'The Road' Implications Analysis

In 'The Road', subtle implications are made which hint at the nature(s) of people. Mainly, the missing thumbs of some characters imply that they were once apart of some commune, and were perhaps outcasted. The missing thumbs also relate to the thing which differentiates Humans from other animals on Earth (Humans have thumbs whereas other animals don't); the cannibal characters shown do have thumbs, whereas the non-hostile characters do not -- this implies that the non-canibals have become the prey and are now the equivalent to pre-apocalypse Human-hunted animals.

Also relating to the 'animals' implication, neither "The Man" nor "The Boy" are given names in this movie, which relates back to primal Man when Humans hunted and were hunted.

Implications such as these can be very important in a 'Post-Apocalyptic' movie because they often focus heavily on the atmosphere and environment, as opposed to being told things during dialog between characters.

'The Road' Opening Scene Analysis

Similarly to 'Terminator 2: Judgtement Day', 'The Road' begins by showing the world just before the apocalypse up to when it starts. The scene then cuts to the "present" time with the main protagonist waking up, thus implying that the previously shown footage was his dream. Doing this in a 'Post-Apocalyptic' movie is effective as it shows the very sharp contrast between how the world used to be and what we have now, and the post-apocalyptic horror land. Scenes like this can also remind people of what we have, and that we should try to not complain as much, and be grateful that we aren't living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

I am considering doing this in my movie opening.

Roads in 'Post-Apocalyptic' Media

'Tether' Analysis

'Tether' was made by Corridor Digital for YouTube, and is set after a plague has wiped out most of Mankind. This setting gives quite a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Corridor Digital draws a lot of attention to the emptiness of the world, and the lack of healthy lifeform with their wide angle shots and location choices.

I like the cinematography in 'Tether' as it really shows off the surroundings. The use of lens flares really helps imply a time-of-day, and add to the atmosphere.

Like with a lot of 'Post-Apocalyptic' things, 'Tether' has a "silent" person wearing power amour, which separates him/her from the rest of the characters.

'The Freelands' and 'The Book of Eli' Analysis

Both the opening scene in 'The Freelands', and the opening of 'The Book of Eli' show the main protagonist performing acts of survival.

On the one hand, 'The Book of Eli' opening utilises the tension-building non-diegetic sound that I have mentioned previously, which I really like. However, on the other hand, I quite like the slow and eirey music used in the opening of 'The Freelands' as it sets the depressing mood for the rest of the movie. A lot of emotion can be held and conveyed in and through music, and so I am now considering the use of slow-paced music in my opening scene.

'Fallout 3 Short Film: Deprivation' Analysis

'Fallout 3 Short Film: Deprivation' is somewhat of a continuation of Pwnisher's 'Population 1', by Brettsk8 (YouTube name).

The opening of this short film gave me the idea of starting my opening scene in black and white but showing a family outside having fun together and then a "mushroom cloud" appearing in the backgroud. I would then have a shockwave effect come at the camera very quickly and use somewhat heavy camera-shake. The scene would then slowly change to colour as the dust/dirt disappeared, thus revealing the now destroyed world.

'Fallout 3 Short Film: Population 1' Analysis

'Fallout 3 Short Film: Population 1' is a short, fan-made 'Fallout 3' film, by Pwnisher (YouTube name).

One of the things that I am inspired by in this short film is the non-diegetic sound used from about '1:21' to '3:00'. This noise prevents the audience from feeling completely comfortable and relaxed, and it helps to build tension as though to subtly imply that something bad could happen at any moment.

'Fallout 3' Opening Cinematic Analysis

As my playing of this game in 2008 is the reason as to why I like the 'Post-Apocalyptic' genre so much, I felt it to be only natural for me to take inspiration from it.



I like the slow moving camera in this cinematic, and how it gradually shows more of the post-apocalyptic world. I also really like how the climax of the scene is that of revealing that there is very much still life in the world, and that war and hostilities are still happening -- the mise-en-scene of the power armour-wearing person holding what is assumed to be a weapon (it is a laser rifle) implies this.

I am now considering the use of slow camera panning like this in my scene.

'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' Opening Scene Analysis

Although 'Terminator 2' isn't necessarily a 'Post-Apocalyptic' movie, the opening scene shows a cataclysmic event and then the aftermath (all set in the future).

I remember the power of this opening with its music, et cetera, so I turned to it for inspiration. This opening scene utilizes very powerful, slow, low-pitched music to create a heavy and emotional atmosphere. As for the visuals, we see children playing on a swing set, a busy road, et cetera. These things effectively enforce the point of their being flourishing life on Earth, and then the fire begins. After the fire, the scene is taken into the future of the post-apocalyptic world -- this immediate sharp contrast between the flourishing life at the beginning and the barren wasteland filled with skulls has a strong impact on the audience.

Another thing that I really like about this film opening is that after the fire stops and the world is shown as the post-apocalyptic wasteland, the music completely stops, and the scene is very quiet. This also adds to the contrast, and consequentially, the overall impact of the scene.

Vue 11

Vue 11 is the program that I have been using for the least amount of time, however, I am confident with using it. I plan to use this program to create a post-apocalyptic-looking ground which I will then use After Effects to add to the scene in-place of the raw footage's ground.

I have chosen to use Vue 11 because it is very effective at creating really realistic-looking environments -- I have practised creating such environments, and am confident that I will be able to use this program to create what I want for my scene.

As for the rendering of such realistic-looking 3D entities, I have already conducted multiple tests with my computer, and have determined that it is capable of rendering frames consisting of tens-of-millions of frames in only a few minutes.

