With the project progressing on, i have been contemplating the exhibition at teh end of year, and early on came up with the idea to have a small hoard of 20-30 zombies wak through the exhibition space and draw attention to the Honors work. This is definitely needed as honors exhibition space is often over looked as it is often in a room away from the final year students.
After scouring online for interested zombies i have accumulated roughly 12 zombies! Being very early on my hoard of zombies will easily grow in size by the time they are needed to walk. It will be a great spectacle!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Sound Lows and Highs
Over the past couple of weeks there has been a bit of ups and down with sound design. Unfortunately Danial Pennefather (Good Freind and sound designer of E=mc 2) has left the Z-Day project due to personal reasons, i wish him luck and thank him for all help he has been.
However even with the loss of my sound designer is have secured Martins Voice actor, a very talented budding performer and freind Jacob Thomas, who is heavily involved in performing arts and embodies a lot of Martins characteristics.
Along with Jacob join the team, there has been some talk with a few other sound designers which is look extremely promising, will update soon with the outcome!
However even with the loss of my sound designer is have secured Martins Voice actor, a very talented budding performer and freind Jacob Thomas, who is heavily involved in performing arts and embodies a lot of Martins characteristics.
Along with Jacob join the team, there has been some talk with a few other sound designers which is look extremely promising, will update soon with the outcome!
The Z-Day Cast
The Z-day Cast has been designed, after a fiar bit of tweeking and back and forth the 2D version of the cast is finished and ready to be turned into 3D.
Below we have:
Martins character sheet
Tonys Character sheet
and the Cast Character sheet
Moodboards
These are some of the mood-boards that i have done for my Z day project:
The Concept Board, shows some of the original sketches and character designs:
The Z day Board, shows the general feeling that i hope my piece will give off, combing characters that are aesthetically similar to my own as well as rough settings.
The Zombie Board, shows the accumulated zombie reference pictures that i have acquired and have used to draw inspiration from
The Martin Board, shows the type of character that Martin will be (hopefully)
None of the above images (unless stated otherwise) are property of Pierre Isnard, they have been found of Google images and various websites and are used only as research and reference material.
The Concept Board, shows some of the original sketches and character designs:
The Z day Board, shows the general feeling that i hope my piece will give off, combing characters that are aesthetically similar to my own as well as rough settings.
The Zombie Board, shows the accumulated zombie reference pictures that i have acquired and have used to draw inspiration from
The Martin Board, shows the type of character that Martin will be (hopefully)
None of the above images (unless stated otherwise) are property of Pierre Isnard, they have been found of Google images and various websites and are used only as research and reference material.
Handdrawn effects tests
The following renders were done by myself, using a standard poly sphere, and the 11 Second CLub rig.
I am exploring the hand drawn aesthetic within Maya, and 3D animation.
I am exploring the hand drawn aesthetic within Maya, and 3D animation.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The death of Zombie Tony
So over the past few week i have been cutting back the original script and fine tuning the story. The other day i had the epiphany that Zombie Tony has already met his demise! there is no need to have this 5th character in my Zday project. With the removal of the entire middle scene has left a void and unfortunately Zombie Tony didnt make the cut! this will of course make a greater distinction between Reality and Imagination, whether its a good thing or a bad thing is yet to be seen.
bye Zombie Tony! i will miss ya
bye Zombie Tony! i will miss ya
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The goon - comic book series
So i was tipped off by a good freind of mine Liam English, about a comic book series called The Goon, it seems to be one of the few comic book series about zombies, but seriously this comic book series has EVERYTHING, Gangsters, Zombies, killing, extreme violence, werewolves, giant spiders that owe money. i mean if you can think it, its probably in the series. So far i have read Books (each book contains 3 -4 comics) 0 (rough stuff) and 1 (Nothin But Misery), along with this i have read "Chinatown" which is bot book 4 as well as a iphone app.
it is gripping stuff, they manage to make The GOON, so the main protagonist, have a lot of back story that keeps the reader enthralled. his right hand man Franky is pure comic releif, but for somone so small he is so damn violent.
The Goon and Franky are part of Labrazio's (mob boss) racket, the largest mob faction, and the main rival gang belongs to the Zombie priest who is growing stronger each day and every man killed in the clan wars. obviously the only man the zombie hoard are afraid of is The Goon... for good reason too, he absolutely kicks ass.
