Plot Ideas

 Plot Ideas

• 1        The zombie apocalypse has begun, but the hung over protagonist has no clue on what is going.  He then goes throughout his day unknowingly avoid zombies and staying oblivious to his surroundings.   

I feel that this would be a great film to make. It would appeal to a large group of people as it incorporates 2 major genres (horror and comedy). This is good as it gives me a mass audience, which can lead to a greater profit if this film was released. Another great aspect about this plot is that it is very relatable when regarding the hangover element. Much of my target audience have had horrible hangovers, which leave them in a zombie like state and not have a clue on what is going on around them. This makes the plot more feasible and therefore more enjoyable for the audience as they can see themselves not being aware that the apocalypse has happened. Another great aspect about this plot idea is that there is no specific location that needs to be included. For example, in the film ‘Cast Away’ the story plot is that a man is in a plane crash and ends up alone on a tropical and remote island. This means that when creating the film they needed to film on a tropical island in order for it to appear realistic. That is why this plot idea is so good because there is no specific location that needs to appear in a zombie film. This means I can use the locations near me. These include towns and woodlands, which are free to use. 

Despite all the strengths that this plot idea contains, I do feel that there are some drawbacks to this plot. One of these drawbacks is the cost and skills required to create realistic zombies. In order for this plot to work effectively on screen the audience must believe the world that is being shown to them is somewhat real. It’s this realistic element that makes horror films so effective. So in order to make this plot realistic the zombies have to look real. This means that for each zombie that I want to include I must get a mask/make up, clothes that can be trashed (to look bloody) and any other accessories I wish to include. The lowest cost I have found for all the equipment to make 1 realistic zombie comes to £25. I will also need to hire a professional makeup artist since neither I nor anyone I know knows how to apply the makeup effectively. The cheapest makeup I found costs £55 a day and I shall need this person for multiple days. These costs are far out from my base budget of £50 (give or take £10). Another drawback of this plot idea is the health and safety of the actors and crew on set. This plot would definitely have to include a scene of the zombies being killed. This is because this is a very popular element with audiences. So when trying to create these killings I would have to be very aware of the actors and crews safety. This is just in case while we are trying to ‘kill’ the zombies I don’t cause any harm to the actors playing the zombies or the crew that are assisting in making the killings look realistic.

• 2        A man’s car breaks down in the woods. The film then shows him trying to survive. It will include elements of him trying to survive the night, shaky camera movements, talking directly to a camera phone, him attempting to get food, making a fire and much more.

This would be a great plot idea to base my film upon. The first appealing aspect about this plot idea is how easy it would be to find a location. Given that I live near a wooded area with tall trees it will be easy to just walk to the location and carry the essentials, which would include a camera, batteries, tripod, memory cards and any other pieces like food. Another appealing aspect is that I don’t need any permission to film there. Many locations need permission to film at them. This is problematic because if I don’t get all the shots on the day(s) I can get then it can be very difficult and time consuming to get permission again. However, this problem wouldn’t occur when using this plot idea. Another aspect that I like is that it is set in the modern day. Creating film sets in particular periods of time can be difficult to create due to the fact that many areas of the film need to match such as costumes, setting, props, etc. This can be very expensive to accomplish. So by having the plot set in the modern day it won’t be as expensive because a lot of what we will need won’t need to be specially made. Another great thing about this plot idea that sets it apart from my other plot ideas is that it only needs to have 1 character to work. This is good as it means I only need to direct 1 person on set, which is a lot less stressful. Another great thing about having only one character on set that if I need to reshoot a scene then it can be easily achieved because I’ll only need that one actor to be free. If I had a large cast then this would be harder to do.