Here are some of my tests:

Adobe Photoshop CS5.5

I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS5.5 to edit the still images of buildings in a way that makes them look destroyed and post-apocalyptic, before using After Effects to add them into my scene.

I am very, very familiar with this program. I have been using Photoshop for several years, and I am very capable of utilising all of the tools to help achieve my desire look for an image.

Adobe After Effects CS5.5

Adobe After Effects CS5.5, one of the programs that I shall be using to create the VFX for my scene, is a program that I am very familiar with and have lots of experience with. I have used After Effects for many projects in the past. I am capable of motion tracking with both the default motion tracker, and with the Mocha motion tracker. I will be relying on this program for the creation of the atmospherics in my scene, such as adding destroyed buildings to the background, "colour correcting", et cetera.

Initial Inspiration

My initial inspiration to go with the 'Post-Apocalyptic' genre came from my general love for the genre. I first began to fall in love with the genre in about 2008, when I first played the video game, 'Fallout 3'. I was "blown away" by the atmospherics of the game. The concept of a a vast city such as Washington D.C. being reduced to ruin by a cataclysmic event like a nuclear fallout was very, very enticing and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed adventuring in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of D.C., and finding travellers trying to survive by any means necessary.

After playing 'Fallout 3', I started watching 'Post-Apocalyptic' movies such as 'The Road', 'The Book of Eli', et cetera. I found the genre to be very intriguing, and have always wanted to try creating such peculiar atmospheres myself. The feeling of emptiness and loneliness, yet knowing that life is still out there.

I also started getting into other kinds of 'Post-Apocalyptic'/'Apocalyptic' movies, like zombie movies. This is something else that I considered doing for my film opening as I love zombies movies/series, however, not the ones that just focus on the 'Horror' aspect. With zombie things, I much prefer the ones that focus on the apocalyptic atmosphere, and the survival aspect -- this usually involving large hordes of zombies being visible on-screen with the protagonists having to avoid detection whilst scavenging for food and supplies, as opposed to individual zombies jumping out of the shadows with a lot of close-ups being used. I decided not to use the 'zombie' idea though as it would require either very good make-up and costume(s), or extensive CG work to model and animate the zombies, which would be very time-consuming.

Editing Equipment

I feel confident enough to choose such a complex genre which may require heavy VFX as I have a very powerful PC capable of rendering millions upon millions of 3D polygons per frame at a decent speed. I have tested this several times.

The PC that I will be using to edit my film opening with is HP ENVY h8-1590ea.

This PC is a 64-bit machine with 16GB of RAM, a 3TB hard drive, Intel Core i7 3770 processor with an operating speed of 3.4 GHz, and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 graphics card.
















I will be using several editing programs to create the VFX for the scene, and edit it together, consisting of:

Adobe Premier Pro, 

Adobe After Effects,

Adobe Photoshop,

and Vue 11.

To compose the music, I will be using Fruity Loops Studio 11,

and Audacity.

Choosing Genre

Deciding on the genre for my film opening was somewhat of a difficult choice. On the one hand, I wanted to make a 'Post-Apocalyptic' movie opening with a really strong atmospheric value. However, on the other hand, I was conscious of the potential complexity of such a genre, and so I considered other genres which I thought might be simpler.

I considered creating a generic 'Action' movie opening, focussing on a team of highly skilled individuals breaking into a complex, then an apparent problem presenting itself. I also considered making a 'Sci-Fi' scene and, whilst this would also be somewhat complex, the level of complexity could potentially be significantly lower than that of the 'Post-Apocalyptic' genre. The 'Sci-Fi' scene would have involved a 3D animated space battle/setting. Finally, I considered going with somewhat of a 'Musical' genre, after being inspired by how terrible 'Les Miserables' is I thought about trying to making a decent 'Musical' scene. Had I chosen this genre, I most likely would have tried to create a "light-hearted" 'Rock Musical' focussing mainly on the guitars.

Ultimately though, I decided to go with the 'Post-Apocalyptic' genre as it is truly what I WANT to make the most, and will be the most passionate about, which is something that I consider to be important with film-making. I did, however, try to simplify my idea for the opening and to some extent, I did.

Welcome

Hello, my name is Richard, and welcome to my 'AS' Media Studies blog.

On this blog, I will document all that I research and am inspired by, and my creating decisions and ideas throughout the research and planning, production, and post-production stages.

I chose to study Media as I am intersted by it, and would like to pursue a career in film-making. As well as Media, I am also studying Enlgish (Language and Literature), and Photography. Both of these subjects link well with Media in terms of both analytical practice, and camera-use.

I am heavily influenced by Japanese culture, and watc and listen to a lot of Japanese television, movies, and music. My favourite music genre is 'Rock', and my favourite band is The GazettE, a Japanese band.

http://www.pscompany.co.jp/gazette/





As for my taste in movies, my favourite movies are all six 'Star Wars' movies, and my favourite director is George Lucas. Aside from 'Star Wars', my favourite movie is 'The Last Samurai'.





I do not really watch many Western television shows, but I do watch a lot of Japanese anime and game shows. An anime that I have watched recently is 'Btooom!', which is a similar concept to the Japanese movie 'Battle Royale', and 'The Hunger Games', wherein people are kidnapped and taken to an island where they are made to fight and kill each other to survive. 'Btooom' also focusses on the aspect of lonliness and desolation on the island, much like 'Post-Apocalyptic' things do.