Unit 8 Brief

Short Film: Left 4 Dead

Alfie Wall

Date Issued: 19th March 2019

Interim Deadline: 24th May 2019

Final Deadline: 7th June 2019

Competition: Raindance Film Festival

Starts: 20th September

Ends: 1st October

Raindance Film Festival invites UK and International producers and filmmakers to submit their films to
its 27th edition that will take place from 18 – 29 September 2019 in central London. The Raindance
Film Festival aims to show the very best in new cinema from the UK and around the world and
specialises in first-time directors and discovery.

Founded in 1992, it combines Raindance Film Festival, film training courses, and Raindance Higher
Education. Raindance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the UK and it has been
recognised by Variety as “one of the world's top 50 unmissable film festivals”.

Outline of Final Idea for Short Film: I have picked my first idea as it was level with my third idea in
my survey monkey, but I liked my first idea more as it was a lot more interesting. My idea is a true
story it starts as a boy starts a new school, he has no friends so he desperately wants to make new
ones. He starts to get picked on by other kids. One day he was get pushed around by some kids
someone comes and punches one of them in the face and they all run off, Ross is very grateful. They
become good friends after this and he has
dinner at his parents’ house and have a good
time getting closer and closer. One day Ross
gets a car, his friend begs him to go to the bad
side of town as he has something to do, and
he says he will pay for gas money as well. The
next day comes and everything seems normal
they go to the petrol station and he pays for
the gas and start heading over to the bad side
of town. Eerie music starts as Ross thinks
something is wrong but he carries on as he
trusts his friend. He says take a left down here
where there is derelict houses and a sign
saying not to go down. They stop and his friend gets out the car and in a matter of seconds he grabs a
shotgun and shoots Ross, his ear drums are buzzing and his vision is blurry he says "Did you shoot
me?" as he shoots him again in his chest, the air is sucked out his lungs and he can’t breathe. He feels
the barrel on his head as he hits it away but it’s a shotgun so it sprayed and scraped his head. The
pain starts to go as he falls asleep but he goes in 3rd person telling himself he needs to stay awake
and if he falls asleep he’s going to be asleep forever. He somehow crawls through a bush and is seen
by someone who calls the ambulance he then gets taken to the hospital and given tubes with oxygen
and then takes a big deep breath as he can finally breathe again. He miraculously survives. The story
then goes back to the beginning but in his friends perspective you can see him hanging out with gang
members, he is told he needs to kill a random person to get initiated into the gang, it shows how he
manipulated Ross to make him think they were friends and finally at the end where he shoots him and
takes his car.

Rules and regulations: I will be following the watershed rules, this is a production that is before 9PM. It
will have no violence, sexual, inappropriate language or drug content so it is suitable for a general
audience including children. I will develop my idea and consider the watershed rules, I can imply
violence but can’t actually show it.

Target audience: 13-30 years, this is because my short film ‘Left 4 Dead’ it is aimed at anyone but
mainly teenagers as it revolves around a true story where someone has to kill an innocent person to
get initiated into a gang. It tells a story of betrayal with some violence which is why it is aimed at over
13. Moreover anyone who watches it will be shocked as it is a true story and people can learn from it.

Production Schedule
Date Plan of action Evaluation / behind
Week beginning the scenes
19th – 21st Context. Rational, Project concept,
March evaluation. Create 3 ideas and get
feedback from surveys.
22nd March Put a plan together based on the research
I will be undertaking. Research into short
films.
25th – 29th Secondary research into the codes and
March conventions. Video analysis of at least two
examples. Topic research to inform the
content. Looking at two or more
professionals who make short films.
1st – 5th April  Audience Work on research
 Platform evaluation over half
 Actors term. Work on
 Infographics and evaluation research feedback.
write up
Week 4 – 5 Ensure research is completed and Research
Easter Holiday improvements are made during this time. evaluation / Blog.
23rd – 26th April Planning, If finished pre-production can Planning
start to film. evaluation. Work on
feedback from
teachers.
29th April – 3rd Film
May
6th – 10th May Film
13th – 17th May working on editing / sound / re-shoots
20th – 24th May Final evaluation. Send out surveys on work in Final evaluation
order to get feedback on the production
Week 11 Half Teachers marking
Term for final feedback
3rd – 7th June work on putting pitch together ready to
pitch work Wednesday – Friday
10th – 14th June Final marks and
assessment sheets
submitted
17th – 21st June Moderation week.