My evaluation for media

1. Jessica Castledine
POST APOCALYPTIC EVALUATION

2. MISE EN SCENE - LOCATION
For our Post Apocalyptic opening scene, we wanted to film somewhere where there was a lot of greenery,
including trees and fields, which would represent the idea of isolation. We decided to visit Brierley Park,
as we felt that this was a good setting for our opening scene. In order for our film to fit the genre of post
apocalyptic, we needed a place where there were no people, however, this was difficult as we found that
there were some people in the background of our footage.
We had taken inspiration from other films with the genre of post
apocalyptic, as we felt that this would help us to achieve a good
piece. I thought that our opening scene location was similar to the
opening of ‘The Book of Eli’, as this included a forest, and
represents the idea of isolation.
Our location

3. The props that we used included: a tin of tuna, bag, a photo and old vegetables. We wanted the props to
represent the isolation, abandonment, and also that the supplies were scarce. This shows that they had been out
there for a long time, and barely surviving with only a few supplies.
MISE EN SCENE - PROPS
For this, we thought that our props could
compare to those in ‘The Road’, as their supplies
were very scarce and had to find things from
nearby. We wanted our film to reflect the ideas
from this film, as we thought this would helps us
to include the aspects and elements of the post
apocalyptic genre.
These are a few screenshots from our opening scene.

4. COSTUME AND MAKEUP
For the costume and makeup, we wanted to represent that our character
had been living “rough” for a long time and that she hasn’t had the
opportunity to clean herself properly. We decided that dark coloured
makeup could help us to reflect the aspect of the post apocalyptic genre.
Unfortunately, after watching my opening scene back, I found that my
character still had her nail varnish on, and this could've been prevented if
I had realised this at the start.
Additionally, we wanted our character to be wearing torn, tatted
clothing as we felt that this was a convention of the genre. Our
character wore: a coat, a t-shirt with holes in, old shoes and a pair of
old jeans. We thought that the idea of using old clothing would show
that our character had survived a tragic event.
The young child from ‘The Road’ could be a comparable character
to ours. The young boy’s face was dirty, his clothes were torn and
unclean, and this is what we wanted to reflect in our opening scene.

5. For our opening scene, we used a variety of camera angles. We felt that this was something
important to include in our work, and also would show that we had learnt several different
techniques. From watching various post apocalyptic films and their opening scenes, I noticed that
they used a lot of camera shots. We decided to use many different angles, including zoom, close up,
mid shots and establishing shots. In our film, we used a close up of the most prized possession of
our character, an image of her family. We felt that this was important to include in our opening
scene, as it showed that she was missing her family, and also to get the point across that her family
had potentially contracted the deadly virus, and therefore passed away.
Another shot that we used was an establishing shot at the beginning of
our opening scene. This was to set the scene of our film, which lets the
audience know where the film will be set. This is similar to the opening scene of ‘The Book of Eli’,
as at the beginning, the film is set by an establishing shot of the forest.
CAMERA ANGLES/SHOTS

6. The narrative of ‘Desolation’ was something which my group all decided together. My group and I
decided on the idea of a deadly virus wiping out the population, with only a few, or perhaps only
one survivor. From looking at post apocalyptic films, a convention of the genre was isolation, and
we thought that this was something we could portray. We thought that we could represent the
isolation and the distraught feelings of our character by only using one. By using the voice overs in
our opening scene, it would also help the viewer to understand the narrative further.
I felt that this was potentially a good story line to use, as I thought it would be easily understood,
and would be easy to portray in the opening scene. I also thought that it would be good to leave the
opening scene with a cliffhanger, as this would want the viewer to continue watching the rest of the
film.
This is similar to the post apocalyptic film ‘I Am Legend’, as in this film, a virus has wiped out
most of the population and only a few have survived. This film carries on to show the virus
mutating into zombies, however, we didn't want to include this convention in our opening scene, as
we felt that we wanted to do something different.
NARRATIVE

