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.
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.
