Ashlea Hickin
Media Studies
TREATMENT
Setting:
When choosing our setting, we thought carefully about the conventional settings we discovered in our research and also the results of our audience research. From this we came to the conclusion that the main setting would be in woodlands. We made this decision based on the fact that our target audience said they would expect to see a realistic setting in the horror/ apocalyptic genre. We also felt that woodlands are familiar to lots of people so therefore would make them feel more vulnerable in the film. The fact that they are familiar would create a more eerie and unsettling atmosphere and would therefore get more of a reaction from the audience. We also thought that woodlands gives a sense of isolation and disorientation, making the audience feel more involved in the action as there is nothing else there.
For our montage, we will be using additional settings in order to further disorientate our audience. We will use a children's play park because it is a familiar and relatable setting to our audience. It will also make the film creepier because parks would usually be considered safe places however, our park will have in it a zombie child, making it seem deadly and abandoned. We will also use a classroom because it will be familiar to the teenage audience. Schools would usually be thought of as full of life and colour, however our classroom will be the complete opposite which will make our audience feel disturbed and uncomfortable. A shot of a narrow street will also be included because we want our audience to get the impression that everywhere is dead and empty. We choose to use a narrow street because this will make the audience feel more trapped in the film and therefore more uncomfortable. All of these settings will be highly effective as they will be more familiar to our audience and therefore creepier because it makes the characters and events in the opening more similar to their everyday lives. With the addition of low key lighting, it will show a different side to the settings that the audience would have considered safe before to suggest that you are never safe. Although we discussed our setting as a group, Ryan was in charge of finding and photographing the settings. Below are the photos Ryan took of the setting that we will use:
 Woodland Setting |  Woodland Setting |
|---|---|
 Park Setting for Montage |  Street for Montage |
 Classroom for Montage |  Caravan for Montage |
Costume & Actors:
Within the opening, there will be two main characters: two girls (the protagonists) who are best friends. The two girls will be played by Jess Perillo and Lucy Bearpark, who both study drama and are good friends in real life. We choose both of these people because we felt that their experience in drama and real life friendship would allow them to play more believable characters and therefore make our film opening more professional. They are also both around the age of 16, the same age as our target audience, which will allow the audience to relate to them and build more of a relationship with them. When deciding on our characters, we decided as a group that the protagonists would both be female as stereotypically, it is the females who need saving in the film. Therefore, we choose to follow the conventions so that it had a bigger impact on the audience. Their costumes will consist of casual, everyday clothing such as jeans and shirts because this will make their characters more relatable to the audience. Both of their costumes will consist of colours such as white and pink to connote purity, innocence and youth however Jess's costume will also contain black to suggest that something will happen to her later in the film. Their make-up will be very natural and basic to suggest youth, however at the end, Jess's character will have a latex wound on her neck to show that something has happened to her.
The zombie in the opening will be played by our group member Ryan. We choose Ryan because this meant that we wold not need to advertise for another actor. We choose to have a male antagonist as it follows the conventions we discovered in our analysis of film openings, consequently, having a greater effect on the audience. We thought that physically, Ryan would best suite this role because he is much taller than Jess and Lucy so therefore looks more threatening and intimidating. Also, the fact that Ryan is around the same age as our target audience and our other actors makes his character more relatable to the audience. The closeness in age could also be quite creepy for the audience because it suggests that it can happen to anyone. His costume will consist of casual clothing and will be all black. This will suggest that he is a dangerous character and the addition of rips and fake blood to his costume will suggest that he is deadly too. Ryan's make up will be latex wounds that cover his face. This will make him look more convincing as a zombie and will also make him look more threatening to the audience and actors.
For our park setting, we are going to have a zombie child in it to make the film more eerie. This character will be played by Ryan's sister Leah who is 10 years old. We choose to have a younger person play this role because children are usually presented as being innocent and as she will be a zombie, it goes against this stereotype therefore suggesting that the world in the film is very unsafe. Her costume will consist of casual clothing to make her more similar to the target audience. She will be wearing blue jeans and a pink t-shirt, both of which will be ripped and blood splattered to make her look more in character and more dangerous. We choose the colour pink because it is a very stereotypical girly colour which will allow our audience to understand who she is very quickly. Similarly to Ryan, she will also have latex wounds on her face to make her look more dangerous and convincing.
Bernadette was in charge of organising the actors and costumes. As a group, we decided who we thought we be most suited to the roles so following this, she contacted them through Facebook messenger. Below are screenshots of the messages that she sent:
Props:
Throughout our opening we will use a variety of props that will give subtle hints to the audience about the characters and later events in the film. During the first part of the opening, the girls will be using a mobile phone to film themselves. The use on an everyday object like this will make the characters seem normal and more relatable to the audience, therefore making them feel more at ease. It is also stereotypical for teenagers to use mobile phones regularly so this therefore makes their characters easier for the audience to relate to. It will also suggest wealth, implying that the two girls live similar lives to those in the audience.
During the montage, Leah will be holding a teddy bear. This is an item that you would associate with children so therefore makes her seem more youthful. The teddy bear will however be splattered with fake blood to suggest that she isn't quite so innocent and also to give it more or an eerie feel. The use of the teddy bear will allow the audience to quickly identify her character as she is only featuring in the montage for a few seconds, adding more mystery and uncertainty to the film.
During another setting in the montage we will use a blood covered knife to make the audience feel more on edge and uneasy. Knives have connotations of danger and death so this suggests later events in the film and makes the audience feel more vulnerable and unsafe. Also, the fact that it is an everyday item, much like the other props we will use, means that they are relatable and familiar to the audience. This makes the film creepier as it means they are able to relate more to the film.
I was in charge of props so it was my job to source and photograph the props. Below are photos of the props that we will use:
Photos of our actors are shown above and although they are not wearing costume, they will be wearing clothes very similar in order to make them stereotypical for their age.
In order to use our time more effectively, we split the treatment tasks between us. We felt that this would allow the tasks to be completed more thoroughly and efficiently.
