Further Location development...

For our opening sequence we need several different places:

1) An office for Dr C Greenwood to be asleep in, which must have a desk, phone, a large office like chair and a door which we can put a sign on which will introduce the character of "Dr C Greenwood - Pathologist"

2) We need three or four locations which the druggie could run down and give the sense of a chase sequence- preferably quite eerie and dark.

3) Then we need the big climatic scene where a load of zombies appear. This in nearly all horror films is a graveyard, and thus we must search for a viable churchyard.

Running Locations

This could work but it looks a  little too residential and one of the crucial elements of our film is to create a horror like atmosphere where there is a sense of isolotion and at the same time a presence of humanity for later in the film where people are trying to be saved. This is not only too residential to suit the mood but trying to film the running scene in an area where cars are going to be present it is difficult to say the least because there are indeed constant interuptions that could also be potenially dangerous.

This again is a little residential and the road is again a problem, this road is even busier than the previous, it will therefore be disruptive, noisy and potenially dangerous.

A skatepark would be good especially in the sense that it is instantly recognisable as something that shows off humanity and yet the fact that it is empty makes it look desolute and this works very well to make it scary and horrifying- especially if filmed later in in the evening (darker). Unfortunatly the only time that the skatepark is empty is during school time and even then it can have the odd occupant we therefore would be lucky to manage to film all we need without being interupted.

This is a straight track that would work well to convey the length of the druggie character running. It is a place that has a large ammount of traffic when it comes to people and this would a problem because of interuptions. But this was the kind of location we wanted.

This is isolated area, with the gate creating the appeal of a horror film, unfortunatly the ground is grass and this could be a problem if it rained. As there is much running occuring in the film- running on wet grass is quite dangerous, and we did not want to chance the weather being dry on the day of filming!

This is again a street that is too residential and has too much traffic, this would cause too much interuption.

This is a remote/ isolated back road which would serve well if it weren't for the fact that we would be using a semi private road, that may require permission to film. This area has many young children living around. When filming a production involving zombies, we wanted to be careful that no children saw- as we did not want to frighten them!

This is a ramp that leads up to a block of flats and it has the same problems as the previous place.

This is a back alleyway but unfortunatley it is a busy root into town and although the lighting and setting is good it would be hard to use because of interuption.

This is the flats carpark area and this works well except for the fact that again it is also semi private and a grey area we therefore agreed against this location even though it has an eery feel to it.

This is a stairway that would look great in a shot of the druggie running round and down the steps, if it wasn't for the fact that this stairway is used so often it would be perfect.

This is an alleyway which is, we've decided, perfect for a running shot. It is extremely creepy in a  very isolated area of Old Windsor. It is isolated and it is overgrown in places. There is still though some signs which become signs of human life.

This is an underpass that we have also chosen to use. As you can see from the pavement on the road above we will be able to capture an over-the-head and high angle shot of the druggie running up the hill. Again, it is a rather busy area- but we said it may work to film as the road was closed the day we set to film.

This shows the possibility for an over-the-head shot.

This shows the underpass from ground level, this shows also the possibility that we could put a zombie above the underpass and the druggie could look back and using an over-the-shoulder shot we could see her view of it.

This shows the creepiness of under the underpass, plus the over side of the underpass. It is very dark- this being perfect for our film!




3. CHURCHYARD

We quickly came up with the St Peter and St Andrew Church in Old Windsor for our chosen church ground. We have decided to go for this church because it is remote and hardly any people living round the area. The church as one of several in Old Windsor is not often used. Also we had connection through Jodie's mother and this means we have got permission to use the graveyard and the church grounds. One of the major problems of using a churchyard is that you have to have a level of respect for your surroundings. We obviously would take great care when on the grounds. Making sure we respectful, quiet and well behaved would also mean that there is a high chance of the people who are in charge of the church, letting us use it again. While filming, we would make sure that anyone who happened to walk past- who did not already know we were filming- understood what was happening. We would make some signs and posters to put up around the church- so that people would understand and leave us to film.

The best part about this church is that is one of the most picturesque in Old Windsor and vary rarely used.

This is a view from the gate we wish to use and the church. It gives you a view of the main running part of the churchyard scene and I love the way that is a slight curve to it and so it will create a more interesting concept of the simple running length and this will be brilliant for a long shot of the figure running. From this image we instantly get the sense of a few health and safety problems. The stones that make up the pathway is going to be difficult and possibly dangerous for running on, we will therefore have to look at footwear and the speed that the drugged girl has to run down. Other health and safety issues that arise could be the chance of any branches falling from the trees.

This is the view of the second running section of the church graveyard where it is possible that the druggy will have to run further still. It gives an option to add in an extra running shot. The lighting is very dark here with the church and the tree create a great amount of shadow which is brilliant in a sense that it makes the shots atmospheric and yet problamatic because you might not be able to see the action. Again same problem with stones when running.

This shows a shot of the spire of the church and as you can see it is very creepy looking and with the right kind of lighting extremely creepy. This is something that gives a great shadowing affect to the whole place.

This shows a shot of the graves and type of trees that are posistioned as part of the main graveyard section. The gravestones are perfect with most of them being older than at least a hundred years, which gives it that gothic look that makes an appearance in nearly all horror films. The trees are dotted here and there and they give great shadows to the graveyard, unfortunatly this means that the lighting could be compensated. I like the idea of using shots through the gravestones to give the affect of there's things behind the gravestone looking out at the subject.

This is one of the gravestones that we were thinking one of the zombies could come round. Its big enough that someone could easily hide behind it.

Other examples include:

This is the door that we wish to be the place the druggie is to be found dead. We want the druggie to run up to the church seemingly searching for a place of salvation she therefore tries all the doors and finds that they are all locked. This door will be a main focus for the scene when all the zombies come in. We also wish to end the film at this location in this particular area.

This image shows you the majority of the church, its full form. This is the way the druggie is going to run into the scene. (Behind the camera was the gate she runs through)