A major problem of this plot idea is the location. Despite all of its advantages it does have a serious health and safety risk. If either the actor or I is seriously injured then it would be extremely difficult to get medical attention. This is because the medical staff would need to get through thick woodland terrain with all their equipment and then carry either the actor or myself back to the ambulance, which would be incredibly hard to do without causing harm to the injured person as the terrain is very uneven. Another problem with this plot idea is the lighting will be very difficult to control. Unlike indoor locations where you can bring in lighting rigs and make the lighting to what you want, outdoor locations are known to be very troublesome when trying to get consistent lighting. This will be especially difficult in the woods because the swaying of the trees will constantly change the light. This is bad because when it comes to the editing stage of my production it will be very difficult to get good continuity. Another problem with the fact that the location will be outside is that the weather will be very unpredictable. This makes it difficult to film because if it changes from what I want (from cloudy to raining) I’ll have to wait for it to stop in order to get good continuity.  

• 3        An elderly couple going through their day, but they don’t conform to the stereotypes about elderly people. As soon as their family members leave they play video games like ‘Call of Duty’, they eat junk food, go clubbing and do extravagant activities like skydiving.

I feel that this would be a great film to make. Many people will have or would have had grandparents. This is good because my main characters will be grandparents, thus making it more relatable. By establishing a relationship between the characters and the audience it will make the comedy (outlandish activities that the characters get up to) so much funnier because the audience can imagine their own grandparents in those scenarios. Another great aspect about this plot is that I already know an elderly couple that would more than happy to star in this movie. This is great because I feel the greatest struggle with this plot idea would be to find the actors. The actors have also agreed that I can use their house to film the scene where the family are leaving their house. This is great because it saves a lot of money that I would have to spend to either recreate or rent out a location that would fit the scene.

However, this plot idea does have some bad elements to it that would make it difficult to create. For example, shooting some of the more extravagant scenes like sky diving and clubbing will be costly and difficult to shoot. I would have to take in to consideration the noise pollution from the music (clubbing) and the wind (skydiving) and work extra hard in the post production stage to create audio that would be believable and understandable for the audience to listen to. Another problem with shooting these scenes is that I will have to be highly aware of my actor’s health and safety. Doing these activities could cause damage, whether that is to their eardrums or even their mental health. Another problem with this plot idea is that there are multiple actors. This is problematic because I will need to schedule days that we are all free to film and any further days to do any re-shoots. This problem wouldn’t occur with one of my other plot ideas (plot 2) as I would be the only actor, which requires less scheduling and allows me to film more frequently. Another problem in filming in a location such as a club is that it requires filming permission from the owner. This can be difficult to obtain, as I would also need the consent of anyone else attending the club that night (if they are in shot).

• 4        An existing student shows a new student around the high school. While the school’s social hierarchy is explained. The entire short film is done in one long single take. Not just an academic or technical exercise, this is a fun story for low budget film making.

There are many good qualities to filming this plot idea. The main being that I still attend school. So shooting getting permission wouldn’t be difficult. The second appealing factor is that despite it is set in a school setting many age groups can relate to the scenarios that would occur on screen, as most adults will have attended a high school and will remember the hierarchy from their days at school. Another great aspect is that finding actors that are age appropriate and would be willing to play the various parts of the school hierarchy won’t be hard to find. This is because my school’s drama department has an abundance of students varying in age that would be more than willing to be apart of my film, as they will see it as an opportunity to practice their skills and have physical evidence of their performances (the film). Another intriguing quality to this plot is that it will all be shot in one shot. The purpose of doing so is to show the audience what the main character (new student) is experiencing, which is an overwhelming rush of information as soon as he/she enters the school. This one take element also provides a technical challenge that I would like to achieve, as when pulled off it can look very impressive.

Despite the fact that shooting a film in one continuous shot would be make my film appear very impressive, using this technique does have its difficulties as well.  The largest difficulty that I would face is to keep the continuous shot in motion. By this I refer to the fact that if anything goes wrong during the take i.e. if the camera slips, the actors fumble a line, the lighting suddenly changes (altering the image) or even if a member of the school interrupts our shot then we will have to redo the entire shot again. So unlike films with large amounts of footage to pick from and to splice together, my film will depend on whether or not everyone will function together for a full 5 minutes (the length of my film).