The goon comic series is a must for anyone with a interest in comic books and zombies, and mobs... damn it, its simply a must!
the zombies, do have memory and intelligence in this series, but suffer from immense stupdity, they are simple thugs, nothing too special, most likley jsut a way to distinguish the two rival factions. this is of course a effective way of doing things. though not exactly useful when it comes to my animation, there are some very detailed visual elements that can be dialed down and incorporated into my own zombie style.
The goon series has some great one liners that will be making a appropriated appearance in my animation. they are simply too good to not tribute!
read it! trust me!
it is gripping stuff, they manage to make The GOON, so the main protagonist, have a lot of back story that keeps the reader enthralled. his right hand man Franky is pure comic releif, but for somone so small he is so damn violent.
The Goon and Franky are part of Labrazio's (mob boss) racket, the largest mob faction, and the main rival gang belongs to the Zombie priest who is growing stronger each day and every man killed in the clan wars. obviously the only man the zombie hoard are afraid of is The Goon... for good reason too, he absolutely kicks ass.
The goon comic series is a must for anyone with a interest in comic books and zombies, and mobs... damn it, its simply a must!
the zombies, do have memory and intelligence in this series, but suffer from immense stupdity, they are simple thugs, nothing too special, most likley jsut a way to distinguish the two rival factions. this is of course a effective way of doing things. though not exactly useful when it comes to my animation, there are some very detailed visual elements that can be dialed down and incorporated into my own zombie style.
The goon series has some great one liners that will be making a appropriated appearance in my animation. they are simply too good to not tribute!
read it! trust me!
Friday, March 11, 2011
My zombies - what i want from them
well, after doing a bucnh of reviews of movies, looking at zombies and reading about them, maybe i need to lay out what im looking for in a zombie.
To me a zombie must be uniform, one zombie cannot be smarter than others, they have to be lifeless, dead in the eyes, they do not register that their is a human standing in front of them but instead register food. they are slow, they creep forward limping, stagaring, forever after their prey. they are unintelligent, they do not possess the ability to think or even talk beyond a moaning, or for comic effect "brrraaaaiiinnsss".
My zombies are to be feared on teh basis of infection, there is a simple method to figuring out the infection rate: you get bitten = 2 hours = dead = 1 hour= zombie! so 3 hours is your time limit, to kill one. once zombified they wil live for up to 10 years depending on factors such as climate and environment.
but overall, my zombies are to be generic, even though they are the walking dead i do not want them to be seen as really scary, they are a product of imagination, i am not implying that they are in anyway real, they have to be seen as objects of a story. they are all to be similar, similar height, weight, build. there will be minor differences but nothing too substantial, they will be seen on a individual basis as well a hoard, they will be seen as never ending, much like it would be if there was a zombie apocalypse, to begin with you would be looking at the zombies as individuals sympathising with them, trying no to think about what they had to live for before smashing their head off. no, as time goes by the zombies would turn into this generic mass, you would stop caring about them, stop thinking of them as people and just a singular entity, mush like a mosquito or a cane toad... just much larger.
To me a zombie must be uniform, one zombie cannot be smarter than others, they have to be lifeless, dead in the eyes, they do not register that their is a human standing in front of them but instead register food. they are slow, they creep forward limping, stagaring, forever after their prey. they are unintelligent, they do not possess the ability to think or even talk beyond a moaning, or for comic effect "brrraaaaiiinnsss".
My zombies are to be feared on teh basis of infection, there is a simple method to figuring out the infection rate: you get bitten = 2 hours = dead = 1 hour= zombie! so 3 hours is your time limit, to kill one. once zombified they wil live for up to 10 years depending on factors such as climate and environment.
but overall, my zombies are to be generic, even though they are the walking dead i do not want them to be seen as really scary, they are a product of imagination, i am not implying that they are in anyway real, they have to be seen as objects of a story. they are all to be similar, similar height, weight, build. there will be minor differences but nothing too substantial, they will be seen on a individual basis as well a hoard, they will be seen as never ending, much like it would be if there was a zombie apocalypse, to begin with you would be looking at the zombies as individuals sympathising with them, trying no to think about what they had to live for before smashing their head off. no, as time goes by the zombies would turn into this generic mass, you would stop caring about them, stop thinking of them as people and just a singular entity, mush like a mosquito or a cane toad... just much larger.
zombie movie night #2
Ok, so its been a little while since i posted.. i should have done this one ages ago, so 4 weeks late here is..
