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watch Elaine- a short zombie movie

"Oh! The bagel sandwich is TERRIBLE! It's bitter, and... crunchy? Lady, you do not know how to make a bagel sandwich."
 
I did like it, but probably not in the way you intended.

I found it funny because it was so illogical. Who would think to do that to a zombie? WHY would you do that to a zombie?

It could have been taken to a more macabre extreme, where we really see that your protagonist is a bit nuts. Like, she has a room with all these zombies tied to chairs around a table where there's a tea set, and all the zombies have been dressed up, just like a little girl would dress up dolls. And she talks to them like she would at a pretend tea party. That way we feel some empathy for the zombie and cheer his escape. It would be a twist role reversal, you know, like normally in zombie movies we fear for the people; but here we're feeling for the undead.

I didn't get why she would sleep in the hall. Why would she make a bagel, cheese, and Advil sandwich? Did she previously know the zombie boy? And most importantly... I'm pretty sure you can't knock out a zombie by hitting it on the head (and why would she use a gun to physically assault things?).

The editing was ok, but I don't understand why you had to edit on Final Cut and iMovie. The acting was OK.

Most importantly, did it do it's job? Did you get into the college? It doesn't matter what I thought; but what the college thought.
 
hapychkn said:
I did like it, but probably not in the way you intended.

I found it funny because it was so illogical. Who would think to do that to a zombie? WHY would you do that to a zombie?

It could have been taken to a more macabre extreme, where we really see that your protagonist is a bit nuts. Like, she has a room with all these zombies tied to chairs around a table where there's a tea set, and all the zombies have been dressed up, just like a little girl would dress up dolls. And she talks to them like she would at a pretend tea party. That way we feel some empathy for the zombie and cheer his escape. It would be a twist role reversal, you know, like normally in zombie movies we fear for the people; but here we're feeling for the undead.

I didn't get why she would sleep in the hall. Why would she make a bagel, cheese, and Advil sandwich? Did she previously know the zombie boy? And most importantly... I'm pretty sure you can't knock out a zombie by hitting it on the head (and why would she use a gun to physically assault things?).

The editing was ok, but I don't understand why you had to edit on Final Cut and iMovie. The acting was OK.

Most importantly, did it do it's job? Did you get into the college? It doesn't matter what I thought; but what the college thought.
Click to expand...

Thanks for watching my movie, and I appreciate your criticism, but it seems to me that your major issue with the movie stems from the assumption that my zombies are like those you've seen in other movies. It's an original movie, and thus has its own canon. Because of this, my zombies are different than the norm. One difference is that my zombies aren't dead, just infected and in pain. That's why knocking them out works, that's why Elaine tries to drug him, and that's why she assumed they could be helped. There were other differences, mostly in the zombie's behavior. For one, my zombies attack out of fear. They're constantly terrified, and lash out. I think if you watch this without and preconceived notions about what a zombie is, you'll probably enjoy it more.

I have yet to show it to colleges, but I'll let you know when I do.

I only used iMovie to get the footage off of my camera and onto my computer.
 
Well, if that's the case then you need to establish that. When people watch something involving zombies, they assume that they are the living dead, the common definition of zombie.

If your zombies don't follow the popular perception of what a zombie is, it's motivations, etc. then you need to establish that in your narrative.
 
i Agree, breaking out of an already well established genre of film is going to be extremely hard, especially if you dont explain it in at least some way. you could use a common method of portraying a plot quickly, newspaper on the floor, radio report or something new, a twitter feed maybe!!!

i must admit, i watched it the first time and thought it was kinda stupid, but after reading your explaination i watched it again and it made sense!!

all in all its a good short, well shot, the sound is a bit off in places, zombie makeup was good and i'm assuming you had to kill everyone in your street, becuse a quite road in brooklyn is unheard of!! ;)

and hapychkn, i love the idea of you twisted zombie film i'll get on a script right away!! :)
 
Might seem like a small thing, but i think a tripod would have greatly benefited the shots of the city. But I did enjoy the film, better after reading the last few posts.
 
Jarensasaint said:
Might seem like a small thing, but i think a tripod would have greatly benefited the shots of the city. But I did enjoy the film, better after reading the last few posts.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it.

As for the handheld, I didn't use a tripod for two reasons- one, I thought that handheld might add a bit of life to an otherwise still scene, and two, my tripod had a flashlight duct-taped to it for the lighting.


In response to the other comments, I didn't think explaining the zombie rules outright would have benefitted the film because it would have made it a bit too exposition heavy- especially if I wanted to keep the film within the ten-ish minute time limit. In any case, after reading the above comments, I've removed the word 'zombie' from the title and description on youtube. People to whom I've shown and sent it personally didn't mind the fact that the zombie acted contrary to popular canon, but based on the comments I've received here I figure zombie purists might take offense to any outright declarations that my zombie is in fact a zombie. Hopefully, people who come across 'Elaine' from now on won't have any preconceptions about its content.
 
Do you have the braaaiinnnss?

The date has been locked in and the guidelines for Scream Screen – Newcastle, Australia based Zombie themed short film competition are up and ready.

Scream Screen is now in its 4th year of bringing the best in Undead short films to its gore fans. First prize for this years best short is $500 and its FREE to enter. Lug out your old under 7 minute films and send them our way!


$500 prize money and FREE to enter


www.undeadsociety.org
 
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