- A tight community of protagonists/ survivors of the apocalypse. - Such films as "The book of Eli" follow this convention, although the film does not follow the towns people, rather a lone survivor passing through. But it still gives a sense of civilisation, no matter how barren or damaged. Other movies such as "The Road" as this follows two male figures, and any signs of other survivors are depicted in cannibalistic smaller groups, or families of dead people, hanging from trees, this creates a larger sense of hopelessness in the audience and challenges these conventions. TV shows such as "Revolution" also follow this convention, showing it provides a solid basis for a successful post-apocalyptic project, This is something we, I feel wont be incorporating into our project because there are just two lone characters. This is a risk we debated as a group, but following our main influence "The Road" I feel this strategy will work out.
- Abandoned and Isolated locations. - This is a very common convention for this genre, creating a sense of loss of a civilised society, barren wastelands of derelict houses and cars does this theme justice, and again created a sense of hopelessness that the audience feels for the characters. This is seen in motion pictures such as "The Book of Eli" and "The Road" where often abandoned cities shape the harsh world, this gives me hope for our project.
- Survival. - All movies of this genre must stress the survival theme, as it allows us, the audience, to feel real fear and loss for the characters we are identifying with. This relates to the main characters of our project. Firstly Jack, willing to do anything to survival, he believes in the survival of the fittest, whilst his weaker and more dependent co-character (Adam) has to relay on other people, such as Jack to help him survive.
- Heroic male protagonist, mentally and physically. - This is again important as the audience needs a dominant character to give the narrative, and the story a chance, if the character was weak and vulnerable we would not expect them to survive the apocalypse, so making the film unrealistic. This again relates to Jack of whom is the more domineering of the two main characters, he is the one who demands attention whilst his counterpart Adam (played by William Kearse) gains more empathy and sympathy from the audience.
- Dangerous and deadly antagonists. - This can be shown in the general sense or through a single character. Usually in this genre it is a dangerous male, with a gang or group following him, that do his bidding. For example, "I am Legend" although the antagonist is not human, there is still a ranking of authority, with him at the top, and his minions below him. Again the Book of Eli is another good example of this, with a man in charge of a large gang of scavengers, making him appear more dangerous and deadly. In our project we will have a gang, most probably cannibalistic which rule over a certain area of land, planting fear deep in any of earth's survivors. This particular gang will be headed by the trailer's main antagonist, the gang leader. He provides an air of unpredictability and horror, he will strike fear into the audience giving them a reason to root for the two main characters and care for their safety much more.
- Death. - Death is another key theme in this genre that needs to be highlighted. To create other themes in the movie such as fear, hatred, loss, and depravity, death is the usual starting point. "The Road" is a excellent example of a movie that uses this to its advantage. Showing images of families that have hung themselves and people that have been brutal killed for the basics of supplies. It is rare to find a post - apocalyptic movie without a large influence from this theme. Jack especially finds the journey in this trailer associated with death, giving the character an edgier feel, but at the same time he will gain some sympathy from the audience for the hardships he has and will face.
- A dangerous and deadly environment. - This links to both the abandoned and isolated locations and the dangerous antagonist. A deadly environment in the movie means that throughout the film there is always a sense of tension, as the characters can never really escape the danger. As they live and journey in it. And this links to the next point of. The isolated nature of the setting symbolises the fact that for the characters there is no escape they are trapped in a world of pure evil and horror, they either choose to fight it or die. And this again relates to the setting of our project, of which will be mostly set in a rural mountain area. The significance of this would be to show that the survivors are alone with no chance of escaping. The misty fog which we hope to incorporate into it will resemble the blurred morals of both Adam and Jack.
- Constant fear. - This is something that can be seen in every post-apocalyptic movie, showing that something dark could be lurking beyond everyt urn. This makes the trailer seem much more exciting and action packed, giving the audience the idea that the film's pace will be very high helping to attract a bigger audience to the actual film. The atmosphere in the trailer/film will always be murky, symbolising the unknown and the unpredictable nature of the world the characters live in. This can be related to our trailer where the exact location of the setting is unknown as there are no rules, no guidelines and hardly any sense of humanity left to care about locations.
(In accordance with Will Kearse)
No comments:
Post a Comment