THE ZOMBIE MOVIE NIGHT #2 SYNOPSIS
MOVIE #1
Movie: BRAINDEAD (Blood Edition)
Braindead was a truly amazing movie, it is horrifying, disgusting, and extremely funny. Directed by peter jackson and set in New Zealand, we follow the exploits of a New Zealand man whose mother gets bitten by the rare Sumatran Rat Monkey and thus gets inected and turns into a zombie. He struggles to let his mother go and atempts to restrain her and keep her from the public when she turns into a zombie. but as all these movies go, the plan never really works. it seems that nearly half the town get bitten and throw a massive zombie party in his house leading to a massive massacre and copious amount blood ( 1 gallon of blood every 3 seconds on average throughout the movie). this movie simply has everything, ZOmbies, Blood, monkeys, great one liners, using a lawnmower to dismember 1000's of zombies, syringes up noses, zombie baby, a Kun Fu Priest, birth and rebirth... simply purely brilliant.
The Zombies
The Zombies in BrainDead, are rather unusual, they resemble rotting corpses, with excess ooze and pus. however the zombies seem to posses a lot of memory and intellegnce. they have the dexterity to party, have sex, and do lots of other things. this doenst hold true to the normal definition of a zombie. but in the aid of the comedic factor it kinda works. The zombies are able to form some sort of relationship, and copulate a child.. this brings me to the zombe baby, that thing is seriously evil! its fast, and strong, seems ot be ruddy intellegent and nearly impossible to kill. again its purely there for a good laugh.
Over all BrainDead is a great movie, though not a classic zombie movie, it features some excllent one liners and scenes that can be referenced in my Zday movie, it is such a classic film that it deserve a tirbute. the zombies however are not really suitable for my animation.
MOVIE #2
Movie: 28 Days Later
28 Days later was a rather good movie, very cinematic and tense. set in london in recent times, some animal activists let some chimps/ monkeys out of their cages that have been scientifically altered to be enraged, so in essence they have been infected with rage or something like that. After this intro we cut to the main protagonist who wakes up after brain surgery to find there is no one around, the entire hospital is deserted as well as london. there is crap everywhere with clippings that show us that the infection spread and people are running scared. the main guy meets up with a couple of survivors and a bunch of zombies when they are trying to find out the guys family. then they meet up with a father a daughter combo who have been living in a apartment. they set off across country to find a safe haven, that is bening broadcasted from. they set off and encounter more and more zombies. they find the safe zone the dad dies cause no one is there then they meet up army guys who pretty much only want sex then all this crap goes down where the protagonist survives being murdered then goes on a rampage and sabotages the army dudes barracks. and then they run off to find a new haven.
The Zombies
the zombies in 28 days later are not real zombies, they arnt actually dead, they are normal people just enraged and want to kill and eat other people. the zombies are not decomposing, though they are pale and have red around the eyes, kinda of liek they have been crying a lot. They move very fast and show very limited intelligence.
Overall 28 days later is a great film, not though that it is not a great Zombie film, this is because is hard to actually call them zombies. The whole film had depth, and character buildup, suspense, drama, not so much horror. it a film worth watching but not one worth referencing.
MOVIE #3
Movie: The Re-Animator
This movie looked rather terrible to begin with, but actually turned out to be quite good, we had our evil creepy looking young scientist who transfer from some russian or german country and become room mates with the american jock med student who is very passionate abotu saving people... of course the jock happens to be dating the deans daughter so has some action going at the side (love triangle kinda of thing). the deans daughter is teh dumb blonde stereotype and is obviously destined to die and is the object of everyone desires... however the creep fella turns out to be rather good, he develops some sort of serum that "re animates" dead bodies, and wants to test it out on cadavers at teh med school, it still falls in a ethical grey area so he need help form the jock guy (after demonstrating with his cat). The dean is horrified expels teh students, and some surgeon dude gets all involved and turns out he is the real bad guy, stealing break throughs and lusting after the deans daughter. he gets killed then brought back to life by the initial creepy guy, now a severed head a corpse combo the surgeon fella goes on a rampage bring back other corpses so he can kidnap the deans daughter and make lots a moolah from the experiment. end of the day, the jock and creepy guy combo save them all untill the deans daughter dies in the end only to be re-animated in the end (cue the Re-aniamtor 2)
The Zombie:
the Zombies in the Re-aniamtor, initially are not true zombies, they posess a fair amount of intelligence and memory, they are not infectious and have no initial desire to kill, the longer the corpse has been dead the angrier it is but aside from that nothing too drastic. However if a lobotomy is performed on the zombies they are they very zombie like, they have no intelligence and have very limited functionality. Though with this process apparently they can be controlled with super mind powers and be used to kill and restrain people while you work your dastardly plans. there is a mix of zombie ideas in this movie, it is hard to say wether they are good or not, they lack the scariness of the potential infection factors that normal zombies possess but seeing cadavers rise up seem to be all this movie needs to shock people.
