Big, warm jackets. Hooded jumpers. Hats.
Scarfs? Any relevant warm clothing.
Bin bags, plastic bags, and scavenged boxes to carry supplies.
Trolley (inspired from The Road) to carry everything.
Tins of food, i.e. beans and fruit etc.
Air Rifle – Hunting Rifle and an airsoft M16. One for the reporter and the other for military characters.
Laptop – For Enclave boss.
Camera
Melon (instead of face)
Backpack in poor condition.
Hobo Stove – Made from tin cans or scrap metal.
Hobo Stove
The prospect of including a Hobo Stove, a primitive yet practical improvisation of a household cooking device, into our production was inspired by the concept of survival which is a major theme. Commonly, Hobo Stoves are used outdoors in survival situations by homeless people, and even backpackers, due to their simplicity and versatility, with the same effects as conventional household cooking apparatus. It is also quite widely recognised as a mean of survival in harsh times. Therefore, we thought it would be an ideal way to portray the inhospitable setting and quickly show the survival needs necessary, without going into much depth (which is impossible in trailers).This stove may be built from a discarded tin can of any size by removing the top of the can.
Punching several small holes near the upper edge, and a larger hole on the side of the can near the bottom for fuel and air. The bottom of the can is not removed, as the stove would then be less intense and the fire might spread from it. Fuel is placed in the can, along with dry leaves, sticks amd moss to burn, and ignited. Convection draws air in through the bottom orifice and heat comes out the top. A cooking vessel may be placed on the top. The bottom hole may face the wind for more heat or it may be partially covered with scrap metal if the fire is too hot.
As our production is going to be a post apocalyptic genre film, it would be conventional for characters to have some form of protection as they navigate through an inhospitable environment with potential threat around every corner. Here, pictured left, is a toy rifle replica with detachable stock and barrel (in order to act within the law). Guns connote action, danger and risk which will all be part of our production - it can also be used in the trailer as an enigma code; why is the gun being shot? at who? It is also noticably worn, connoting years of use in a harsh environment, and is typically found in farmhouses and lodges - making it conceivable that it has been scavenged following the cataclysm.
We have ascribed different weapons to different characters for specific reasons; here we have Curtis as The General brandishing a toy replica of a Raffica because it is far more sophisticated and expensive piece of weaponry than the hunting rifle, leading us to infer that he is more affluent (in addition to the smarter clothing). Obviously in the production the toys will appear real.
Then we also have a brief shot where Tom has a broad metal pipe as a makeshift weapon. This further applies to our genre as real weapons will be sparse and more of a commodity than anything. It also bares connotations of survival, as you would expect integral in a post-apocalyptic environment.
We also utilised gas masks, opting for the cheaper industrial masks that don't fully cover your face so that you still gage who the character is and reduce connotations of horror and mystery, as gas masks are fairly disconcerting to look at, which we didn't want to be attributed to our main characters.
Again, this decision was made in congruence with aforementioned props chosen to illustrate the world as inhospitable. Numerous props are needed for this purpose considering we cannot simply show a wasteland environment as we haven't the means nor the manpower to create these. We have to interlink the few locations we have chosen with the props in order to generate the desired meaning for what is going on i.e. we cannot as effectively portray the world as ravaged and desolate with just a location but must accentuate survival and risk with weaponry and provisions for safety in order to stress that it is a post apocalyptic setting.
When the group was searching through the abandoned factory location for areas to film in, we discovered a shattered box and an assortment of pictures flung across the room. Some of the pictures seemed to be family photos, most beset with water damage or worn by age. Considering they were just left there and neglected for years, we believed that taking one and using it in our production was justified as we planned to catch light to the picture with fire (in our garden/garage with plenty of water nearby) and film it slowly immerse with flames - and we couldn't do this with our own family pictures! It wasn't that we just wanted to pointlessly set things on fire like hoodlums since we had the idea since before filming. Not only is it quite an arresting shot, but it would provide significant character exposition within just a few seconds (ideal for trailers) but it creates strong, and equivocal, interpretations in the audience from it being symbolic of the main characters tragedy to it being a sign that his delusions of a reunion is diminishing, and so on.
We incorporated a map into the Curtis scene to create connotations of management, strategy and tactics, all qualities an audience would expect of a 'villain' leader of the same ilk as government executive 'baddies' in espionage thrillers such as in the Bourne Trilogy. There are also photos pinned up to the board behind him, which we used to suggest that he and his organisation are taking a deductive approach towards capturing the hero characters, further reinforcing the inference that he is meticulous and wilful.
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| The Governor from The Walking Dead |
However, contrasting from typical villains and calculated killers, we also, from the inception of the post apocalyptic idea, decided to implement subtle, and not so subtle, props to imply that the 'villain' is not as black and white as he may appear, and is in fact quite an idiosyncratic villain archetype. We added additional homely novelties and commodities from every day life nowadays to accentuate that Curtis's character is just a human being, a human being that enjoys a cup of tea in his favourite mug reading ''I <3 football'' every day, whilst laid back on his chair supported by a novelty cushion with a union jack printed on it (the irony being that he has had some part to play in Britain's remnants misery as his organisation are out for themselves and have little to no interest in aiding them, to the point that he will hunt down people that risk their discovery). They are existential, and hopefully poignant, reminders of world lost; a symbol of humanity enduring when there is so little left.
