming. We use the computers in F308 and our hard drives to do our editing. Our main problem was getting the Boom Mike connected up to the camera properly and as I had never used a Boom mike before, I did not always hold it in the correct position relative to our Main Actor during filming. I cannot say if there were any problems with editing as Zhane and Sam took up that responsibility. 

Sam and Zhane did most of the editing which they finished on Monday but we did not manage to export our footage until Thursday. There were errors within the editing, black gaps were left between clips.

I need to learn to be prepared at the same time as the rest of my group and to be more patient with them even if they are not being patient with me. We also need to learn to be more tolerant and accepting of each other as we are going to have to work together even if we don’t really want to. We cannot always choose whom we work with. We also need to learn to assume roles based on what we feel we are best suited to rather than tell each other what we can and cannot do. I also need to learn to take photos throughout the filming process and not just during a particular phase of the filming process, in this case, the make-up artists and the cast

We have since received feedback from the rest of the class and the consensus was we had a good use and choice of music but we should use copyright free in future. We had a good use of over-exposure in the beginning clip which was an extreme close up of the human punching the camera but feedback said that did not quite work. Feedback said we had a good use of different shot types but more variation would have improved it further. The credits needed to mention all who were involved and feedback said they were rolling too fast and should be faded off the screen. Continuity errors meant that the camera equipment was in shot. It was noted that the 180 degree rule was kept to upon closer inspection as it was originally assumed that. The framing was good and a good use of close-ups.

I personally felt the music was too loud and the fight sequence was not in focus enough. The point of view shot worked really well and the make-up was good as was the fight scene. The use of handheld shots increased the realism. The actors playing the zombies looked to be lacking enthusiasm at the beginning of the film as they were not reaching out towards the camera as much as they were supposed to.         

 

 

The make-up artists, the cast, Scott (Director), me (Boom Man)

Zhane (Script Supervisor and Co-Editor) and Robyn (Producer) with the make-up artists and cast