Over all the Re-aniamtor is a good zombie flick, a bit different and initially has some scientific merit, its a bit awkward but still a good watch. it lacks some of the more classic elements that wold make it vital for me to incorporate into my zday animation.
THE ZOMBIE MOVIE NIGHT #2 SYNOPSIS
MOVIE #1
Movie: BRAINDEAD (Blood Edition)
Braindead was a truly amazing movie, it is horrifying, disgusting, and extremely funny. Directed by peter jackson and set in New Zealand, we follow the exploits of a New Zealand man whose mother gets bitten by the rare Sumatran Rat Monkey and thus gets inected and turns into a zombie. He struggles to let his mother go and atempts to restrain her and keep her from the public when she turns into a zombie. but as all these movies go, the plan never really works. it seems that nearly half the town get bitten and throw a massive zombie party in his house leading to a massive massacre and copious amount blood ( 1 gallon of blood every 3 seconds on average throughout the movie). this movie simply has everything, ZOmbies, Blood, monkeys, great one liners, using a lawnmower to dismember 1000's of zombies, syringes up noses, zombie baby, a Kun Fu Priest, birth and rebirth... simply purely brilliant.
The Zombies
The Zombies in BrainDead, are rather unusual, they resemble rotting corpses, with excess ooze and pus. however the zombies seem to posses a lot of memory and intellegnce. they have the dexterity to party, have sex, and do lots of other things. this doenst hold true to the normal definition of a zombie. but in the aid of the comedic factor it kinda works. The zombies are able to form some sort of relationship, and copulate a child.. this brings me to the zombe baby, that thing is seriously evil! its fast, and strong, seems ot be ruddy intellegent and nearly impossible to kill. again its purely there for a good laugh.
Over all BrainDead is a great movie, though not a classic zombie movie, it features some excllent one liners and scenes that can be referenced in my Zday movie, it is such a classic film that it deserve a tirbute. the zombies however are not really suitable for my animation.
MOVIE #2
Movie: 28 Days Later
28 Days later was a rather good movie, very cinematic and tense. set in london in recent times, some animal activists let some chimps/ monkeys out of their cages that have been scientifically altered to be enraged, so in essence they have been infected with rage or something like that. After this intro we cut to the main protagonist who wakes up after brain surgery to find there is no one around, the entire hospital is deserted as well as london. there is crap everywhere with clippings that show us that the infection spread and people are running scared. the main guy meets up with a couple of survivors and a bunch of zombies when they are trying to find out the guys family. then they meet up with a father a daughter combo who have been living in a apartment. they set off across country to find a safe haven, that is bening broadcasted from. they set off and encounter more and more zombies. they find the safe zone the dad dies cause no one is there then they meet up army guys who pretty much only want sex then all this crap goes down where the protagonist survives being murdered then goes on a rampage and sabotages the army dudes barracks. and then they run off to find a new haven.
The Zombies
the zombies in 28 days later are not real zombies, they arnt actually dead, they are normal people just enraged and want to kill and eat other people. the zombies are not decomposing, though they are pale and have red around the eyes, kinda of liek they have been crying a lot. They move very fast and show very limited intelligence.
Overall 28 days later is a great film, not though that it is not a great Zombie film, this is because is hard to actually call them zombies. The whole film had depth, and character buildup, suspense, drama, not so much horror. it a film worth watching but not one worth referencing.