7. The lighting in the opening scene was natural; we couldn't have any artificial lighting as we didn't
have a budget. The day we chose to film our opening scene was a good day for the lighting, as it
was almost misty, and helped us to show the world was almost destroyed.
I didn't want bright lighting, as I felt that this wouldn't relate to the post apocalyptic genre and
create an eerie atmosphere. I think if we had filmed it later on in the day, it potentially could have
gave the effect of the isolation better and also the destroyed world. It was difficult for us to get the
exact lighting and colours that we wanted in our piece due to the time of year and the time of day,
however I believe that this piece represents the conventions of the genre.
I feel that this is similar to any post apocalyptic film, as the lighting in general is often dark, and
doesn’t portray the feeling off happiness. For example, in the film ‘Children of Men’, the lighting is
dark and therefore creates a mysterious, isolated piece.
LIGHTING

8. In ‘Desolation’ only one character has been used, and I felt that this was best to represent the
isolation. We used a young character, as we aimed for a younger audience and felt that this showed
that she could fend for herself even at a young age. She goes against the stereotype of a typical
female; she is strong and can look after herself.
With only using one character, the audience could concentrate on the main character and think
about her life and how she has been surviving for the past years.
These ideas were taken from looking at several different post apocalyptic films, and taking
inspiration from them. For example, the short film ‘Alone’ includes one character, who is surviving
on his own. He is walking down a street when a light is switched on in a house; this is similar to
what we wanted to portray.
CHARACTERS

9. For my opening scene, I wanted the title to be quite bold so that it would stand out and be eye-
catching. I used the font ‘Nueva Std’ for my opening credits, and ‘GungsuhChe’ for my title. I felt
that these fonts were best, as they weren't comical, and I felt that they were suitable for the genre.
I thought that these fonts were simple, but also represented the destructive genre. From researching
several different post apocalyptic movies, I felt that a simple title and opening credit font was used,
and was necessary. The Road’s title font is similar to the one that I chose; it is simple, thin but is
also readable. I felt that this type of title doesn't take the attention away from what is going on in
the background, and also decided to keep them a simple colour for this reason.
Also, I decided to use a fade in and fade out sequence to both my opening credits and my title, as I
thought that this was eye catching and also something I had seen in other films.
TITLE - SEQUENCE AND DESIGN
OF TEXT

10. For my opening scene, I wanted the music to be mysterious, but towards the end, more tension
building. I thought that this fit the post apocalyptic genre, as when something is going to happen,
the tension builds and therefore the music changes. I found this piece of music through a
royalty/copy right free website, and thought that it fit nicely.
I decided to crop down the music until it fit my opening scene completely, and decided to keep the
music playing over my voiceovers but at a lower volume. My voiceovers were placed over the
videos in my opening scene, as I wanted the story to be told through the character. I thought that
voiceovers were a good thing to use, as from researching and watching other post apocalyptic
movies, I felt that this was the best thing to use to portray the characters feelings and inner
thoughts. The short film ‘Alone’ uses voiceovers to describe what the character is doing, and how
he is feeling throughout the clip. I had taken inspiration from this short film, as I thought it was
effective but also draws in the attention of the viewer.
With both the music and the voiceovers, I felt that this helped understand my opening scene more,
and therefore would relate to the genre further.
MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS

11. I believe that my opening scene relates to the genre of post apocalyptic by using several different
elements from the genre itself. From using mise en scene, narrative, to music, I think that my
opening scene shows that I have used the conventions of the post apocalyptic genre.
I wanted to create something which showed that I had taken inspiration but also that I had added
my own elements into it. From researching and watching other post apocalyptic movies, I felt that
the elements I had included showed that I had taken inspiration and took the conventions into
consideration.
My narrative, character and the use of the location helped me to enable my opening scene to link
with the genre. Films like ‘The Road’, ‘The Book of Eli’ and ‘I Am Legend’ were all crucial in
helping me with the conventions of the genre and that I could compare my work to theirs.
It was difficult to necessarily find a place which was almost ‘people-free’, as it was hard to not get
any other people passing by in our filming. However, our location was good for what we needed,
and we felt that it had everything we required to create the opening scene.
HOW THE OPENING SCENE COMPARES
TO THE CONVENTIONS OF THE GENRE