We didn't want to go overboard with props of this intention as it would risk making him risible as opposed to fearsome, and that is the complete opposite of what we wanted to go for. Instead, they are in juxtaposition to his real quite malicious actions and act as a glimmer of humanity, and sanity, which only makes his actions appear worse since the suggestion is that there is some hope for him - I got inspiration for this from The Governor character in The Walking Dead series and he is portrayed similarly
Locations
In Waterfoot, behind a fish and chip shop facing Cordey's, is a decrepit house with boarded up windows, fire damage and all its copper and wiring nearly completely scavenged; I noticed this was an ideal place to film since it can symbolise what survivors must do to survive in our dystopian setting. Adjacent to this location is a useful route onto the river that runs through town. Even better news is that this route leads to where the river stems and appears akin to a dried out river basin which I personally think gives a strong ''wasteland'' ambience, especially once we incorporate Chroma keys and grey filters in the editing process. Following the river down a few yards there is an old mill/factory that has been left abandoned and as a result is now beset with weeds and overgrown foliage; a perfect component for the 'Chernobyl' aura and the feeling of desertion, death and even hopelessness. In addition to this, the area is quiet and riddled with run down metalwork and material, both common in post-apocalyptic settings. The most ideal factor for using this location is its proximity to school meaning we could film either straight after school or during lessons when it is still visible, as opposed to having to trek to a location and run the risk of it going dark early as it tends to do in the autumn.
In the end we didn't prompt for the Bacup location as it was under construction the week after I found it, meaning we couldn't get permission to film there due to health hazards and possible interference with working employees.
Our next location was a burnt out and disused mill in Whitworth nearby Healey Dell and opposite a motor garage. The actual destitute mill is surrounded by a useful material 'dump' dotted with shattered walls and heaps of abandoned miscellaneous items littered about the perimeter. The windows of the building are mostly boarded up and an assortment of plant life riddles the exterior, some even bursts into the inside through fissures in the ceiling and walls. The rusted and dilapidated corrugated steel roofing is partially torn down, leaving a grotesquely shaped hole from which a deluge of murky light meets equally murky pools of rainwater and debris. The far corners of the mill are shrouded in gloom, and in the mid-ground what was once probably a loading bay for trucks and HGV's is now an unsettlingly dark abyss all of which evoke fear and venture. Ruptures in the walls reveal rusted piping that connects to filthy machinery, some of which have collapsed into metal corpses on the ground, whilst areas of erosion echo occasionally as rain drops trickle down the jagged sides and disturb murky puddles. The place is silent too, which is probably the most appealing aspect of the building; overall it fits perfectly with our ideal image of a place to shoot.
Also in Whitworth is a wooded area next to an industrial estate and football pitch that is shadowy, rank with shrubbery and relatively quiet. We opted to shoot some dialogue shots at this location due to rampant nature spreading into man-made areas (which would happen in a post-apocalyptic setting as nature’s growth would be unchecked. A better, Hollywood CGI rendered version of what we were going for would be Post-Apocalyptic Manhattan in I Am Legend).
In addition to this, we found a long abandoned facility near Spotland in Rochdale which is vast enough to cover an array of shots appearing to be in different locations. The main building in the epicentre of the area was once an asbestos manufacturing plant until recently when it created alternatives to asbestos up till it became defunct (the place has already been emptied of any volatile or potentially dangerous material so we're safe to be shooting in this location). Traversing through the centre of the area, and continuing on towards a dark wooded area (which we may also use), is a land subsidence containing a shallow river. There is a point where the river dries out below a bridge and looks desolate and evokes a sense of struggling to survive. The bridge can also act as a vantage point from which we can do some high angled shots. Inside the building, there are traces of humanity but they are scarce and diminished which is perfect to fit in with our post apocalyptic tale. Although deserted, the building has an uncanny feel to it like it still harbours ghosts of the past which we would like to encapsulate into our production, yet it is only a trailer and this would be a difficult task.
We also used our deputy head teacher’s office as an FOB for the enclave antagonist in our plot. The room is neat, orderly and easily facilitated all the props we included, such as the Union Jack pillow. We used it as an idiosyncrasy of the setting that connotes a homely, mild mannered atmosphere whilst also acting as a contrast to the enclave’s destructive attitude towards Britain (they have had some role to play in the apocalyptic incident). Another clear advantage of using this location is that we can access it during school hours, alleviating us of any travel plans, and with very limited downsides. The room fits well with the chosen temperament of our antagonist since we opted for him to be of a suave, mellow and surprisingly amiable for a villain. An antagonist of the same ilk as a typical 'Bond Baddie' requires a suitable setting and the reasonably sophisticated room for a country wrought with desolation is more than sufficient. With the right camera angles and working of the rooms dark spots and curtains, we can make the room feel like it is isolated from the chaos of the world i.e. underground in a bunker or a completely different location.