MOVIE #3
Movie: The Re-Animator
This movie looked rather terrible to begin with, but actually turned out to be quite good, we had our evil creepy looking young scientist who transfer from some russian or german country and become room mates with the american jock med student who is very passionate abotu saving people... of course the jock happens to be dating the deans daughter so has some action going at the side (love triangle kinda of thing). the deans daughter is teh dumb blonde stereotype and is obviously destined to die and is the object of everyone desires... however the creep fella turns out to be rather good, he develops some sort of serum that "re animates" dead bodies, and wants to test it out on cadavers at teh med school, it still falls in a ethical grey area so he need help form the jock guy (after demonstrating with his cat). The dean is horrified expels teh students, and some surgeon dude gets all involved and turns out he is the real bad guy, stealing break throughs and lusting after the deans daughter. he gets killed then brought back to life by the initial creepy guy, now a severed head a corpse combo the surgeon fella goes on a rampage bring back other corpses so he can kidnap the deans daughter and make lots a moolah from the experiment. end of the day, the jock and creepy guy combo save them all untill the deans daughter dies in the end only to be re-animated in the end (cue the Re-aniamtor 2)
The Zombie:
the Zombies in the Re-aniamtor, initially are not true zombies, they posess a fair amount of intelligence and memory, they are not infectious and have no initial desire to kill, the longer the corpse has been dead the angrier it is but aside from that nothing too drastic. However if a lobotomy is performed on the zombies they are they very zombie like, they have no intelligence and have very limited functionality. Though with this process apparently they can be controlled with super mind powers and be used to kill and restrain people while you work your dastardly plans. there is a mix of zombie ideas in this movie, it is hard to say wether they are good or not, they lack the scariness of the potential infection factors that normal zombies possess but seeing cadavers rise up seem to be all this movie needs to shock people.
Over all the Re-aniamtor is a good zombie flick, a bit different and initially has some scientific merit, its a bit awkward but still a good watch. it lacks some of the more classic elements that wold make it vital for me to incorporate into my zday animation.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
ZOMBIE MOVIE NIGHT #1 SYNOPSIS:
Movie #1: Night of the Living Dead (1968 version)
THE FILM
- A classic zombie film, shot in black and white and very limited in it effect, Night of the Living Dead, was certainly not a Horror film by any of todays standards... this of course is due to the de-sensitized nature of todays culture. There is no doubt that back in the 1970's this would have been super scary. The acting started off pretty average but did get a bit better, we had 3 main women, and three main men. We had the scared out her mind chick, the Brains/ Leader (token black guy??? maybe not), the whinger, the sex appeal, the brawns, and the motherly one. Each played their role well, in classic tribute to their stereotypes... However! the Token Black Guy character did not live up to expectations, with popular beliefs in today society, that the token black guy gets killed off pretty early and spouts sensless gangsta slang, In Night of the living dead he did not do any of these things, being possibly the smartest most ruthless character on set, if people had listened to him they might have actually survived! This of course was a nice addition to the film, somthing that didnt really catch on in future films, due to the current stereotype.
THE ZOMBIES
- In Night of the Liviing dead, the zombies took a bit of time to get into character, wether or not it was on purpose, or bad direction, the zombies started off able to run fairly fast, show intelligence, and use their hands with astoninshing dexterity! however from the mid point and towards the end the zombies conformed to the generic zombie form, of shuffling and barely any intelligence! however the zombies could still weild weaponry with astonishing accuracy (guns ot included). Towards the end, the "little girl" zombie does not really coincide with the stereo type well, as she kills her mother with a spade but does not attempt to eat her...? this of course is extremely out of character and breaks the atmosphere a bit. To be honest it seems like the director needed to add in some more classic HORROR themes/ shots and opted for that.
Another in consistency was the rate at which the corpses re-animated, at the start of the film we are introduced to a dead body within the main house... it is partially eaten and is kind of freaky. everyone expected that is would re-animate and go on a killing spree. But apart from every character referencing it at some point, it never plays any role... whereas other corpses would re-animate anywhere between 5 -10 minutes of dieing...
There is also no mention of if you are bitten that you will turn into a zombie, this might be due to its age, and the fact that this zombie stereotype was not common back then.
Overall, it is a interesting take on the zombies, great for character acting with the calssic shuffles and poses.
Movie # 2: ZombieLand (2009)
THE FILM
- Zombieland was set in a post apocalyptic world where zombies ruled, and there seemed to be only a small handful of survivors left. The story is a self narattated tale of a young man (college age) who has developed a list of rules that helps him survive the masses of zombies. These rules range from the more common sense rules, to the strange but crucial, to the hilariously funny. As this movie is all about surviving the best they can in this zombie ridden world, compared to classic "OMG zombies" and people freaking out about them. The characters seem to play it fairly cool and even activly have fun taking the zombies out whenever they can. Zombieland is as much a talk about a boy coming to grips that he is not the loner he thought he was, and the fact that he has lost his family (he dint liek em anyways) as well as his desire for a girlfriend and love (usual geek meets hot chick scenario). the odds of course are stacked in his favor, as out of the 4 characters there are 2 guys and 2 gals, so well youc an see where this is going.
