This is the fifth installment of my valuation for Last One Standing.

1. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS
YOUR AUDIENCE?

2.  In order to grab my audience’s attention and attract
them I had to include the basic conventions and
codes of my chosen genres.
 When I was researching my chosen genres I found
the following areas: setting; camerawork;
iconography and narrative structure.

3. SETTING
 Typically apocalyptic films are set in isolated areas,
deserted, derelict and overgrown. Places can
include villages, towns and cities as well as woods,
forests. However, the most common is suburban
areas to show the audience the fall of civilisation.

4. MY SETTING
 I chose to use an area of woodlands near to my
house which is quiet, deserted and could pass the
criteria for an apocalyptic set design.

5. CAMERAWORK
 Camerawork can differ depending on the film’s
budget. For example, some films use handheld
cameras to give a more amateur feeling to the film
(e.g. Cloverfield, Troll hunter). Other films take a
generic approach and shoot it formally. Close up
shots and slows zooms are typically found in horror
films as well as ‘slow editing’. It builds people up for
a jump when no editing has been used between
shots for more than a few moments. It builds up the
tension and prepares the audience for a ‘jump
scare’

6. MY CAMERAWORK
 I used a handheld camera to film my footage but
stabilized it in post production to give the
impression it was filmed formally. There is a range
of grainy, saturated shots as well as high angle and
POV shots. It allows us to see the world from May’s
eyes. It was filmed handheld in order to add an
amateur feeling to the piece, typically of a low
budget horror film.

7. ICONOGRAPHY
Specific props are used in this genre as use of
weaponry. This ranges from guns and ammunition
to every day objects such as knives and baseball
bats. This is to connote the mass amount of
violence used in this genre. Costumes vary from
everyday clothing to show the audience that the
people represented in the film haven’t given up yet
– they’re still clinging onto whatever ounce of
humanity they have left. On the other end of the
scale, thick heavy costumes to signify that these
people have adapted to their new world.

8. MY USE OF ICONOGRAPHY
 Dark colours are used all the way throughout my piece, used
to connote the dark, bleak, dangerous world May now lives in.
As for weaponry, May carries as golf club to show the
audience immediately the violence implied throughout the
sequence. May also wears a dark costume which she hides in
in the beginning. She has adapted but with obvious
consequences as her humanity has been sacrificed on the
basis that she’s covered in someone else’s blood. There’s
also a couple of props such as an old camping lantern to
signify the compromise of technology. May’s had to rely upon
the simple items since her world has fallen to pieces.

9. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
 In the opening sequence, news reports can be used
as a way to give the audience an overview of the
events. However, other films can use enigmas to
create a sense of alienation for the audience – they
don’t know what has happened or how it has gotten
to become the end of the world, essentially.

10. MY USE OF NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
 I’ve used a basis structure full of enigmas. There is
narrative as such. The only narrative present is the
audience’s interpretation as to what has happened.
We don’t know who this girl is, where she’s come
from, why she’s there or what she’s done. There
are a couple of other enigmas used throughout the
piece as well.

11. IN CONCLUSION...
 I have used a range of typical conventions of my
genre which I think will leave the audience satisfied
with my product, as it contains elements they’re
expecting to see – it looks like it is a part of the
apocalyptic genre; it belongs.