REJECTED Filming Location - Abandoned Asylum

I recorded footage from Whittingham Asylum in hope of using it as a shooting location but unfortunately it turned out too dangerous. I edited what footage I collected and uploaded a small video, see it bellow:

Filming Location - Helsby Hill

Here is a screenshot of the location, Helsby Hill, as seen from Google Maps. On a visit to Wales, I used my older brother to film a certain scene in the trailer. I was aware of the Cold War nuclear Bunker which has been abandoned for a long time up there, we managed to get inside easily and I used the footage as the opening material in my teaser. No effects were required to this shot either, the bunker room was decaying and run-down, the light coming in from above, a pale over-cast white glow, so the footage had no intense colour saturation. I made sure he was wearing a dark coat and trousers also, to fit in with the mise-en-scene (costumes) the character plays in other scenes. I my-self and two of my brothers make up this character in different scenes.

Here are the final shots filmed at Helsby Hill for the teaser opening:

Trailer Storyboard and TITLE - Requiem

TITLE - REQUIEM

I have decided to call the film 'Requiem', because it is short, punchy and meaningful. Requiem by definition is:

1. 'a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person'
2. 'a Mass celebrated for the dead'

Source: (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/requiem)

By this definition the title becomes an effective juxtaposition - it implies some sort of religious celebration to the dead. Yes, in this film almost everybody on earth is dead (billions), but that's not something to celebrate about, so it's also an unsettling title - a dark title, exactly what I'm looking for.


Below is the story Board I've been working on which will help me out when it comes to shooting film for this teaser trailer, next week.

Trailer Script and Backstory

I want the trailer to be really mysterious so I wrote a passage of text to be spoken by one person, a sort of monologue which would reveal something about the world in which the film is to be set.

EXPOSITION
The Back-story in the film trailer is one of post-apocalypse and world-wide devastation. Shards of a gigantic alien object have been scattered across the northern hemisphere, turning the entire region into a desolate wasteland. The shards contained extra-terrestrial diseases which began to infect humans and also emitted an unknown radiation that mutated people into blood-thirsty creatures. Massive Evacuations took place in the past, to escape the chaos, and the number of humans living in the ruins of the old North is not very large. I like the term 'Autumn of Mankind' to describe the state of the world in this film. I have not thought much about a title yet, but would like a short catchy one with meaning and relevance to this plot idea.

PROTAGONIST
One of my favourite characters in film is 'The Man with No Name' from Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns' portrayed by Clint Eastwood. The character in this film would resemble Eastwood in many ways, but instead obviously taking a futurist role, a post-modern angle. The film is not a Western, but may have some similar qualities - essentially it is an Apocalypse Film. The reason this character would be alive in this world and not dead like the rest could be for example that he was immune and found away inside one of the shards, which gave him powers such as increased strength and reaction time, which could also have changed his physical appearance. I don't feel that I need to show much about the main character in this trailer because it is going to be so enigmatic anyway - In the teaser for 'THE HOST', there is absolutely no implication to whom the protagonist is, in fact it is just a dialogue track running along a single shot of the Earth - Looks Nice, Sounds Interesting but is anything but revealing.

SCRIPT
-Opening Logo (TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX)
-Opening Logo (MIDNIGHT PICTURES)
-Enigmatic, shadowed shot of the protagonist, in an abandoned location of some sort.
-Close up Stock Footage of an Eye opening, or a low angle shot through some grass at the clouds.
-Interesting cloud footage, long (10 minute) takes to be made into time-lapses showing the transition of time since the Great Disaster.
-Character watching the sun-set, preferably with a storm looming over head.
-Character Loading Rifle (CLOSE UP)
-Shot of light beam from Heavy Duty Torch lighting up a stream through dense smoke, with character approaching through this smoke towards the camera.
-Other Stock Footage of Close up's; Hands, Walking through puddles, grasping a dagger.

NEXT I WILL STORY BOARD THE TEASER TRAILER - To use as a guideline when filming.

Props and Equipment

MAIN PROPS:
LONG RAIN COAT
QUARANTINE SIGN
RED TAPE
SNIPER RIFLE
DAGGER
FAKE BLOOD
HEAVY DUTY TORCH

FILMING EQUIPMENT
HD VIDEO CAMERA
POLARIZING LENS
CAMERA TRIPOD

My initial ideas

I have explained what I think the trailer will need to be composed of in order to create a Post-apocalypse/Science Fiction mood. I should start planning out how I think the trailer will actually unfold on-screen;

FIRSTLY, it will need to open with the green 'approval certificate' information board.

SECONDLY, the opening Logos of 'Twentieth Century Fox' and my own 'Midnight Pictures' will come on screen, most likely much faster than they would in a film opening. With these, the soundtrack must also begin and we will be taken straight into the preview of the world of the film.

THIRDLY, Establish either the character of the protagonist or the world (or both through parallel editing).

FOURTHLY, show something about what the character has been through, escape scene or fight scene.  Or if he has been through war. (This would make good material for the film poster or magazine I need to make also).

FIFTHLY, I want to test out some of the things that can be done using 'Adobe After Effects'. Just to add a final shine on the video before it reaches the end.

SIXTHLY, there would be the title-board. I have not yet decided what I would call the film. But this would then be followed by the release date, the info board listing the production company, director and cast, then finally the info board listing the main members of the film crew; composer's, producer's, Screenwriter's and lastly the Director (me).

SEVENTHLY (?) It may cut away to a two second clip of some kind of action scene before finally cutting to black.

Genre - Post-apocalypse/Science Fiction

The film will be a post apocalypse/science fiction picture, telling the story of a single survivor in this desolate world.

The want the trailer to create a very strong enigma, therefore it needs to not tell too much about the story of the film. It will have an interior monoglogue overlayed, perhaps a poem, similar to a trailer I found for a video game (Gears of War 2), shown below.

The personal story of the protagonist will have to kept enigmatic due to this being a teaser trailer and I think I will only show footage of him with shadows obscuring his face.
The film trailer neds to look good thefore I will try to create interesting shots and enigmatic scene setups, as well as some simple dramatic scenes; perhaps a fight or a suicide.