The characters in this film are: the Smart / paranoid one, The crazy battle hardened badass, the cool chick who has trust issue, and the young girl who is there for people to go awwww at. again each role is used to its full potential. The bad-ass character is a riot, as well as the main characters paranoia. There are a few apocalyptic references such as twinkies... which instead of surving as everyone said, they are extremely rare. Overall it is a different kind of zombie movie, that is obviously not a true Z flick but still a good alternate look at the scenario.
THE ZOMBIES
- In zombieland, the zombies are nearly 100% true to form, the bite a victim and they turn into a zombie, if they devour you, your pretty much dead. The zombies do not show any signs of intelligence, they will pursue a person as fast as they can for as long as they can: this leads us to something that is peculiar, the zombies shuffle about slowly when they do not see prey, but when they see living people they get enraged and run as fast as they can, as in they actually run. this is of course breaks the common stereotype of zombies. The zombies do not show any sort of enhancements, such as good hearing or seeing, they seem to be a bit easier to kill and more susceptible to automatic Uzi fire as well as the classic shot to the head. Over all the zombies are quite realsitic and go well with the pace of the film, with a nice contrast between, hungry zombie and normal zombie. Things that i will be taking away from this film, are the RULE aspect, it seems to be a item that can be parodied and used to enhance my honors project.
Movie #3: Shaun of the Dead
THE FILM
- Shaun of the Dead is simply a great film, funny, clever and well... easily a film everyone should see (as well as its sequel HotFuzz). The film starts with a few moving montages showing the current everyday activities that already turn us into zombies (TV, repetive sports practice, and listening to music) along with this is possibly the best opening scene ever (character introduction) introducing sean penn, as the main character. The film is in all essence a comedy, light hearted, taking inspiration from classic zombies movies, and references a bunch of zombies and draws on lots of stereotypes... This is a good thing, so far it has shown the best depiction of zombies, and does not disappoint with any erratic/ odd behavior. The acting is excellent and the take on Z day survival is great, witha combination os freaking out and level headed-ness (heroic action). overall it is a fun watch, there is so much to this movie to type up - so in short watch it.
THE ZOMBIES
- Due to the pardoy nature of the film, the zombies in shawn of the dead are a near perfect representation of what a zombie should be like, No doubt the directors have sampled all the zombie movies as well as manyother classic zombie texts (namely the Zombie Survival Guide). The zombies are emotionless, slow, mindless killing machines. aside from the odd memory of the past, the zombies seem to show hold to the past. The zombie virus / diseas is tranferred by the biting of the victem, though no real mention of rising from the grave exists, The original victem (non bitten) seem to have caught/ come down with a cold like symptom that causes them to mutate and zombify. some zombies do show odd movement of dexterity, but mainly in the use of a pun. ON the whole the zombies in shaun of the dead are a great watch, especially for those who are looking at studying the zombie way. They are uniform and easily sit at the standard that zombies should be portrayed against. I wil be sampling the sombies in this movie a lot during my honors project.
Movie #4: Zombie Strippers
THE FILM
To put it simply, do not watch this film, honestly it is a aweful movie... to quote somone close to me "the acting ... its like a porno, but without the sex". 100% true, to make it funnier, (after some wikipeida searching) the entire cast are pretty much pornstars. so seriously jsut dont watch it... the film is rated MA, so there is no actual sex in this film, though at leat 70% of the film is boob shots. So aside from the acting (which we know is terrible), the storyline does them not actual justice. The start is some kinda news sequence telling you how bush is still in power and they are trying to do a whole bunch of war crap. in short they need to re-animate the dead soliers to boost their numbers... SOmthing goes wrong in the test labs and zombies go wild... (resident evil anyone?) a speicalized team go in a erradicate a zombie... one of the team get bitten and escapes the facility and death into a strip club.. boobs shot galore... teh fact that the movie kinda forgets character to focus on strip scenes is appling.... but after teh prize stripper gets bitten she starts a chain reaction, of zombie strips and guys going wild, private lapdances that end up killing clients (zombifying them), some sleazy club owner and some jealous strippers turns into some kinda zombie strip battles along with the random appearance of the zombie hit squad who take on the zombie hoard and kick ass.. ther is some zombie stripper on zombie stripper fighting action... which is kinda funny... but honestly this film is just crap... probably why its gotten the largest write up, this is a warning for all.. dont watch it!
THE ZOMBIES
The zombies are slow and fast, smart and dumb, the zombies in this film honestly are just props. they serve no actual function but to bite the strippers and make them into smart zombies who want to dance and eat guys... and that in no way is meant to be suss. Honestly i do not think the director did much research into zombies except watch resident evil movies. For some reason chick zombies are smart and intelligent and guy zombies are some ravenous horde.. so kinda like real life if you want to look at it that way. there is nothing in this movie that i will be taking from this movie, the zombies are appalling.
THE FILM
- A classic zombie film, shot in black and white and very limited in it effect, Night of the Living Dead, was certainly not a Horror film by any of todays standards... this of course is due to the de-sensitized nature of todays culture. There is no doubt that back in the 1970's this would have been super scary. The acting started off pretty average but did get a bit better, we had 3 main women, and three main men. We had the scared out her mind chick, the Brains/ Leader (token black guy??? maybe not), the whinger, the sex appeal, the brawns, and the motherly one. Each played their role well, in classic tribute to their stereotypes... However! the Token Black Guy character did not live up to expectations, with popular beliefs in today society, that the token black guy gets killed off pretty early and spouts sensless gangsta slang, In Night of the living dead he did not do any of these things, being possibly the smartest most ruthless character on set, if people had listened to him they might have actually survived! This of course was a nice addition to the film, somthing that didnt really catch on in future films, due to the current stereotype.
THE ZOMBIES
- In Night of the Liviing dead, the zombies took a bit of time to get into character, wether or not it was on purpose, or bad direction, the zombies started off able to run fairly fast, show intelligence, and use their hands with astoninshing dexterity! however from the mid point and towards the end the zombies conformed to the generic zombie form, of shuffling and barely any intelligence! however the zombies could still weild weaponry with astonishing accuracy (guns ot included). Towards the end, the "little girl" zombie does not really coincide with the stereo type well, as she kills her mother with a spade but does not attempt to eat her...? this of course is extremely out of character and breaks the atmosphere a bit. To be honest it seems like the director needed to add in some more classic HORROR themes/ shots and opted for that.
Another in consistency was the rate at which the corpses re-animated, at the start of the film we are introduced to a dead body within the main house... it is partially eaten and is kind of freaky. everyone expected that is would re-animate and go on a killing spree. But apart from every character referencing it at some point, it never plays any role... whereas other corpses would re-animate anywhere between 5 -10 minutes of dieing...
There is also no mention of if you are bitten that you will turn into a zombie, this might be due to its age, and the fact that this zombie stereotype was not common back then.
Overall, it is a interesting take on the zombies, great for character acting with the calssic shuffles and poses.
Movie # 2: ZombieLand (2009)
THE FILM
- Zombieland was set in a post apocalyptic world where zombies ruled, and there seemed to be only a small handful of survivors left. The story is a self narattated tale of a young man (college age) who has developed a list of rules that helps him survive the masses of zombies. These rules range from the more common sense rules, to the strange but crucial, to the hilariously funny. As this movie is all about surviving the best they can in this zombie ridden world, compared to classic "OMG zombies" and people freaking out about them. The characters seem to play it fairly cool and even activly have fun taking the zombies out whenever they can. Zombieland is as much a talk about a boy coming to grips that he is not the loner he thought he was, and the fact that he has lost his family (he dint liek em anyways) as well as his desire for a girlfriend and love (usual geek meets hot chick scenario). the odds of course are stacked in his favor, as out of the 4 characters there are 2 guys and 2 gals, so well youc an see where this is going.
The characters in this film are: the Smart / paranoid one, The crazy battle hardened badass, the cool chick who has trust issue, and the young girl who is there for people to go awwww at. again each role is used to its full potential. The bad-ass character is a riot, as well as the main characters paranoia. There are a few apocalyptic references such as twinkies... which instead of surving as everyone said, they are extremely rare. Overall it is a different kind of zombie movie, that is obviously not a true Z flick but still a good alternate look at the scenario.
THE ZOMBIES
- In zombieland, the zombies are nearly 100% true to form, the bite a victim and they turn into a zombie, if they devour you, your pretty much dead. The zombies do not show any signs of intelligence, they will pursue a person as fast as they can for as long as they can: this leads us to something that is peculiar, the zombies shuffle about slowly when they do not see prey, but when they see living people they get enraged and run as fast as they can, as in they actually run. this is of course breaks the common stereotype of zombies. The zombies do not show any sort of enhancements, such as good hearing or seeing, they seem to be a bit easier to kill and more susceptible to automatic Uzi fire as well as the classic shot to the head. Over all the zombies are quite realsitic and go well with the pace of the film, with a nice contrast between, hungry zombie and normal zombie. Things that i will be taking away from this film, are the RULE aspect, it seems to be a item that can be parodied and used to enhance my honors project.
Movie #3: Shaun of the Dead
THE FILM
- Shaun of the Dead is simply a great film, funny, clever and well... easily a film everyone should see (as well as its sequel HotFuzz). The film starts with a few moving montages showing the current everyday activities that already turn us into zombies (TV, repetive sports practice, and listening to music) along with this is possibly the best opening scene ever (character introduction) introducing sean penn, as the main character. The film is in all essence a comedy, light hearted, taking inspiration from classic zombies movies, and references a bunch of zombies and draws on lots of stereotypes... This is a good thing, so far it has shown the best depiction of zombies, and does not disappoint with any erratic/ odd behavior. The acting is excellent and the take on Z day survival is great, witha combination os freaking out and level headed-ness (heroic action). overall it is a fun watch, there is so much to this movie to type up - so in short watch it.
THE ZOMBIES
- Due to the pardoy nature of the film, the zombies in shawn of the dead are a near perfect representation of what a zombie should be like, No doubt the directors have sampled all the zombie movies as well as manyother classic zombie texts (namely the Zombie Survival Guide). The zombies are emotionless, slow, mindless killing machines. aside from the odd memory of the past, the zombies seem to show hold to the past. The zombie virus / diseas is tranferred by the biting of the victem, though no real mention of rising from the grave exists, The original victem (non bitten) seem to have caught/ come down with a cold like symptom that causes them to mutate and zombify. some zombies do show odd movement of dexterity, but mainly in the use of a pun. ON the whole the zombies in shaun of the dead are a great watch, especially for those who are looking at studying the zombie way. They are uniform and easily sit at the standard that zombies should be portrayed against. I wil be sampling the sombies in this movie a lot during my honors project.
Movie #4: Zombie Strippers
THE FILM
To put it simply, do not watch this film, honestly it is a aweful movie... to quote somone close to me "the acting ... its like a porno, but without the sex". 100% true, to make it funnier, (after some wikipeida searching) the entire cast are pretty much pornstars. so seriously jsut dont watch it... the film is rated MA, so there is no actual sex in this film, though at leat 70% of the film is boob shots. So aside from the acting (which we know is terrible), the storyline does them not actual justice. The start is some kinda news sequence telling you how bush is still in power and they are trying to do a whole bunch of war crap. in short they need to re-animate the dead soliers to boost their numbers... SOmthing goes wrong in the test labs and zombies go wild... (resident evil anyone?) a speicalized team go in a erradicate a zombie... one of the team get bitten and escapes the facility and death into a strip club.. boobs shot galore... teh fact that the movie kinda forgets character to focus on strip scenes is appling.... but after teh prize stripper gets bitten she starts a chain reaction, of zombie strips and guys going wild, private lapdances that end up killing clients (zombifying them), some sleazy club owner and some jealous strippers turns into some kinda zombie strip battles along with the random appearance of the zombie hit squad who take on the zombie hoard and kick ass.. ther is some zombie stripper on zombie stripper fighting action... which is kinda funny... but honestly this film is just crap... probably why its gotten the largest write up, this is a warning for all.. dont watch it!
THE ZOMBIES
The zombies are slow and fast, smart and dumb, the zombies in this film honestly are just props. they serve no actual function but to bite the strippers and make them into smart zombies who want to dance and eat guys... and that in no way is meant to be suss. Honestly i do not think the director did much research into zombies except watch resident evil movies. For some reason chick zombies are smart and intelligent and guy zombies are some ravenous horde.. so kinda like real life if you want to look at it that way. there is nothing in this movie that i will be taking from this movie, the zombies are appalling.
Monday, January 24, 2011
The start of a new Year...
Welcome all to another year of work... Technically, i have already started and have been doing some research, but before i got far ahead of myself i thought id better start up a new blog to accumulate all the research about the my Honors stuff.
Watch this space, it will be slowly filling up over the next 12 months or so...
Pie
Watch this space, it will be slowly filling up over the next 12 months or so...
Pie
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